Many of you already know what happened to Briana and I on Mother's Day and we greatly appreciate everyone who has been praying for us. We are slowly but surely recovering. God certainly protected us in that it wasn't worse than it was, and that Alexa wasn't in there beside me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that had she been in there, it could have possibly killed her. I am thankful to God for His unfailing love for us and for His great protection.
Here's the story: We were getting ready to go back to church on Sunday night. My Mom had started to cook some chicken and wanted to cook it a little faster before we had to leave for church, so she locked the lid on the pressure cooker and turned up the heat. She then went upstairs to get dressed for church. John was also upstairs getting into the shower because he had to be at work soon. I went downstairs not long after my Mom had left the kitchen. I heard a sizzling noise that sounded like the food in the pot was burning. What I didn't realize is that it was the pressure making that noise. I decided to open the lid so I could check on the food. It never once
occurred to me that the food was under pressure. I wasn't familiar with pressure cookers - and even the name "pressure" cooker just never dawned on me. Anyway, the thing exploded and threw hot water and chicken out at me. I screamed when I felt the burn.
Everyone in the house heard it - my Mom upstairs, John in the shower and my sister in the basement. I tried to get out of the kitchen, but there was so much water on the floor, I slipped and fell. That's when I saw Briana. At that moment, I felt no physical pain. All I could think to do was jump up, rip her nightgown off, and usher her into the bathroom. I didn't even know where she was burned, but I was trying to pick her up and put her in the bathroom sink. My Mom got there and saw Briana's legs which had already started to blister. She was yelling that it was her legs and that we needed to go to the hospital. My sister told me later that she was trying to take Briana from me so that they could see where I was burned, but I didn't relinquish my hold on her until I was halfway up the steps and John took her from me. We headed to the bathroom where John put Briana in the shower and ran cool water on her. Her skin was already hanging from her legs. By that time, I was feeling the burning again, so I joined Briana in the shower. I kept hearing my Mom say that we needed to go to the hospital. Briana didn't want to, and John and I were trying to tell her that she had to. While we were in the shower, Briana said to me, "Mommy, why did you do that?" Talk about breaking my heart! I felt SO bad! I told her I didn't mean to - that it was an accident. She just kept crying that it was burning. John had called 911 and since there is a fire station right by our house, two ambulances were there in no time. As soon as the paramedics came in, we were told that we both had second degree burns. Briana was taken to Children's Hospital in D.C., and I was taken to a local
hospital. It killed me to not be with her, but I'm
glad she was taken to Children's and I'm also glad that John was there to ride with her in the ambulance. John is normally at work at 5pm on Sundays, but since his relief didn't come in until 5:45 that morning, he didn't have to be there until 5:45pm. The accident
occurred around 5:15pm. God is good - all the time! My Mom came to the hospital where I was a little while after I had gotten there. She was really shaken up, and needed time to calm down before she got behind the wheel. My sister, who "happened" to be over at the house washing clothes, stayed with Michael and Alexa. Michael was very upset and frightened. He had been in the bathroom by the kitchen and had no idea why his mommy and sister started screaming. It really scared him. I'm glad he was able to stay home. Alexa had still been taking a nap when all this happened. THANK GOD! I hate to even think what might have happened had she been there with me (which she probably would have had she been awake). I was treated and released and we went to Children's. When I got to the ER, Briana had just woken up. They had given her Motrin in the ambulance and then at the hospital, they had to sedate her so they could clean the wound and take off the burned skin. Her legs were already wrapped by the time I got there, so I didn't get to see how bad they were. She had been given Tylenol with codeine, so she was pretty tired and a little out of it. John told me that she didn't cry once in the ambulance or at the hospital - not even when they gave her an IV. She had a little pink bunny that had been given to her. I was so happy to see her, but at the same time I was very sad. She had been through so much in a short period of time because of a mistake I made. They were going to keep her overnight, but decided to let her go home since she didn't have a bad reaction to the Tylenol.
Update: We took Briana to get her bandages changed today (May 19) and the doctor said that her legs are healing nicely. Praise the Lord! It will still take a few more weeks to heal, but I am so thankful that everything is going well. The doctor looked at my burns, too, and said that mine are healing as well. Praise the Lord! We're now dealing with the itching of healing.
Here are a few pictures. If you have a really weak stomach, you might want to skip them.
This is my left arm. My arm and stomach got the brunt of the burns.
This was taken today (May 19) when we were at Children's Burn Center getting Briana's bandages changed.
Here's my tough girl the day after the accident. I told her I was very sorry and I didn't mean to hurt her. She said, "It's okay, Mommy. I love you."
