Mommy paranoia

Have I ever mentioned how hypochondriacal I can be? (yes, that's a word if I say so.) Especially in regard to Little J? Big J is more verbal about it, but, i know all about everything that COULD happen (the hidden danger of majoring in biology in college) and I worry very much. Little J coughs, and i worry that he's developing pneumonia. He has a rash, and I'm concerned it's food allergies, or eczema, or scarlet fever. He scrapes his knee, and I wonder if i should take him to the emergency room...

Poor Little J bit his tongue this evening. He was standing on our bean bag, looking over the back of the couch, when he slipped and hit his chin on the hard part of the couch. Ouch! I couldn't tell at first if he had, but he was crying on me, and then he had blood oozing out of his mouth. we gave him a couple pieces of ice to suck on, and that seemed to help. Then later, he had stuck his shirt in his mouth (he had decided it was a good way to hold his shirt up when his hands are full), and it must have hurt his tongue again. He opened his mouth enough that I could see where he had bit his tongue. It's way back in his mouth, near his molars. It seems to have stopped bleeding now (cross my fingers) but, I was considering calling his pediatrician, or taking him to the emergency room. How does this relate? Well, I know the first-aid for mouth injuries, I know that wounds to the tongue usually heal very quickly, and I still had to check in my child-raising book, and online, to reassure myself that he would be okay. And I'm still so sorry for him, because it obviously hurt him quite a bit.

I don't know if I can take 18 more years of this...