Phlattt On His Face

It started out as a horse play but ended with a swollen nose for Zareef.

I was cooking yesterday when...

"Nak Mummy go in front"

"Why darling?"

"Nak Mummy charge Monster Inc." (charge is Zareef's vocab for switching on the dvd player and loading any dvd of his choice)

"Okay"

And so I did as requested and decided to sit down for a breather. Zareef sat on his car and started to push towards me. I pushed him away with my foot. He pushed again and I pushed him away... again. This happened for a few times with him laughing and trying to charge me with his car when suddenly he tipped over and fell flat on his face. I heard a resounding crack and he started to cry in agony.

When I lifted him, his nose was bleeding profusely. Oh My God!! What have I done?!!

"Sakit Mummy! Sakit!!"

I tried to wipe away his blood but it kept streaming out. I was in a state of panic. Zareef held to me for dear life while bawling away. I know he is in great pain because if he wasn't he wouldn't utter the word sakit. Ye lah... kita yg dah besar ni pun kalau kena tumbuk kat hidung sampai berdarah pun rasa macam nak berpinar dunia, ni kan lagi budak kecik...

I did everything that I could remember from reading and hearing old folks tale; pinching his nose to stop the bleeding, held a cold towel against his nose to ease the pain, tipped his head et. al... thankfully his bleeding stopped after a good 5 minutes but that was the longest, torturous 5 minutes ever! Par none!! He cried and he cried and he cried himself to sleep on my shoulders for a good 45 minutes. I tried putting him down so that he could sleep properly but he wouldn't let me. I called B and demanded that he come back and take a look at his son. By this time, Zareef's nose bridge has grown and swelled up. I was so worried that he broke his nose.

Woke Zareef up.

"Zareef hungry"

"Zareef nak fried rice?"

"Nak"

He ate and ate like there's no tomorrow. He drank all of his juice. Thereafter, he was his usual self. Laughing, jumping and playing about.

"Nose Zareef sakit tak?"

"Tak sakit pun"

"Tadi Zareef cry. Nose Zareef ada darah. Nose Zareef sakit tak?"

"Zareef tak cry pun. Nose Zareef tak sakit pun" and the little kid touched his nose.

But to play it safe, we took him to the NHS Walk-In. The triage nurse assessed him. I voiced out my concerns of a broken nose. So she said another nurse will be with us to assess further. We waited for almost 45 minutes and all that while, Zareef was happily running about looking at other people as if nothing had happen to him just a couple of hours ago. It was a relief to see Zareef so happy that we even doubted that anything was wrong with his nose.

We were called in and a different nurse took a look at Zareef. She said that since Zareef was only two, there are hardly any bones in his nose yet. It's still filled with cartilages. So his nose can't be broken unlike if the same thing were to happen to an adult. The swelling will subside in 5 to 6 days time but she told us to take Zareef to the Royal Infirmary if his nose were to get out of shape. A slight turn, and we have to take him to the hospital. Oh dear! Tak mancung dah hidung anak aku nih...

As you can see from the pictures, Zareef's nose is a bit penyek. I pray that it'll return to normal once the swelling is gone. Not for vanity sake but for the sake of my son needing unnecessary operations, alterations or prodding to his nose.

I've learnt my lesson. No more horseplaying with my son. What we see harmless as adults are extremely dangerous to our child. It was the scariest moment in my life. Sometimes I forget that Zareef is only a two year old boy and not a 28 year old kid from the way I treat him.

Motherhood is a bliss but sometimes it brings out the beast in us.


Eating with a swollen nose