"Traumatic Evening"

We have made it almost 2 years without a serious injury. However, that all changed last night. Our sweet boy fell 4 feet off of a chair onto our stone floor, landing directly onto his head. He was in my arms and we had been quoting some of the children's catechisms and some songs that I have been teaching him and I needed to look for my book to teach him the next one. Our day had been absolutely perfect, he had been an angel all day and such a "snuggler" with me. Our leather chair is right next to our bookcase and there is maybe a foot of space between the back of the chair and the bookcase, separated by our stone floor. I sat him in the chair and told him to stay on his bottom while mommy looked for the book that I needed. I opened the bookcase and literally 1 second later, I saw him flip over the chair and land directly on his forehead on the stone floor. He was so close to me that he actually hit me going down. It was truly the most horrific thing I have ever seen, and the sound of his head hitting the floor is haunting me in my sleep and during the day. I am paralyzed even walking past the bookcase today. My first thought was that it killed him instantly - I mean it had to have, hitting his head that hard. I just started screaming and calling out to Jesus. I scooped him up and held him so tightly I am sure he couldn't breathe. After about 15 minutes, he looked up at me and said, "okay mommy". Jay was doing a visitation of someone from church at the hospital, so I had thought about just meeting him there. But, we decided for Jay to come home (and he was home in about 5 minutes), and we would assess the situation. I was watching EB closely for any signs of concussion or other trauma and from what I could tell, he was acting normal. However the night before, I had attended a CPR and first aid certification class and we ended the class discussing head injuries. Learning what I had just the night before, I knew in my heart that we needed to take him in for evaluation and x-rays. So, we packed him up - it was 5:30pm, and headed to the doctor. We were finally in a room at 7:30pm and out of there at 8:00. Elijah Brooks was as calm and sweet as I have ever seen him and I know that God was working in his little heart helping him deal with everything that had just happened. He never cried at the doctor's office the 3 hours. He thanked each doctor and nurse for everything that they did. He said, "TANK YOO" after getting his pulse checked, temperature checked, weight checked, pupils checked, and 3 x-rays of his skull. I cried almost the entire 3 hours and especially after seeing him tell everyone thank you for helping him. Fortunately, there were no skull fractures and no bleeding or internal swelling. The doctor did want us to wake him up every 3 hours through the night to check his breathing, pupils, and color. I set my clock and followed doctor's orders. We arrived home at 8:15 and I threw dinner in the oven that I was working on right before all of this happened, and we sat down together for dinner at 8:45! EB's bedtime is 6:45 so this was crazy late for him, but he wanted a popsicle and some corn, so that's what he got!! I told him he could have whatever he wanted to :)

I still feel very traumatized by the whole incident. I couldn't sleep at all because I kept playing it over and over in my mind. But, I know that God was with him before, during, and after the fall and I trust HIM wholeheartedly with my child's life. He belongs to the Lord. God has great plans for his life and Elijah Brooks is MEANT TO BE HERE.


Eating corn on the cob at 9:00pm!


And yogurt :)