Mr Bump

The Little Man had an accident. It happens, but sometimes it worse than normal as was the case last Friday. As it was a nice day all three children were playing in the garden while I was cooking dinner in the kitchen and dad was working on his music (also in the garden)

The Little Man tripped and cracked his forehead on the concrete back step. I was there right in front of him, daddy was right behind him, there was nothing either of us could have done to save him from the fall. I froze in fear and daddy picked him up, but he wanted me so I pulled myself together and took him into the house. I watched as the lump on his forehead grew and grew and grew, it didn’t look like it was ever going to stop. Daddy brought me a cold flannel and I placed it on with gentle pressure. The Little Man’s eyes starting rolling and I thought he was losing conciousness so we called an ambulance. They were here in less than five minutes. We managed to keep Little Man awake and the ambulance crew did all the tests. They said he was ok, it was a nasty bump but his vital signs were good, there was no bleeding, or weeping from the ears or nose and he hadn’t lost conciousness. They said they would take him to hospital but it would only be for observation. I asked if we could keep him home. I’ve done it before, hour after hour in A&E just didn’t seem appealing and Little Man would have become even more distressed. So we kept him home, knowing exactly what we were looking out for. The ambulance crew stayed with us for 45 minutes and kept checking him over. Then they let him have a tour of the ambulance, along with his sisters which made them all happy. I didn’t let him out of my sight all night, he slept in my bed and slept well. In the morning he was his usual chirpy self and I knew he was fine. Drama over for this time!

We’d had a similar drama with Boo when she was the same age. She’d fallen backwards off a sit and ride toy in the garden and hit the back of her head. She didn’t seem to bad afterwards, but an hour later had a fit and lost conciousness. I really thought I’d lost her as she went limp and lifeless in my arms, it makes me feel quite ill just thinking about it now. We called an ambulance and they calmed us down saying she was ok. She’d had a febrile convulsion and although it had seemed like she’d stopped breathing, in fact she was breathing all the time, it was just very shallow. We took her to hospital but she came around in the ambulance and within an hour was back to normal. They checked her head while there and said she was fine and that the head injury was unrelated to the convulsion, it was just a nasty coincidence. How unlucky is that?

Going back now 20 years, Eldest Daughter also had a fall against the step in the garden but she managed to split her head open. I’m not good with blood and while sitting with my bleeding daughter in my lap I had a friend fanning me to stop me from passing out.  She also called an ambulance and the result was three stitches, but again she was fine and recovered quickly.

Just in case you are now beginning to think I’m a bad mum, may I please point out that I have two other children who have not been rushed to hospital or required emergency care for head injuries. Fingers very tightly crossed.