I am not a squeamish person, and I don't cry easily, but last week was too much! Gabriel is really at a stage where he messes up the kids' toy set ups. The familiar scene was about to unfold again, so I reminded Elijah he could take his toys into his bedroom and play undisturbed. I proceeded into the kitchen to finish up dishes when I should have seen the whole thing through. Apparently, Gabe had tried to follow Elijah into the bedroom when Elijah slammed the door on him...and his little finger!!!
Hearing fussing, I figured that Elijah was removing Gabe from the scene again and I continued doing the dishes, not realizing the severity of the situation. When the fussing continued, I went to mediate and found Gabriel looking up at me, not screaming, just whining, with an urgent look on his face. I still did not realize his finger was stuck until I opened the door and saw it fall. I panicked when I saw the bone.
I had to call 9-1-1 three times because there was such a bad connection, and Faith quickly got a cloth to wrap up the finger and piece that was severed. By the time the paramedics arrived, I had gone from screaming to crying. I was thankful for their light-hearted attitudes. All the kids got to ride in the ambulance to the hospital, where I was met by kind nurses and a cussing doctor. They gave Gabriel morphine until they decided whether or not to do surgery. The first thing they told me was that they would not be able to save the finger, and I was okay with that. But I called Mom and asked her to interceed, and she called the family and got them going. After that the doc came in and decided to try to save it. I know the Lord was at work because Gabriel actually fell asleep as they stitched him up! He was so peaceful the whole time; he never even cried his "I'm hurt cry."
It was truly sweet to see Faith's compassion towards her baby brother. I overheard her tell the nurses with a quivering voice, "I hope Gabriel's okay. I love him so much!" That was a far cry from her brother who sat in the hospital chair, trying to cover his tail, and repeated over and over, "Gabie was in my way! He was in my way!"
What a day! I am so thankful for a wonderful family and especially Kyle who was brilliant through this whole ordeal. We really believe God has a purpose in this little event, and we are thankful.
Please continue to pray that Gabe will be able to keep his finger and nail too! I will keep you posted. Thanks for the prayers!
