Yup...I said it. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. We need a fresh start. Last week--sucked.
On
top of the normal teething, cold, work, husband who I swear somedays
just met me, we had our first real heart-stopping moment.
Tuesday
progressed like any other day--children running amuck (I mean,
learning), meetings to attend, colleagues to try not to flick between
the eyes. That is, until I glanced at my cell phone in the early
afternoon and saw 5 (FIVE) missed calls.
My heart dropped.
Long
story short--they were all from my husband who had checked his phone
upon returning in from recess and saw a text from our babysitter. LM had
been pulling up on a speaker in the main playroom (their family room)
and had fallen backwards. It had tipped and landed on him---the top edge
hitting him right across the bridge of his nose, cutting him. Even
though he had calmed right down when she picked him up and drank a
bottle, she wanted us to know what had happened--especially since she
through his eyes were dilated more than normal.
Because
I had been out of my room making copies and picking up my kiddos from
library, I had missed the texts and his calls to my classroom. He called
his brother-in-law (a doctor) who said that even though it wasn't
probably a serious injury at all, we should be safe and get him checked
out. So, the building sub took over his room and he went to get LM.
As
I'm hearing all of this, I feel the panic spread through my body. It's
like that rush of adrenaline you get when someone jumps out and scares
you. TH is on his way to pick him up and we decided to let him assess
his general demeanor before deciding where to take him. I fly to the
office and promptly tell both the principal and vice-principal that I
need to leave....and then burst into tears. I explain what happened and
they shoo me out the door to get on my way (after offering to drive me
home themselves). I grab my stuff, thank the para who got pulled to run
my room, totally freak out my kiddos on my way out the door in tears and
head home to meet TH and LM.
Upon arriving at her
house, TH said very little to her. She mentioned that he might end up
with two black eyes but said little herself as TH had surprised her (we
didn't answer back that he was coming). She woke him up from his
nap.....I'll say it again folks...HIS NAP. Seriously...because isn't a
nap a perfect thing to take place after a baby hits his head and you're
worried. He calls me on his way home and says that he's got a good-sized
cut on his nose but seems to be acting okay. At this point, I felt like
I could breathe again. I drove home...totally obeying the speed limits
and not passing cars on the right...and swooped him up in my arms. As
much as he loves mama kisses, he wasn't too happy to has his play
interrupted...another good sign.
Our BIL (who happened to have the day off), swung by the house and did a quick exam of LM himself.
He didn't see anything wrong with him (and suggested that the pupil
dilation she noticed was probably an adrenaline reaction of his own and
since they weren't different sizes, it probably was nothing) and played
with him for awhile himself. He told us what to keep an eye out for and
said that we could probably forgo any trips to the doctor/hospital
unless something changed. Thank goodness for doctors in the family
(especially ones with three little ones under 7).
Now
that the panic had subsided, TH and I started discussing what had
actually happened. Since LM is not the only little one she watches that
have been there when they started becoming mobile, we had made the
assumption that things were baby-proofed appropriately. Now, I get that
we never should have assumed. We asked the woman a million and a half
questions when he started going there, but that stuff didn't come up at
the time. However, who has giant (at least 3ft fall) 80's style speakers
in the main play room that aren't mounted. Especially, since there are
times that she has to be helping little one's in the restroom etc. She
puts up gates to keep them from wandering and we had made the assumption
she had thought of other things.
We were wrong....and pissed off.
(Okay, I realize I said long story short but....sorry!)
We
talked for awhile and realized that we were going to have to talk with
her that night about it all. Not only did I feel her attitude about it
needed to be adjusted, but certain baby-proofing things needed to be in
place before I could leave him there in the morning. I just couldn't
worry about him all day long. So, I texted her and arranged for a time
to come by. TH and I talked about what our expectations for her were and
I steeled myself to be willing to pull him completely if she
couldn't/wouldn't accommodate them. I knew her main argument/excuse
would be that it had never happened before with any of the other little
ones, but that just wouldn't fly with me. I don't need him to be the
guinea pig.
I don't do confrontations well. I hate
them. My dad thrives on them and I grew up being embarrassed and
uncomfortable with them. So, this wasn't something I was looking forward
to. I gave myself a mom pep talk and headed over.
Turns
out, she really was horrified that it had happened. When I got there,
her husband was already working on mounting the speakers to the wall. We
chatted about what else in the room/house needed to be
baby-proofed---including, as it turns out, the kitchen. Who the heck
runs an in-home daycare, serves breakfast and lunch out of their kitchen
and doesn't have the kitchen childproofed!!!! We talkd about how I have
no problem with her putting him in a PNP or something when she needs to
be out of the room...I'd rather him be angry than hurt. I made it very
clear that I wouldn't/couldn't leave him there if I was worried about
it. They were very accommodating and repeatedly said that they would do
whatever they needed to do and that they were open to any
suggestions...they admitted it was a learning curve for them as well.
So, I left there feeling ok about that part of it all. AND--I was
thrilled that I didn't have to pull him...he adores her.
My
concern at this point is that I worry that they didn't think of it
first...I thought some of it should be purely logical if that is going
to be your career. I'm a first time mom...I'm learning as I go so I
can't use experience to help me look out for him in some cases. I can
use intuition, information and a little luck to help guide our decisions
but I need to be able to rely on those around me who are the "experts".
I know accidents happen....I get that he'll fall and crash into things
as this stage in his life. But--I also expect him to be doing the
falling...not objects around him. We're staying there for now as I think
we've resolved our issues. But man....it gives me a lot to think about.
As
for the rest of the week, there was lots of awkwardness (especially
when one of their speaker mountings failed as she showed it to TH the
next afternoon) and educating on our parts (we shared with them products
that we've used to mount things---including some FABULOUS mounting ties
if any of you are interested). The rest of the week went safely....it
was just long.
And I'm so glad it's over. As I'm sure you all feel about this lengthy post!
