It’s past midnight and we’ve all just settled down after too much excitement.
I was working on my grocery list when I heard Anton waking up, through the baby monitor. I went inside the room and saw Anton sitting in bed, rubbing his nose. My first thought was that he had smeared lipstick all over the bottom half of his face. But of course, it wasn’t lipstick. His nose was bleeding. Profusely.
Panicked, I called Bobby. He took Anton and told me to get dressed. I did, in 30 seconds flat. Meanwhile, Bobby cleaned Anton’s face.
I remembered that the right way to stop a nosebleed was to lean the child forward and press the bridge of the nose.
As I did this, I asked Isay and Paula to get this and that, and then pulled out my trusty copy of “Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child.” Funny, I left our copy of the Merck Manual in the Philippines, but packed “Smart Medicine” in my luggage.
The book said to call a doctor if the nosebleed doesn’t stop after 20 minutes of applying pressure. Anton’s nosebleed had stopped much sooner than that.
When every body had calmed down, we decided to stay home. We had planned to bring Anton to the emergency room. Fortunately, the hospital was just two blocks away. We could have walked, or run, if necessary.
It took the girls a long time to settle down and finally fall asleep. Anton, too. He didn’t even cry, which is how I know that he wasn’t hurt.
It dawned on me that I hadn’t even thought of putting on makeup.
