Emergency Preparedness 101

You never really expect that you'll see someone's fingernail pulled out (unless you watch the show 24 a lot), much less your own child's. But that's what happened this weekend. Poor Kaia got a heavy wood lid slammed on her hands. The resulting injury didn't actually break any of her fingers (although they didn't look too good), but the middle finger of her left hand was hurt the most: Kaia's fingernail was ripped right out (!)

Yes, it was as graphic and terrible as you could imagine. We got Kaia to the hospital to have her finger bandaged and X-rayed (and to update her tetanus shot), but before we got there, things were a bit crazy. Every piece of gauze and tape in our first aid kit is designed for grown-ups - so bandaging a tiny, tiny hand (while the child is flipping out) was a big challenge. It also turns out that opening bandaids while you`re shaking is way harder than it should be!
The German health care system has been awesome (as usual). Kaia was seen and treated within 10 minutes in the ER (although getting the X-ray took longer because it was lunch time). We've been to a pediatrician once already to rebandage everything, and we have several more appointments booked.
Kaia is holding up very well and didn't need any painkillers after the first 12 hours or so. It's hard on her parents though... :)