Tuesday, December 8, 2009

While I was out...

Last night I took my daughter to a holiday craft night / bake sale / book sale at her school. My husband stayed home with the baby. When we got home at 8:15 I was surprised to see the baby still up. When I asked my husband why Ben was still up he said "I'll tell you later" in the way he does when he doesn't want my daughter to hear. I could tell something was wrong and started thinking that some family member was ill or had been in a car accident. Turns out that while changing Ben's diaper my husband turned away for a second to shoo one of the cats away from playing with the crib bumper. In that second and that small amount of space in between the dresser and my husband, Ben fell. Onto the hardwood floor. Apparently he made quite a thud. And then my husband freaked. He called the pediatrician's office and even though Ben was alert and with no visible injuries he begged them to let him bring Ben in. So they went and the doctor found nothing wrong. They told him we shouldn't let him sleep for more than 20 to 30 minutes for 4 hours just to be sure. Throughout this little trauma my daughter and I were blissfully enjoying ourselves because my cell phone battery had died. My husband was so upset that between repeated calls to my cell phone, he called my mom (a former nurse) and asked if she could drive up today to watch Ben and called his own mother. He told me later that he cried at the doctor's office, twice. He asked the pediatrician how many times a year they see things like this and her response was "a year? how about a month?". He told me that he said to the doctor "my wife is going to kill me!" (I didn't, by the way.) The doctor was so nice she actually called the house a little after I got home to check in on Ben and my husband.

I'm not sure who I feel sorrier for Ben or my husband. Ben is(was) clearly fine. Even last night when he was obviously very tired from being kept up he was in a great mood laughing at and playing with his sister. He was fine this morning and in a good mood as usual when I dropped him off at daycare. My husband however is still upset. He's called me three times already today for no other reason than he's still upset and worried.

Last night after my husband told me that he'd called my mom I realized I'd better call her back to let her know everything was ok. Good thing I did, she was clearly waiting and was obviously upset. This morning I finally turned my phone on after charging it overnight and there was a message from my mother yelling at me to turn my phone on and call her back.

Ben is fine, but I think it might take my husband and my mom a little while to get over this one.

2 comments:

Jendeis said...

I'm so glad that Ben is doing fine. Hoping that your husband recovers soon. :)

Anonymous said...

OMG. This brings chills of recognition to many of us.

When our daughter was about 10 months old, my husband was swinging her up onto his shoulders but forgot about the lower doorway between our living and dining areas. You guess it: WHAM went baby's head against the wood molding. It was terrifying. She was, and is fine! (I swear, baby's heads are made of rubber.) My husband has never forgotten that terrible, sickening feeling, and has never forgiven himself. Please let your husband know he is far from alone in this. As you guys are, I'm sure, we were the most besotted, adoring, careful parents in the universe with our babies... Yet this crap happens sometimes.

Happy New Year to you all. Got Xmas pics? :-)

- Anne