Baby Burn

So we are finishing our basement and we just got a gas fireplace installed into our basement.  We have no chimney, so they installed an exhaust vent that comes out the back wall of our home.  It is the middle of the summer, but to burn off the factory oils, the technician told us to run the fireplace for a few hours, so we did.  The technician left and not long after, my 3 year old slipped out the back door while I was right there doing dishes and before I could even notice she wasn't there anymore she started screaming.  I ran over and she was at the base of the steps shaking her hands and head.  I asked her what happened, but she wouldn't tell me.  I looked around and suspected she may have touched the hot exhaust vent.  When I asked her if she touched it she wouldn't answer me. (I think she thought she might get in trouble).  I looked at her hands and they looked like they were burned.
I took her right inside and slathered Lavender Essential Oil on both her hands and let that sit as I got a bowl of cold water and ice for her to soak her hands in.  Her crying seemed to subside.  I sat right in front of her to keep the bowl from spilling and noticed she kept gently biting her top lip.  I looked closer and her top lip and nose looked white, with a little abrasion (which was probably a blister that had already popped) and a pink spot on her cheek as well.  I asked her about it, but once again she denied anything had happened to it.  I realized she probably had burned her face as well.  She wouldn't allow me to put lavender on it, as it was right under her nose and her top lip (lavender doesn't taste very good).  So I got her a wet rag with a piece of ice in it and held it on her lip.
About once an hour we took her hands out of the water, dried them off and re-applied the lavender oil.  By bedtime she had developed a blister on her top lip.  Her hands never blistered and felt better the next morning.  What didn't look better the next morning was the burn on her face.  It had all scabbed over and looked so painful!  My husband was worried about long-term scarring on her beautiful little face.  So that night after she was asleep, I snuck in her bedroom and applied Frankincense and Rose essential oils as best I could on her nose and top lip.  She slept through it, so this became our new routine for the next week.  Once a day after she was asleep.  We were so pleased with the results.  You can click on the picture to make it bigger.

Each day showed improvement, till after 7 days the scabs were completely gone.  I took a picture after 10 days.  There is still a bit of marking on the underside of her nose, but I just got the Immortelle blend which has Rose, Frankincense, Lavender, Myrrh, and Helichrysum in it and it smells divine.  I will finish the job with that.

What I thought was remarkable was the difference in how we treated her hands and face initially.  Her hands, which we slathered with Lavender oil probably within 2 minutes of the initial burn, and then hourly after that never blistered or scabbed over like her face did.  On her face, we were only able to use cold water and ice and what a contrast in the healing process!

And for future safety, we normally won't be running the fireplace in the summer, and in the winter, there aren't children playing in the back yard anyway.  I will have my husband build some sort of safety cage that still may get hot, but will protect little people from touching the vent directly.

Bee Sting Relief

Our honeybees have had a crazy and unfortunately an eventful spring.  They have already swarmed once and have are threatening to do it again.  When I went outside today I noticed that they were acting like they were going to swarm again, so I put out an extra hive box with some Lemongrass Essential Oil in it as an attractant. That way we might be able to catch our own bees if they do decide to swarm.

My husband does most of the beekeeping in our house because we thought I might be allergic to bees.  About 10 years ago I was stung on the arm while driving on a road trip with the window down.  My entire arm swelled up about twice it's normal size.  I was nauseous and ill for the entire rest of the day.  When I mentioned it to my doctor once, his eyes got big and then he wrote me a prescription for an epi-pen, which I carried around for years.

About 4 years ago I had an allergy test done and the test came back negative for bee venom.  Because bee allergies can be so serious, I wasn't exactly jumping on the bandwagon when we decided to keep bees.  I have enjoyed it and almost always observe when my husband does inspections, but I keep my distance.

Because of their erratic behavior the last few weeks, my husband decided to do a very thorough inspection.  I pulled out my lawn chair and observed about 12 feet away as he pulled each frame out and inspected it.  Towards the end I went inside to get dinner started.  When my husband finished, I came out of the house to make sure he was bee-free before we took off his protective gear.  There was a bee hiding in a fold of his clothing, so I whisked it away.  Next thing I knew there was a bee flying around my head and then I felt a sharp sting on the back of my neck.  The bee was stuck in my hair.  While my husband was getting the bee out of my hair, I could feel the intensity gradually increasing.  My husband got the stinger out and then I went straight inside and grabbed my Purify essential oil blend.  I put a drop directly on my bee sting.  I immediately felt some relief.  I kept applying one drop about every 5 minutes.  The welt never got any bigger and there has been no swelling.  15 minutes after the sting there was no more pain.  I am so thankful that I had the essential oils on hand.  I have never had such a pleasant bee-sting experience.

Other essential oils that are good for bee stings are Roman Chamomile and Basil.

Nosebleed

My 3 year old daughter is susceptible to nosebleeds.  Sometimes I'll get her from her bed in the morning and see that she has had a nosebleed in the night.  If it happens during the day, I am usually able to get it under control in a couple minutes with gently pinching her nose.

Yesterday she was playing outside with her cousins at her grandma's house.  An older cousin brought her in because she had a bloody nose.  I took her into the bathroom to get her cleaned up and found that this time it was pretty severe.  There was a lot of blood and it wasn't slowing down.  I tried pinching it gently, then more firmly.  I got a cotton ball wet and put it inside her top lip and held it there with pressure.  After trying for nearly 5 minutes to get it under control and not seeing any improvement I started to get a bit nervous.  As I stared at the garbage full of used tissues and I started exploring my options.  I immediately wished I had Helichrysum Essential oil, as I have had experience with it getting bleeding under control.  But all I had was my little key chain holder that I keep in my purse with a few oils in it.

I did have Deep Blue which is a soothing blend for aches and pain.  I knew it had Helichrysum in it, so I grabbed my little bottle of Deep Blue and put a drop on the back of her little neck and rubbed it in.  It also has Wintergreen and Peppermint in it, and my little daughter didn't like the way it felt.  So I left her for a second to grab some fractionated coconut oil from the next room to help dilute the oils and reduce the sensation.

I put a drop of coconut oil on the back of her neck and rubbed it in.  Then I took the tissue away to check her nose.  It had all but stopped bleeding.  We took the next minute to clean up the mess we had made in my mother's bathroom, wash my daughter's hands and dress and she was good to go.

I'm so thankful I had my Essential Oils on hand.  I'm so thankful that they have so many uses.  I'm so thankful that I was empowered to care for my daughter in her time of need so I didn't have to feel fearful or helpless as a mother.  Thank you, Deep Blue!

Deep Blue

I have a cast on my ankle now, to mend a hairline fracture they found after they took an MRI.  Walking with a cast is very awkward and because I'm trying to compensate, by the end of the day I can be achy.  I had a really busy day today running almost nonstop since noon.  My day didn't end till my nightwatch shift did that night at 3am. Part of my job is to check on the sleeping girls every 15 minutes.  The house is 3 stories, and so my check requires me to go up and down stairs.  Tonight I started having sharp pains in the knee on my "good" leg when I came up the stairs. It seemed to get worse each time I used the stairs. I found myself trying to compensate by swinging my hip way out so as to take th pressure off my knee.  I applied Deep Blue to my knee and 10 minutes later when it was time for my next check I had absolutely no pain in my knee and the pain never returned.  Thank you, Deep Blue!

Emotions and Geranium Essential Oil

My husband and I took a very rare weekend away from our children and left them with their grandparents for one night.  We had a wonderful and relaxing time away.

When we came back, our children were all happy to see us, but our 2 (almost 3)-year old had fallen asleep.  When my husband went down to get her she woke up MAD.  She cried and cried.  I took her from him hoping the mother's touch would be the magic touch.  Not this time.  She yelled at me "Mom, I wanted you! You left me!"  She wasn't calming down, so we put her and the rest of the kids in the car to head for home.  She cried the entire way home.  I brought her in the house to hold her on the couch and nothing seemed to make a difference to her.  This is very out of character for my sweet, cheerful, loving little girl.  I wondered if she was feeling abandoned when we left her for the night.  After almost an hour of angry screaming, I decided to try distraction.

She was complaining of a tummy ache, so I took her into my bathroom to find some essential oils for her tummy.  Every suggestion seemed to add fuel to the fire.  On our way out of town, I had picked up a few new oils and asked her if she wanted to smell the new oils.  "No Oils!" she screamed.  I opened them anyway, one by one, smelled them, and then offered to let her smell them.  Each time she would turn her head away and say "no oils!"  Then I opened the Geranium.  I smelled it, and offered it to her.  She smelled it, then took a deep second whiff.  She said with a smile "Mom, this is mine oil.  I need this oil."  Entertained by that, I put the lid back on and kept trying tummy trouble oils, in which she rejected each one and began to get all worked up again saying she needed the "pink oil".

I looked up Geranium oil to see if it could help her tummy.  It said it helps with Emotional Balance, Skin and Hair, and can be applied Neat (or without dillution) even to children.  I figured it couldn't hurt, so I laid her on my bed, she lifted her shirt to bear her tummy.  I applied one drop to her tummy, along with one drop of a massage oil.  I rubbed it all over her abdomen slowly in a clockwise motion for about 30 seconds.  She held very still.  When I finished I asked her "how does that feel?"  She took a deep breath, let it out, smiled and said "all better".

I couldn't believe the immediate shift in her mood!  After that she allowed me to read her a story and put her to bed with no further complaints.  I have heard that essential oils can bring emotional healing, but I have only used them for physical ailments like cold sores, tummy-aches, insomnia, and their immune boosting ability.

Thank you, Geranium oil, for giving me the ability to calm and comfort my baby in a time of great distress for the both of us.