Last night after putting the boys down for bed I stayed upstairs for a bit because I had some laundry to do. While I was doing laundry the boys were winding down in bed. Before I went downstairs, there was hardly any more chatter from their room. Not more than 5 minutes after coming down, I heard the scariest crash and scream in my life! As my heart fell to my stomach, I knew what had just happened and got upstairs in record speed!
There was Nathan laying on top of a toy tool bench that sits at the foot of their bunk beds. Carter was sitting on his top bunk with a look on his face like a deer in headlights. I guess Nathan had been sitting on the top bunk on a couple of pillows that were stacked up at the foot of the bed... right before he fell off.
He had a great landing... on his head and face- right on the tool bench. It wasn't put together- just sitting on the floor, but I'm sure his pain level wouldn't have been any less had the bench been put together.
As with many parents, my first instinct was to snap at him, "WHAT WERE YOU DOING UP THERE?! THIS IS WHY YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED UP THERE!!" Then I scooped him up and did a thorough check on what was hurt! The most obvious was the huge bruise and swelling developing on the side of his face. He also had a small cut on his ear (which too was swelling and already bruising), and a few large bumps on his head. I immediately called our pediatrician. She recommended taking him to the ER for a cat-scan.
Carter heard my conversation with the doctor and was upset I had to take Nathan to the hospital. I told him it was just to make sure he didn't hurt his head. -Now... this part it cute: Carter asked if the hospital was going to check that Nathan's brain didn't get hurt too. I told him yes. So, then he held up 3 fingers and asked Nathan "how many fingers am I holding up Nathan?" Nathan told him. Then, Carter held up 5 fingers and asked again. After Nathan told him, Carter informed me, "Yup, he's okay." LOL!
Luckily, my best friend Christy was able to come over to stay with Carter and Lylah, because Zach was at work. And, after a couple hours, the cat-scan (which, by the way, Nathan said sounded like a race-car), and 5 stickers for the brave patient, the doc came in to tell me everything was okay. Whew!
The bumps on his head have gone down a tone, and his face looks much better today. I took a few pics as a reminder to him of why not to be on the top bunk!
It was a good example to him that I'm not just trying to be mean with rules- they're
to keep him from getting hurt!
