Hashim’s Accident – A scary September 2013

On 29 September 2013, Hashim went through a scary accident. It has taken me a really long time to openly share my experience, complete with all the pictures, because honestly, it was traumatic for me too. However, God willing, miracles do happen and I knew I had to share this story one day. It was a regular Sunday morning when the accident happened. I had actually gone out with baby Abdullah that morning – I was going to attend my first Sunday religious class since I had given birth and was excited to meet old friends. I took the public transport and was about 4 bus stops away when I received the phonecall from my husband that Hashim had gotten into an accident. I was truly unaware of the situation and brushed it off as yet another fall or bump an almost then 3 year old would typically go through… up till the point when my husband frantically said, “Take a cab now and go to the hospital. His nose is broken.” I froze for a split second and quickly got off the bus at the next stop. When I saw Hashim, my heart broke. He was clearly exhausted from crying for far too long and certainly in extreme pain. The cuts, the bruising and the non stop bleeding, I was shattered. He was just beginning to walk at this point, and to find out a heavy glass table had fallen on his face was devastating. Fortunately, my sister in law had managed to catch on to the table to prevent it from completely toppling on  him, however, the impact was still terrible as the glass drawer had slid out and landed directly on his nose. He did an X-Ray, his nose wasn’t broken but the doctors said they couldn’t do anything for him just yet as his nose was too inflamed and blocked with all the bleeding. His case was referred to the ENT clinic and he was asked to go home and sent home with some topical cream for the  cuts and bruises and paracetamol for the pain. That was all. We went home, but my heart didn’t feel right. How could something that looked so bad just be left like that? I knew I had to begin oiling, often and effectively. On first instinct, I decided to use Lavender and Helichrysum, excellent oils in supporting conditions like these. I researched a little bit more and decided to add Valor as the ingredients helped to balance the system and improve circulation. The 3 oils were layered on the area around his eyes and on the cut at the nose bridge. We were doing this every 20min. The poor boy was still looking drained, so we decided to use Idaho Balsam Fir, Frankincense and Copaiba as well. He eventually started to ask for his crayons and I knew he was feeling slightly better then. Going to sleep that night was hard. He was so exhausted but kept getting up. The trauma must have been too much for him. We diffused peace and calming, there was some effect, but it was a long night.. The next day, was an even bigger shock for me. I thought that with all the oiling, the bruise and cut would lighten, but boy, was I wrong. The bruising and swelling had actually gotten worse and his eyes could barely open over the next 2 days. It took me a lot of strength to continue to be strong for Hashim. I texted Hashim’s therapist who assured me all was fine. It meant that all the bleeding has stopped and the skin is now in the healing process. I took a leap of faith and trust and followed my gut to continue oiling often. I knew it couldn’t be bad if the doctors had sent us home so quickly from the hospital and true enough, as quickly as the bruise got so terrible, as quickly did the swelling go down, the bruising began to lighten and Hashim was able to open his eyes. He was in good spirits and actually enjoying all the visits from grandparents, grandaunts and uncles, and friends who wanted to see how he was doing! He loved the many balloons and soft toys he got too! By the evening of day 4 (2 Oct 2013), Hashim was smiling broadly again. He didn’t seem to be in anymore physical pain, the swelling had gone down tremedously and only the remaining bit of the brusing remained. By this time, we were already going through our second bottle of helichrysum, and maybe our second or third bottle each of Lavender and Valor. It was worth every drop seeing the improvements Hashim had made. He had very bad congestion in his nose, though, due to the fact his nose had flattened a little but I noticed the constant oiling was causing his nose to leak a lot of mucus, something I saw as positive. He eventually started breathing less noisily too. We used a nasal spray to help him drain the mucuses out and also soaked him in a tub filled with epsom salts and idaho blue spruce which really further aided the thinning of the mucus so that trapped mucus could drain out easily. We brought him to the ENT specialist a few days after and was told that there wasn’t a need to perform any procedures on him. Thank God. He was still young and the structural damages, though they looked terrible, didn’t seem like they were causing any major harm to his respiratory issues. It was more of a wait and see approach and I was told to only monitor his mild sleep apnea, that it didn’t worsen due to the accident. We were given prescription antihistamines just in case 🙂 Coincidentally, I just learnt around this time as well that Helichrysum could also be used as an expectorant! Lavender also has similar properties, so we continued oiling with these 2 oils around the nose once the bruising had lightened greatly. Besides regular mainstream care, I also brought him for a session with Therapist Yonie Bonawi and I will be forever grateful for the bottle of Trauma Life she gifted Hashim. It was our first ever bottle of Trauma Life as I had never thought to buy this oil before this. After applying Trauma Life on his big toes, temples and letting him smell the oil from my hand, he finally managed to sleep through the night for the first time since the accident. The accident had caused him severe emotional trauma and Trauma Life really worked as the name says. Also, on her and another therapist, Cynthia’s, advice, we used Valor on his sacrum daily and held our hands over the area, as well as pressed Sacred Frankincense to the roof of his mouth whenever he allowed it. This really helped to sharpen and straighten Hashim’s nose! More than a year later, if one looks at Hashim now, there are absolutely no traces of the accident AT ALL. He has gained back his full confidence and his nose is sharp too! The oils worked miraculously and I am forever thankful to God for this. I shudder to think how differently things would be had it not been for the oils. Everyone should really own Young Living oils to add to their First Aid kit. You never know when you will need them, and you never know when you will be amazed by them.

Kids Love Oils!

These are my boys. Pic was taken some time last year – probably in August when Abdullah was just a teeny tiny 1++ month old and Hashim wasn’t even 3 (I miss his wispy Beatles hair!).

This pic was taken just earlier this evening (it inspired this post!). The boys had gotten hold of the unattended bag of oils and were playing with it while I was trying to prepare Hashim’s supplements. Kids are often drawn to the oils because they know it is good for them! Often, when they ‘randomly’ pick an oil, you’d be surprised that they picked an oil that they actually need! The essential oils have a high frequency and often, when picked without biasness, we will be drawn to what works best for us. Tonight, Abdullah picked Thieves essential oil – befitting for that last bit of nasty phlegm that just doesn’t want to leave his body, and Hashim picked Rose – which he wanted to “snell” (smell). Hashim fell asleep soon after that :).

Often I am asked if my kids are oiled daily….and the answer is Yes! Here is what the kids usually get:

Abdullah gets a rub with Diluted Lemongrass oil every morning after his bath and before sleep. This has replaced the standard “Minyak Telon” that most people use. Much more natural and smells lovely! Lemongrass is also good for his ligaments. Sometimes, if we have time, the rub turns into a full body massage and Abdullah enjoys it. He suddenly keeps still instead of trying to turn around and crawl away! He also gets Valor on his feet daily (we do the Valor hold for him) and on his spine sometimes (if he doesn’t try to crawl off when we turn him on his tummy!). When he is slightly colicky, we massage his tummy clockwise with Digize oil and he farts soon after hehe. Due to the fact that we sleep in an air conditioned room, the cold sometimes leaves Abdullah a little chesty, and for that, we have RC! We rub it on his chest and back and he breathes better. If the congestion is bad, we give him a chest rub of a mix of Coconut Oil, Peppermint, Lemon & Eucalyptus Radiata. This mix smells lovelyyyy like the Malay kueh koleh-koleh hehe. Clears the congestion up too! If Abdullah has had a super active day, I would apply Peace and Calming on his shoulders and neck for him to sleep a little better. There are days when applying Peace and Calming for Abdullah makes Mummy more sleepy than baby 😉

Hashim has a slightly different routine. Every morning after bath, he will get Valor on his spine along with a back massage. Some days, we add Juvaflex to help mantain a healthy liver as he has G6PDD and is more at risk for liver related conditions. He will always ask for RC on his chest and Digize on his tummy without fail – these oils are nice and warm. If he is a little cranky and out of sorts, we will apply Release over his liver and hold our hand over the area for a few minutes. He also gets a drop or two of Transformation and Brain Power to support his condition. Before bed, we repeat the same Valor routine along with RC and Digize. We also add RutaVala roll-on, which has been helpful for his sleep, and either Cedarwood or Vetiver on his brain stem – we let him choose. If he has had an overly eventful day, we take out the special Rose oil and apply to his big toe using Vitaflex technique – this helps to drive the oil further in (Mummy will then proceed to inhale whatever is left of the Rose oil on hand to relax as well). On top of the oils, Hashim also gets his daily dose of supplements! Ningxia Red twice a day, Sulfurzyme twice or thrice a day, and half an ImmuPro Chewable Tablet (NFR product from USA) as and when we feel necessary or upon his request! The supplements have been working great for Hashim and the effectiveness of the oils seem to have amplified since he started his supplements!

Both kids also get Thieves on their feet if we are going out, and if there is a particularly nasty virus in the air we add ImmuPower as well. On top of that, we also use Lavender oil whenever the kids have a booboo and Purification oil whenever they are bitten by mosquitoes.

So there you have it, these are some of the oils we use on a daily basis for the kiddos. No hard and fast rule on what to use. Some days, the kids get more oils, and some days, less but most importantly, we enjoy our oiling sessions and I hope many more parents get to experience the same joy as us! Happy oiling!

Oily Baby – Abdullah Alsree

This is my second born – Abdullah! Abdullah is a true blue oily baby. When a friend did this meme for me, I thought it was hilarious, but apt. Hehe. After all, Abdullah has been exposed to oils since utero. I used Progessence Phyto Plus to provide support to my hormones before and during pregnancy (please check with your healthcare professional if you are using oils for the first time). Gentle Baby & Rose Ointment to prevent new stretch marks (it lightened my old stretch marks too!), Valor & Stress Away (among others) to make my pregnancy much more comfortable and even oils during labour (this deserves an entire post in itself, lol). After Abdullah was born, he was anointed with Sacred Frankincense. Abdullah is now 8months 3weeks, happy & healthy! Since birth, all his baby woes have been fixed with essential oils, breast milk, coconut oil & prayer!

Look out for my oily birth story soon! Adious!