Poor Ellie. This weekend was not the best for her.
On Friday I went to get a manicure and pedicure while my mom watched the kids (it was part of her birthday gift to me!). I wanted to be ready for my cousin Maria's baby shower on Saturday that we were hosting. When I came home, I found Robbie to be in one of his wild / reckless moods. Sometimes he gets excited when my mom or sister spend time with us and he gets a little out of control. This never bodes well for Ellie. While mom was still there, he pushed Ellie over backwards (from sitting) onto the tile floor. I had to take him into the bathroom for 'conversations' and spankings several times in a row.
He seemed to finally calm down and respond to my discipline, and after my mom left I took the kids down to the family room to play and clean up before Rob came home. While I wasn't looking, Ellie apparently made a break for the stairs. I heard a thud/crash and then Ellie's crying, and turned around to see her lying on her back at the bottom of our family room half flight of wooden stairs. I scooped her up, feeling awful that I didn't even see the fall, and consoled her for a few minutes. After she calmed down a bit I searched the back of her head through her hair for a goose egg or any sign of blood. Nothing. I figured she was fine, and turned her around to face me only to discover the enormous swelling bruise about an inch in diameter above her left eye. It was alarmingly big to me, and I called the doctor just to be on the safe side and to make sure I knew everything that I should do for her. I had no idea she had fallen face first! After observing her behavior, pupils, and checking her through the night, she seems to have come through her first really bad tumble just fine. She's a tough one.
All night Friday and into the early morning hours of Saturday, we got a TON of rain. So much so that the typical places around our house that don't handle lots of rain well were showing signs of a threatening flood. We were up at 5:30am managing the pooling water outside for hours and keeping it from coming into our home. Thankfully we were successful. However, I was unable to drive to Indianapolis for my cousin's shower as planned. I couldn't leave Rob home alone with the kids AND the flash flood warnings and forecasted rain through 4pm! It was a disappointing choice to have to make but it turned out to be the right one. Streets all over Wheaton were totally submerged under water, and our favorite park continues to be at least a 2 foot deep pond. Many of our friends have flooded basements and huge messes to deal with.
Saturday was spent here at home, and ended up being a fairly typical weekend day with the exception of Rob's brother Brad who was in town for a wedding. We put the kids to bed as usual that evening, and while Brad was at a friend's wedding nearby, Rob and I enjoyed a quiet dinner, favorite dessert and a movie.
As Ellie was still settling down to sleep, we could hear her fussing, which is typical if her daily schedule has been thrown off. But one of her cries got me up off the couch right away (if you're a mom, you know the kind I'm talking about - you just know something isn't right).
When I went into her room I found her screaming and saw her leg twisted around the crib rails. It looked as if she had been dangling her right leg out of the side of the crib, then tucked her foot back into the crib through the next slat, and somehow wiggled it into a position that was totally binding since she was laying up against the side. After a few seconds of gently trying to untuck her foot to free her leg, I realized that I was nearly helpless and possibly hurting her. My heart started pounding and I and insistently yelled for Rob. I could only imagine that her leg would be dislocated after we got her out of this mess, if it wasn't already. It was a terrible feeling until Rob and I were able to free her, and it took both of us to lift her and work her leg out of the rails. We gently checked her leg after she calmed down for bruises and sensitivity to pain, and moved it around. She was fine and went back to sleep a few minutes later happy, as if nothing had happened.
I hate these moments as a mom though, being so shaken up over the safety of your baby. And to have two back to back like this (the fall down the stairs and then the leg through the crib) sandwiched around our attempts to keep flood waters out of our home... it was not a restful weekend!
But I am so thankful that God saw fit to protect Ellie in these situations that could have ended with greater injury, and am reminded that I can't protect and shield her from everything that will inevitably come along. It is a daily exercise to place my children back into their Father's hands and trust that He loves them even more than I do and will watch over them as He sees fit and best for them.
********************
(*Please know that we have of course tried every type of baby gate for our stairs and nothing fits our home, short of having something custom build and permanently fixed onto our bannisters.)
3 comments:
Both of my boys have tumbled down our stairs despite a gate...and both have had pretty large lumps...you aren't a bad Mommy!!!! Take it easy after such a long, trying weekend!
Oh my. Your little Ellie sounds a lot like my Mattie. These are things she does on a regular basis (legs through the crib rails, tumbles when I turn my head... she has also been known to strong-arm a gate into submission so she can be "freed from her prison"). ;)
I am glad she made it through the weekend with no broken bones, despite the threats of serious injury. :)
oh goodness! so sorry! kids fall though. it's part of life. we have never had baby gates on our stairs-don't feel bad! you can't watch them every minute...glad you survived!
Post a Comment