Speechless

This week hasn’t been good. Not good at all.

I’m not at all over what the last few days have brought. In fact, tears stream down my face each time I think about it. When you are a mother, you are supposed to protect your children and your job is to let nothing happen to them. You would do anything so that they wouldn’t experience hurt or pain. You hold them beneath your wing and shield them from danger. At least that is what you think you should be able to do. But, as I learned this week, the reality is, you can’t be there for everything that happens. Bad things happen. Disasters happen. Accidents happen. And sometimes, as a mother, there is nothing you can do.

If anything, this week has slowed me down. Something I have been feeling I needed to do for a little while. However, this week, amidst the worst one ever, I realized all that I am grateful for. I am blessed in so many ways. Ways that don’t even cross my mind on a daily basis. Blessings that I don’t think twice about, or don’t recognize, but they are there. And even when the bad things happen, there are still blessings to be found. These past few days especially I have been full of gratitude….and sorry for the gory details.

I am grateful my husband works so close that he was able to come home and treat Wyatt’s hand after he burned it on the stove Monday afternoon.

I am grateful for in-laws who came over out of concern to check on the poor guy.

I am grateful for a brother in law who is my person on-call doctor and gave me the best medical remedies over the phone to help ease Wyatt’s pain.

I am grateful for a tough boy who became even tougher the next day.

I am grateful when Wyatt hit above his eye rather than his actual eye when he tripped and fell while racing down the hallway Tuesday night and hit the metal bed frame.

I am grateful I have such wonderful friends who are also my neighbors and who both were home so that my friend could come to the ER with me and her husband could watch her kids and Dax.

I am grateful for Dax for being so brave and such a good listener at the most urgent and scary of moments. It was scary and he was so tough.

I am grateful for a wonderful hospital less than 5 miles down the road.

I am grateful that Wyatt had stopped bleeding and crying by the time we got the hospital and wasn’t knocked out when he fell.

I am grateful the nurses acted fast when they saw a baby with a bloody face and a composed, but hysterical, mother walk through the doors.

I am grateful for an ER doctor who accessed Wyatt and decided that paging a pediatric plastic surgeon would be the best decision.

I am grateful for parents who live close by and my dad who was able to go pick up Dax and bring him home and put him to bed and clean up the blood on the floor throughout the house so we didn’t have to see it when we got home.

I am grateful that Austin had his cell phone with him at his soccer game and hadn’t left it at home.

I am grateful that my friend stayed with me until Austin arrived.

I am grateful that Austin kept his composer when he saw our baby even though I knew he was holding back sobs.

I am grateful my children love their daddy so much.

I am grateful for the quick time it took for the surgeon to answer his page and come to the hospital.

I am grateful there was no flesh missing, all the muscles in his eyebrow were okay and there was no damage to his nose.

I am grateful that the nurses didn’t have to put Wyatt out, but just in a comatose state to do the stitching so that he wouldn’t feel anything and have no memory of it.

I am grateful Wyatt ended up with two layers of stitches equalling close to 20 rather than a hundred and twenty stitches or even surgery.

I am grateful that the room was full of concerned doctor’s and nurses who took such great care of Wyatt.

I am grateful Austin is worthy to hold the priesthood and bless Wyatt.

I am grateful for a 24 hour pharmacy that we were able to fill Wyatt’s prescription and help him sleep more comfortably that night.

I am grateful for Austin for waking up each hour to check on Wyatt and then wake up the next morning and work a 12 hour day.

I am grateful for my mom’s visit and for bringing us the yummiest monster mix (a Halloween trail mix) the next morning that the boys snacked on all day.

I am grateful for a sister who brought the boys lunch and a great friend who brought us dinner.

I am grateful for the many many phone calls and concern from family and friends.

I am grateful for two healthy boys and an eternal family.

This is one of those weeks that I want to forget but most likely never will. I think of all the worst things that could have happened and I am so blessed.

My sweet Wyatt, he's going to be just fine.