It is pretty chaotic having four toddlers running around at the same time. The other night, Greg and I were both home and I had Capri on the changing table to put on her pajamas. Xayden was sitting at the horseshoe shaped table which has four little seats hooked onto it. It has been so nice to have those chairs as they allow the Sugar Snaps to sit at the table and eat or do ‘table time’ activities like puzzles and art. For a while now, some of the Sugar Snaps have tested boundaries by shimmying out of their chairs, even when strapped in, and either standing up or climbing onto the table. I have lost track of how many times we have said, “sit down!” It is so many though that they can all imitate it complete with the same intonation. It is interesting to hear how we sound through the voice of our children.
On this night, Xayden shimmied out of his seat and quickly stood on the table while Greg and I called ‘sit down!’ from across the room as I changed Capri and Greg helped Ryder. Before we could prevent it he fell off the table on the inside of the horseshoe and hit his head hard on the slate floor. Greg, who was closest ran and scooped Xayden off the floor feeling the large bump that had risen immediately out of the back of his head. He walked over to me (still at the changing table) and I took Xayden and felt the bump on his head. While Greg watched Capri, I ran to the freezer with Xayden to get a bag of frozen grapes for his head. Then, I ran to the car and drove him straight to the emergency room of a local hospital.
The bump was so large that emergency room personnel did not have to examine him to see it. They saw it as soon as I approached the counter with Xayden in my arms and said, “we need to get this kid triaged.” When they found out he fell from a table onto a slate floor, they found us a bed right away where I sat and held him. I am sure they wondered why I let my child stand on a table and fall onto the slate floor (as evidenced by momentarily raised eyebrows). I explained that we have four two year-old toddlers and it seemed to make more sense to them.
The very nice ER doctor took a look at Xayden and explained that many doctors would automatically send him for a CT scan based on the size and location of the bump but he wanted me to know our options based on science. He said that the kind of trauma where there is bleeding in the brain is like a needle in a haystack, rare and hard to find. Xayden was alert, had not vomited or lost consciousness and his pupils looked normal. It was unlikely, though possible, that Xayden had that level of trauma. He explained that the back of the head is more vulnerable than the front in terms of skull fracture. I was surprised as I would have imagined the opposite as the front feels more vulnerable because of the face. He explained that if he had bruising underneath or a fracture, he would likely be admitted and then would have more CT scans to monitor him and it was like ‘opening Pandora’s box.’ Each CT scan would increase Xayden’s chances of getting cancer in the future and no further treatment would be provided. Given that information, after speaking with Greg on the phone, we opted to take him home. Every two hours I awoke Xayden who we put in a pack’n’play by the bed and asked him what letter his name started with and what was the name of his Lovie (with whom he sleeps). Luckily, he knew the answers.
The next day, we took the Sugar Snaps to a birthday party at a park. This was the same park where we did the Easter Egg Hunt and a child from our multiples group had fallen off the structure that day and was momentarily unconscious. They went to the emergency room and he was fortunately all right. We had all four Sugar Snaps at the playground. Grayson has stood perilously close to the edge many times and Greg’s eyes were on him (and Ryder) as they climbed higher. Capri climbed onto another part of the structure while I watched her. We had momentarily stopped watching Xayden (though we knew exactly where he was). He had never had the tendency to dance with danger on the edge which made play structures seem ‘Xayden proof.‘ But, this time he did and fell right off, landing on his bottom before falling back onto the bump on his head. We felt like parents of the year. He fell not once, but twice in the same weekend! Parents shared their ER stories with us and we realized that we are not the only ones who have been there. While we do not want any families to need emergency services, it is nice to know that other parents are human too and their kids have also fallen when they were right there. I spent another night waking Xayden up every two hours and asking him questions just in case. Thankfully, he is doing well and describes his experience as “uh oh table. Xayden fall bump head.”
Have you been to the emergency room with anyone in your family? Please share your experiences in the comments. It helps to know we are not alone. If you have an extra moment, please click on the Circle of Moms Top 25 button on the upper right side of the sidebar and vote for us by finding the Capri + 3 button on the contest and clicking ‘vote.’ You can do this once every 24 hours through May 8th. We’d love to make it to the top 25 this year. Thank you.
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