Sunday, October 25, 2009

Breaking the baby

Meg fell down the stairs today. I'm not sure what happened. Normally the basement door is closed (usually she's the one who closes it) but this morning Bjorn was in the basement doing laundry and she must have decided to follow him downstairs. I didn't hear anything except the thuds. That's right, thuds PLURAL.

We both rushed to her and she was naturally screaming crying. And bleeding. She'd landed on her face just right and busted her lip. It was heartbreaking to see her so upset and awful to think this could have been prevented.

We attended to her quickly. We assessed that she didn't have a brain injury -- she was responsive, crying and all that. But I did worry a little about stitches inside her mouth. It was early enough on Sunday that we could just make doctor's office walk-in hours. I was glad I did. Dr. Murphy looked in her eyes and ears. He said with a real brain injury, she'd have bleeding inside the ears. That was good to hear. The nurse also taught me a trick to assess pupils -- turn off and on the light quickly and see if they dilate. That's the kind of test I can do.

He looked in her mouth and surprisingly, she wasn't that pissed off about it. There was some blood inside her mouth and all over her teeth, which was icky. He diagnosed her with a busted frendulum, which is that thing connecting the gums to the lip. No stitches necessary, which was good. He said to give her salt drops for her minor nose bleed and not to worry about cleaning her mouth -- the saliva would do that. Good thing, she'd be pissed to have me fishing around in there. I was really glad I took her to the doctor's. I think I would have stressed that she was really hurt and I didn't take her. Plus he swabbed her sore throat for strep. Bonus!

She came home and took a nap while the lovely Jennifer came to take Andy to the Halloween party at the lake. He was a champ while we were at the doctor's so it was nice he could get some special time with "Gemminer" rather than waiting for Meg to wake up. Once she did, we hiked down to the park and met up with a bunch of neighbors.

It was nice seeing friendly faces after a rough morning. Especially nice because as I showed off my girlie with her busted lip, they all expressed sympathy and had a similar story of their own to share. I love other honest parents. This parenting thing is quite an adventure that can get pretty competitive. I love finding other folks who are happy to share a bottle of wine, pat you on the shoulder, laugh and move on.

4 comments:

  1. OH, so sorry you guys went through that. Yes, it definitely happens to all... I put Mary in a bumboo sitter thing when she was five months old- ON the BAR COUNTER top and yes, when I turned to the pantry, she wiggled off onto the hardwood floor. Yes, we went to the emergency room (5:30 on a Tuesday evening) and yes, she was fine. But total face plant for an infant. Could have been prevented by mom smarter than a fifth grader. Or by any idiot that had more brains in their head then I did. A friend of mine talked me into putting her up on the counter to "be at eye level! She will love it!" "But the directions say floor only" I protested. "nothing will happen! She will love it!" Alas. I was SO STUPID. I gave the thing away the very next day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Poor you. Poor Meg. And you're right. Once when G3 fell out of his high chair face-flat on the floor - my wonderful pediatrician said to me, "don't feel so badly about it. I haven't met a parent who hasn't had this happen to them. If they say they haven't - they are lying" - loved her for that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Poor Meggie! I'm glad she's okay. And yes, this kind of thing happens to everybody.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Poor chicken! But I think we all had some minor head trauma as kids and we all turned out okay, right? It adds character!

    ReplyDelete