I washed her hand after breakfast, and there was no sign. By 16:00 there was a large yellow lump right in the middle of her favourite suckling finger. This causes major problems.
My daughter soothes herself to sleep by sucking her fingers. Bedtime routine involves a bath, a cuddle, a feed, and a longer cuddle while she drops off enough to be put in her cot. With no fingers, the frustration levels means she doesn't drop off. She also complains bitterly if you put her in the cot awake. The problem is worsened if she wakes during the night. In those twilight moments, she can put her hand in her mouth and drift back to sleep without waking Mummy or Daddy. No hand, no drift.
To say that Saturday was a bad night would be something of an understatement! I had put a makeshift bandage on, and covered her hand with a mitten. She was not happy. We finally got her to sleep at about 01:00 she woke at 01:42! About 04:00 was when we started to try to get to sleep ourselves, but the wired state my wife and I were in meant a delay until the small hours. We were back up before 08:00.
The infection had doubled in size overnight, so, given it was Sunday, we went off to casualty. 3 hours later my daughter had a lanced, dressed and bandaged finger, and a course of antibiotics. (getting antibiotics into someone who can't rationalise the awful colour and taste with feeling better is not a fun experience!) Now all we had to do was get some sleep!
We tried cuddling, soothing, easing her into her cot, but nothing was working. In the end we bundled her into her duvet, and headed for the car.
I've done this before, and it's fairly common knowledge that babies fall asleep in cars. Lulled by the motion. I headed off, M4, M25, M3, and back up to complete the loop. She woke up as soon as the car stopped! She was, however, relaxed now, so a couple of cuddles, and we got her into her cot. Late, but she slept through (guess she was almost as tired as my wife and I).
Yesterday was a failed dental appointment for me, and a new dressing for her. Also, 3 lots of antibiotics. Yuck. (I worked from home hence no post.) Last night, another drive. Another loop. This time via Basingstoke. Another rested baby. Not such a good night though. She woke at 03:42 (it's amazing how you remember the exact time), and there was no rest for us until after 05:00. We've been told to expect a large improvement for Wednesday when the dressing is changed again, and we are hopeful that the finger will be back in action for the weekend. Until then, Daddy will be out driving the wilds of Berkshire every night until she drops off.
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