This past Sunday started out like every other Sunday in Mama J's household. Dada J was out walking the pooch, Mama J was getting M presentable for our weekend brunch reservations, and then starting to get herself presentable for the public eye. (Switch to first person...!)
After I showered and donned my finest white terrycloth robe (that I think has been washed twice in the last 10 years) I had decided that M had watched enough TV already for one morning so we needed to go downstairs and play, and I would finish getting ready when Papa J was home. As soon as we stepped off the stairs she took off running, which is what she always does these days - running around the first floor like it is a race track. I let her go, as she obviously had some energy to burn, and sat at my computer to check email.
Well 1 minute later I see her face plant on the hardwood floor out of the corner of my eye. I immediately knew she had done some damage, as she was running as fast as she could, didn't put her hands out to break her fall, and the noise of the fall made my spine tingle. I ran to her immediately, and all hell broke loose.
She had broken her fall with her nose and mouth - and there was blood everywhere. There was a puddle under her face already when I picked her up screaming. I immediately brought her to the kitchen island and grabbed the nearest dish towel to try and stop the bleeding. It was coming from her nose and from her mouth as far as I could tell, so the first thing I did was check to see if all her teeth were still there - check!
She was writhing in pain and there was so much blood it looked like a crime scene. I tried to maintain composure as my babies face was covered in blood, I was standing there with nothing but a robe on and wet hair and my husband wasn't answering his cell (which was in the pocket of the jacket he was wearing). My first instinct was to run outside to see if I could see my husband walking down the street with the dog - so picture the crazy pregnant woman in a blood spattered robe, carrying a screaming child that looks like she just went 10 rounds in the ring, screaming in the middle of the street at 9 AM on a Sunday morning. I was shocked that none of my neighbors came out of their houses.
Immediately I realized how ridiculous this situation was, and that I needed to be proactive. I ran at top speed inside and upstairs and threw on whatever clothes I could find in the clean laundry piled on the floor. I grabbed the diaper bag and started to put M in the carseat - Thank the universe that at the same time I saw my husband rounding the corner and screamed to him to run as I think M had broken her nose.
The ride to the hospital was the longest 10 minutes of my life. My heart was absolutely breaking as my beautiful sweet baby was strapped down in her carseat, screaming for me to give her "big huggies!" as I wiped blood away from her ridiculously swollen face. She no longer looked like the child I knew, but someone that was in a terrible accident, and my body was shaking as I thought of the amount of pain she must be in and what the doctors were going to say.
The hospital experience was crazy because M just screamed the entire time and didn't want any of the doctors to get anywhere near her. There were times where it took 3 of us to actually hold her down so they could examine her - something I hope to never have to do again. Her face was so swollen they couldn't tell if her nose was broken or not. They could tell that she had torn that little piece of skin that connects your lip to your gums, as well as cut her lip with her teeth. Her nose bone was very bruised, and her face was swelling at a very rapid rate so it was hard to tell if anything was actually broken in her face. They basically left us with "put ice on it if you can, and give her tylenol, and wait and see." We were told that the next few days would be the worst, and the bruising and swelling would increase, but hopefully by the end of the week we would see the swelling go down and be able to tell if her nose was broken.
After all that, I seriously think I left the hospital more shaken up that she did. By the time we got in the car, and her pain meds had kicked in, she was singing and chatting away (with a lisp due to gigantic upper lip) like she always does! We walked in the door and she took off running again!! It was like nothing had ever happen to her. But when I looked at her she was like a different child - how could someone with that much damage done to their face bounce back so quickly after such crazy trauma!! If that was me I would have been a waste of space.
So here we are on day 5, and today is the first day that I feel like she is starting to look like herself again. The swelling has finally gone down on her lip, but it is still crazy bruised and bloody on the inside. Her nose bruise is now yellowing and the swelling has gone down between her eyes and under her eyes. From what I can tell her nose seems to be straight, so I am hoping that we are in the clear of a broken nose situation.
I still can't believe this all happened to her just 5 short days ago. It was such a shocking situation that I hope none of you ever have to experience. To see your child with that much blood on them and not be able to make them feel better yourself is a terrible thing. I cannot get the image of her when I first picked her up out of my head, and every time I think about it I tear up. No one should have to see their child in that state.
I keep thinking about the fact that she fell because we came downstairs - why didn't we just stay upstairs as I had planned! What could I have done differently to make this not happen to her? Why didn't I fall down the stairs and hurt myself, instead of her getting hurt? Of course, all the things that a mother thinks about when their child is hurt in someway.
I am still amazed at how resilient she was during all of this. To be back to her normal cheery self within hours of this happening. To still want to run around the house (which I quickly tried to put the kibosh on but it is hard to keep a running girl down) after taking such a bad digger! My kid is a rockstar.
I hope this is the worst of what is to happen to her for a long time, if not the rest of her life (a mama can dream!)
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