robot_parade

So, Sunday evening (Easter), I'm working on supper, when one of the kids comes in to tell us that his brother 'fell of his bike'. My wife goes to check things out. Just as I'm starting to worry, my son comes back in and tells me that my wife needs me. Uh oh. I shut off the stove and run out. My wife is holding our 9 year old, with his bike off to one side and concerned kids and adults around. I go over, and he's just regaining consciousness. He's got several scrapes and apparently ate some pavement. His helmet has a nice scratch and dent in it. He asks 'what happened?' several times, and is crying. I get his attention, and ask some basic questions to see if he's responding ok. He's able to answer my questions. He doesn't seem to have any injuries other than scrapes and bruises, so we take him inside to look him over. He seems ok. Both his pupils are dilating normally. Since it was obviously a pretty bad spill, and he hit his head and lost consciousness (we think, he may have just been groggy), we decide to take him to the kid's ER. I drive him there, checking on him along the way. We got to the ER, and got him checked out. He gets a cat scan and an x-ray. No problems show up on either, so they clean him up and release him. What a relief. He's been sore today, and is supposed to rest for a few more days. And he's got to go back to the dentist to get his chipped tooth looked at some more. But it looks like he's going to be fine.

genuinegirly

What a terrifying experience. So glad to hear the little guy is ok.

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Charlatan

This is the reality of having kids. I don't think I've ever had that sort of incident with my son but with my daughter, the younger of the two, there were a number crazy spills and potential poisonings... She's like that.

The worst was when her stroller rolled backwards off our front steps and flipped completely over. Luckily she was strapped in and ended up hanging in space rather than getting her head dashed on the concrete (though from where I was standing it looked like she bashed her head). Then there was the time a horse kicked her in the face. That one end with her barfing about 20 minutes after the strike and an immediate trip to the hospital.

I can go on but it just turns my stomach to think about it.

The good news is she appears to be a fine and healthy 6-year-old. I just hope I can keep her alive until she moves out.

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mixedmedia

One evening about four months ago my (then) 9-year-old daughter was missing for about four hours. I had neglected several of the cardinal rules of good parenting and allowed her to go with a friend and her mom to Chuck E Cheese without knowing the mother's cell phone number (or giving her mine) or the apartment she lived in (they had just moved to a new apartment). So instead of bringing her home after Chuck E Cheese, she decided to wander around town shopping and getting her 'eyebrows done' while I was nearly catatonic with fear. Police were swarming the apt complex, the whole bit. They were finally found at the nearby WalMart at about 9:30. It was the most dreadful fear I have ever felt in my life, I was totally traumatized - nearly paralyzed with fear, and I don't believe I will ever get over it.

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The_Jazz

I had one of these last night, actually. We were getting the boys ready for bed, and as are their habit these days, both boys were running around with lots of energy. I was sitting on a bed with Max sitting next to me, and Drew was about 3 feet away standing on a cedar chest underneath a window. He got down all by himself (after figuring out he couldn't just step off it), so Bec (who was standing a few feet away) and I cheered. So did Max but he laid back on the bed and starting flailing his arms and legs to bring the attention back to him. Drew walked over to Max because, well, he's a little brother, and Max kicked him backwards. Drew fell straight back and hit the base of his head against the chest, right where the skull ends and the neck begins. All I could think is "this is bad".

Fortunately he just had a little bump and some redness, but he wasn't a happy guy. We couldn't yell at Max since he never saw Drew, but I did have to take a deep breath before telling Max that he needs to be more careful around Drew.

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Tully Mars

Ummm, is this other mother still breathing?

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f6twister

Last year, we moved into a house which has all of the bedrooms upstairs. We moved from a ground floor apt which is where we lived since my son was a few months old and before my daughter was born. Consequently, my kids never had much experience with stairs. Shortly after moving in, my daughter is starting to walk downstairs and trips. She lands on her side and, only being 2 1/2, was able to roll down the stairs sideways. On normal stairs, she would have been fine. Unfortunately, at the landing where she is headed, there is an approximately one foot square post cap which is set very low (not my design). As she gets to the bottom, her head smacks the corner of the cap causing her head to snap back. As my wife and I start to examine her, we see blood trickling off the top of her head and down her face. We took her to the hospital and she was fine. The blood was coming from a laceration that wasn't as bad once the blood was cleaned up. She checked out fine for everything else but we didn't think she would based on the way her head snapped back when she hit the post.

My kids are now 5 and 3 with one more on the way. I've been to the ER twice (once for each kid) and a visit to a doctors office walk in clinic. I can't wait to see what the 3rd kid brings.

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ItWasMe

They say cats have 9 lives, but I swear we parents go through more from just watching what our kids do.

I'm glad he wasn't injured more seriously. Give the little guy a hug for me. But not too tightly.

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Cheater

I guess all parents have had, or will have, similar experiences. The first thing we ask ourselves is, "what could I have done to prevent this?"
I remember my oldest son falling off his bike and hitting his head on the tailpipe of my truck, putting quite a gash over his eye. (by the way, hospitalization wouldn't cover it because it involved a motor vehicle, I had to file through auto insurance). The second son fell off of a small bike at 18months and broke his leg (we thought it was a sprain, but it turned out to be a hairline fracture). And then there was the bookcase that fell on my daughter's toe in church, blood soaked through the white tights she was wearing. Of course there were many other bumps and bruises along the way, but they survived.
And now I ask about the experience in the ER. Were you given the third degree by the staff? My wife and I were questioned and the child was always asked separately as to what happened. Honest, there were no other signs that the children were being mistreated. I guess it's just that we have become so paranoid about parental abuse that everyone is suspect.

StanT

Welcome to parenthood, I'm an active outdoors kind of clod and I raised a couple of girls just like me. Many, many trips to the ER.


Oh ya, My favorite was when my daughter fell off her bike and broke her arm. The doctor was removing asphalt from her elbow and knee, with a broken helmet nearby, while the cop was asking my daughter "what really happened".

gladiator

thanks god that he is well , this is the best thing in the whole subject ,,,,

kramus

I remember one of my little guys (he'll be 25 this year, so I'm talking about a long time ago) zipped out of the bathroom while I was getting a towel down for him. When they walk at 10 months it can get pretty hairy. The stairs were right there - hardwood, steep, narrow. He ran straight out into space. I was right behind him and dove head first down the stairs. Was able to catch him in the air before he hit anything. Problem was, I then couldn't move because I was holding him in my arms, and my legs were spread out and pressing against the walls to brake our fall. Any movement and I would have continued down the stairs and probably crushed the little guy in the process. Luckily the ex was home, and within earshot, and she came and fetched the boy from me so I could get myself off the stairs. I was a bit banged up but he was fine.

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girldetective

1) Falling off a cement stoop on a trike and having to pull bottom lip off impaled tooth.

2) Throwing the girl up with fun and laughter after her bath, when her head hit a low hanging light bulb.

3) Looking frantically thoughout the apt for a crawling Mary. When I finally opened the front door with a sinking heart, there she was halfway down the stairs, all smiley and drooly. I was very, very thankful and congratulated her on her new stair-climbing feat between tears.

4) A peanut in the nose hardly qualifies as an emergency since I could not stop laughing, but Mary certainly thought it was.

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settie

I'm not a parent yet, but I was quite a handful as a kid, and I've heard the stories of my accidents, and recall some too, from my mom. I'll share a few:

- When I was about 5, I was at my grandma's house, and she had family visiting for a few days. Her brother-in-law took heart pills, and I managed to get my hands on them and swallow them!

- When I was a little kid, I managed to swallow some crazy chemicals. I think I ingested polish, or wood cleaner.

- When I was 7, I ripped open the space between my bottom lip and chin while sleeping. We have no idea how, but it involved a lot of stitches, and left a nasty scar.

- We have 14 narrow steps going up to the bedrooms in my house, and my brother and I fell down them countless times, even more recently. My brother managed to sprain his arm when he was 2 falling down those damn steps. And they're carpeted!

- This one is the best. I was maybe between a year and two years, sitting in a car seat. My mom ran inside the house to grab something. The car was off. I managed to take off the emergency brake, and the car rolled down our sloped driveway, and up the driveway of the neighbours. lol! Every time my mom tells that story, she mentions how terrifying that was.

- I was/am a very clumsy person. I remember when I first got my tall dresser, it was on carpet, and wobbled. Nearly every time I opened up the doors, it would fall on me. I was about 6 or 7 around that time.

- Even more recently I've managed to scare my mother by slicing my hands open and heading off to the hospital by myself, having a shock seizure, dislocating my ankles numerous times, and a workplace incident that kept me in bed for a few days.

mixedmedia

Yes, of course, but she no longer lives here.
I consider the incident to be my fault, though. I cannot account for her actions, but I was a fool to allow my daughter (and myself) to be left at the mercy of them. It will never happen again, you can be sure of that.

__________________
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce