Friday, May 22, 2009

at least she looks cute in hats

I walked in the door this afternoon with both kids, set Josie quickly in her swing and ran full speed to the bathroom before I peed my pants. I walked back out into the kitchen and Gabe was asking to wash his hands in the sink. I lifted him on top of a chair, turned on the water, and then realized I couldn't hear Josie so I ran quickly to the living room...

And found her face down on the floor next to the swing.

As I walked in, she started shrieking in a high pitched voice. I swooped her up and started looking her over to make sure she wasn't hurt. It is only about a foot and a half from the swing to the floor, but for a baby who doesn't know to protect herself or break her fall at all, it could be bad. All I could see was a small scratch and red mark at the top of her forehead, where the hairline starts, and it only took me about 15 seconds to calm her down, but I still called the pediatrician right away. They told me to bring her in for an exam, so I shoved both kids in the car and we rushed over.

In the 5 minutes it took for us to get there, the red mark on her forehead turned into a lump, but she seemed perfectly content and smiled at everyone in the doctor's office. They checked her over and she's totally fine, but I spent those 15 minutes imagining the worst and thinking I was going to have to take her to the emergency room at any moment. I'm so relieved, and now I'm just kicking myself because I KNOW BETTER. I know I shouldn't have put her down without strapping her in- it was just a stupid mistake.

I'm not sure whether she kicked or rolled over or flung herself off of the swing, or whether perhaps a certain sibling swung the swing (as he is prone to doing) and she slipped off. It doesn't matter, really, I still should have strapped her in. I'm just so happy she's okay, and I have learned my lesson. I'd been so smug about Gabe never falling off of anything, but again Josie has obliged in humbling me. Not much of a surprise there, huh?

4 comments:

Chatty Cricket said...

OH HUBRIS!!

It has been the cause of many a drop, head first, off the bed in our room onto the bare hardwood floors because I had to go find pajamas.

Sigh.

I am SO happy she is fine, but what a heart stopping moment, huh? And may I offer you a hearty (and serious) congratulations on making it 2 years and 5 months without having a baby fall off of something head first? I am SERIOUSLY impressed. We made it to 7 months with Lady before she conked her head on the aforementioned bare hardwood floors.

Swistle said...

OMG, that kind of thing STOPS THE HEART. One of my babies once fell OFF THE CHANGING TABLE. I thought I would die from the stopped heart, and then from the guilt. (I survived. So did he.)

Montreal Mama said...

Oh, so glad she's okay! The only damage we have around here lately is Sean either sitting, hitting, pushing or who knows what else to Mack. Mack needs to learn to fight back to his older brother. These days I'm usually pulling them apart. The other day Sean whacked Mack in the head with a flash light. And then later that day whacked a bucket at Mack's head that cut him. All I said was thank heavens for photoshop, hats and at least it's not his first birthday party yet!

sitting on the mood swing at the playground said...

So glad to hear she's okay. That's so scary. Here's to stories with happy endings!