…watch helplessly as their infant daughters slide off a couch onto the tiles- FACE FIRST. I wasn’t going to blog about this, I didn’t want to be told that I should watch my daughter more carefully, or that I shouldn’t even have her on the couch in the first place, now that she’s mobile and all. Then I thought, screw that! After posting about Piper’s Very First Head Injury (one for the baby books, eh?) on Twitter, I received a handful of stories from other moms and gals who are also members of the Baby’s First Head Injury club (either as a host Mommy or Member). Thus, I realized I AM NOT ALONE, and I am not a bad parent.
Paul told me last night that he was kind of… relieved. He’d been dreading this day, the day when she would hurt herself while one of us was watching her and she’d get her first big bump. Now that it’s over, we can be okay- our baby isn’t made of glass after all!
For the sake of full disclosure, this is what happened: Paul and I were running late to head to work, we placed Piper’s car seat on our armchair and placed her in it. Both of us were standing in front of it. Paul saw a nail polish bottle on the floor by her exersaucer and, as he had just spent a full day cleaning, asked how it came to be there. I said, “It’s BEEN THERE”, and turned to pick it up at the same time he turned to pick it up. It was literally one foot away from us.
The next minute was simultaneously in slow motion and super fast forward. Piper began to PIVOT out of her seat. We both saw her falling, reaching out to grab her, touching her but not able to grasp. She was falling, falling, falling- it seemed so slow that I could just grab her, right? But I COULDN’T. I couldn’t get a grip on her. So my baby fell. Face first on the hard tiles of our floor.
I won’t lie. I yelled out a phrase like “FRICKING FRICK FRICK FRICKER- FRICK ME!!!!!” Although it wasn’t “frick”. Piper landed on the ground, partially on Paul’s foot. He immediately grabbed for her and held her to his chest, while she began the wail/sob of a baby who is desperately hurting and not quite sure WHY. I ran to the freezer to get an ice pack for her forehead- we were lucky as she managed to just hit her forehead (so we thought) instead of her mouth.
As Paul consoled her, I went around going, “What the hell. DAMNIT. Poor girl, Mommy’s sorry!” After she stopped crying and tried to eat the ice pack, we loaded her up in the Baby Launcher (aka the car seat) and I went to work, my red-foreheaded baby in tow. She was uber crabby when we arrived, so I gave her some infant Fauxlenol and noticed her nose was scraped! Somehow, in her fall, she scraped the side of her nostril.
While my heart hurt for the pain our daughter endured, she seemed to be just fine. The redness is gone (while the scratch remains), and she’s seemingly okay.
Here’s a photo of her, after a few hours had passed. The scratch is on the left side, but you can’t see it!
Her little baby bangs are so cute! It’s the hair that fell out growing in finally.
August 6, 2010 at 10:40 am
Aw, glad she’s okay. We all survived, and I KNOW our parents didn’t watch us like hawks back in the day of 12 foot high slides with burning metal on them at the park. Hell, my brother liked to throw lawn darts at my sister and I (which is why it was sweet justice when he threw one up in the air and it landed in his own face) and no one cared. If you ever feel like you’ve failed as a parent, just think of mine and realize you’re a GREAT parent.
August 6, 2010 at 10:43 am
Happy to hear that it wasn’t a serious injury, and that both you and Paul came out intact too! And yes, I agree with Layla above — my husband told me that when he was a toddler he would continually rock his crib back and forth until it tipped over…and his mother would continue to put him back in that potential deathtrap! And who knows how many injuries my sister and I sustained over the years while we ran around the neighborhood unsupervised starting as young as 3. I think you’re doing a great job as a parent and Piper is one lucky gal to have you as a mom.
August 6, 2010 at 11:02 am
Look at that darling smile! Right back at it Piper!
August 6, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Often, being a good parent is allowing them to have those falls without your arms out to catch them. Some might say I’m a bad parent for teaching my children to fall but truthfully, I think I’m doing them a favor.
Small bumps and bruises help build sensible cautious natures and help them understand their own limitations naturally so they can learn to make decisions for themselves. I wouldn’t mind betting that little Piper will think twice about trusting her weight forward in her car seat again.
I’m not advocating you deliberately put your child in dangerous situations but sometimes the ones that are accidental offer great lessons for baby/toddler/child as much as they do mum and dad.
The silver lining is that she got her first lesson in the laws of gravity — and there will be many,many,more. Piper also learned mum and dad are around to protect her and comfort her when she hurts. She learned about trust and love. That makes you a great parent.
August 9, 2010 at 9:47 am
Awww – poor Piper. She looks a-ok and is such a cutie!!
I felt the SAME way the time that Clara, who couldn’t roll, somehow inchwormed herself off of ou bed and did a face plant. I felt sooo badly, but at the same time oddly relieved that her first fall was over and we survived!
August 9, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Aww I’m glad she is ok. We aren’t parents but my husband is still scared to hold a baby below 5 months old. He thinks they are still too “breakable”