Three weeks ago, I posted about E’s finger…now looking back on it, I completely over reacted but am somehow ok with how the whole thing turned out (embarrassment and all). I thought the experience would offer something down the road.
I didn’t expect to rely on it so quickly. On Wednesday, E fell. I’d rather not discuss the details, but will say that he managed to bang his forehead, I think he ended up landing mouth first as his two front teeth were incredibly bloody and bruised. His head, although slightly banged up, was not bleeding, and didn’t look awful. It was about 15 minutes before A was getting home, so I tried to calm down E and manage all the blood. Like the hands, the mouth bleeds a ton.
When A was home, E had calmed down. A looked at him, saw that he was acting normal and that, although bloody, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. We finished the night off with E and off to bed at 7, like usual.
I called the nurse triage to see what to look for. I was searching online prior to the phone call and saw that in most cases, people were told to be on the lookout for certain signs (vomiting, sleepiness, etc.). I called and the nurse told me that I needed to bring him in to get checked out. Since it was later, we had to go to the ER.
We woke E up, brought him to the ER where he was born, waited a good 2 hours and were finally seen. While waiting, E was amazing-entertaining the other people with his crawling around chasing his car, and smiling at everyone.
The ER doctor, after examining E, said that we needed to be transferred to Children’s. I immediately started crying as I was sure of what this meant. He asked if we wanted to drive or take an ambulance. Of course we wanted to drive. The doctor then came back and said he was going to send us in an ambulance. That had me even more worried.
A went, checked us out, got the car to follow and waited outside while E and I waited for the ambulance. We boarded it, E was a little nervous with the new people and situation, but calmed down quickly. We arrived at Children’s, checked in, were visited by two nurses, an attending, and a doctor. E was acting like his normal self, even though it was now about midnight. After all the visits from the medical staff, we were told that it was ‘nothing’. He has some bruises on his gums, a bruise on his forehead, but that he is fine. The doctor actually inquired why we were sent over to Children’s.
I am so reassured with the outcome. I would have always wondered if we didn’t bring E in, but after 5 hours in ER’s, I was emotionally and physically drained. Two days later I still am.
I am questioning my ability to be a mom. I know that accidents happen. E is a boy, he will fall down often. But twice in 3 weeks. God. I know that these two things were not my fault. I didn’t cause them, they just happened. Yet I can’t stop questioning myself.
E is trucking along. Once in a while, he will scream in what I think may be pain from bumping his teeth, or something. But he’s his normal self, healthy with a bump on his head and all.
