Rough Week

I still need to post about Benny's birthday party a week ago Saturday, but thought I'd work my way back.

We had a rough week last week.

Monday, at 2:00, I received one of those calls every mother dreads.

"Mandy Dawson? This is the SLO Harbor Patrol. Do you know a Chad and Joseph Dawson?"

"Yes."

"They're going to be fine, but they took a fall from some rocks and are on their way to the ER. Can you meet the ambulance there?"

I started shutting down my computer as soon as they said they were going to be fine and grabbed my purse as I hung up. I thought I did a good job of staying calm, but it felt like my world had narrowed down to a single thought. "Get to the hospital."

I beat the ambulance and spent ten horrible minutes pacing the ER. Then I saw the ambulance pull up. I walked outside as the doors opened to reveal Joseph screaming for Mommy while strapped in his car seat on a gurney. Chad was crying and bleeding as he kept telling Joseph that "it'll be okay, baby." I ran to Joseph while EMT's peppered me with questions. I couldn't take J out of the car seat to hold him. It broke my heart because he kept crying, "MOMMY!! Get me out! Get me out!" I couldn't help but have tears in my eyes as I scanned his little body for injuries while walking alongside the gurney. The ER doctor must have thought I was going to lose it because he looked at me and said that I couldn't be there if I didn't keep calm. Then he looked at Chad, who was sitting in a chair at this point, and told him the same thing.

The doctor checked Joseph over and I was relieved to discover that besides three cuts on his head and a cut on his toe, he appeared fine. Then the doctor looked in his ears and said, "Has he had an ear infection recently?"

"No...not for a few months."

"Did you know he had a ruptured ear drum?"

"No...can that be a result of his head trauma?"

"I want to order a CAT scan and see what's going on." He ordered the cat scan and finally allowed me to hold Joseph in my arms. I sat on the gurney with him and cuddled him as he cried. While I rubbed his back, I asked Chad what happened.

His story...He and Joseph were playing on the beach in Morro Bay and saw a squirrel run up some rocks at the base of Morro Rock. Joseph wanted to go see it so he and Chad started scrambling up one of the slopes beside the rock.

Chad said that Joseph was in front of him, looking for the squirrel and he was supporting his back because it was a bit slippery. Chad lost his footing and tumbled 25' down landing on his back with a small boulder on his foot. Joseph landed a short distance away. Chad said that the Harbor Patrol was there within minutes and there were people helping him before he'd even realized that he'd fallen.

The Harbor Patrol called an ambulance and then me.

When the CAT Scans came back, it showed that Joseph had fractured his skull and ruptured his ear drum in the fall. Overall, the doctor said that he was a very lucky little boy considering the distance he tumbled and the number of surrounding boulders. He had very few abrasions - because he was wearing jeans and his puffy vest. They kept Joseph in the hospital for 24 hours for observations. The neurologist said he wasn't super concerned because the scans didn't show any type of bleeding or swelling in the brain. Both he and the pediatrician said that Joseph's injuries should heal themselves in four to six weeks.

Chad's pretty beat up...emotionally and physically. He has a broken toe, a ton of rock burn along his back, legs and shoulders, and three jammed fingers.

I stayed the night at the hospital on Monday night. (Chad stayed until midnight when the night nurse told him he'd have to leave.) We drove home Tuesday and had a bit of a scare because Joseph started throwing up. (One of the things you're to watch for with head injuries.) We called our pediatrician who thought that since J gets car sick anyway, the ear injury may be making him more susceptible. We stopped at Boppa and G's to give him a bath and feed him to see if he kept it down. He did.

After that it was a bit of a daze. Super tired. Super emotional. Super drained.

I took Thursday off work to stay home with the J-Man. Since he was sleeping with me most nights, my sleep was interrupted. (Poor baby would wake up whenever he rolled on the side of his head that was injured.) I told Chad it was like getting a preview to those first few days after bringing a baby home.

In the meantime, either horrible coincidence or stress brought on some pretty painful cramping that had me a bit worried until I realized it was most likely round ligament stretching. I'd forgotten about that!

Side note: It's amazing the things you forget about pregnancy. I swear, by the end you feel like you've experienced every "symptom" and "side effect" in the book, but then, next time around there are all sorts of "new" experiences.

Chad and Joseph are doing much better now. Joseph's ear has already healed. (His pediatrician wanted to take a look.) His head wounds are pretty much okay - no more worries about shirts that go on over his head. You'd never know that a week ago he was in the hospital.

I slept in until the blissfully late hour of 11:00 yesterday. I finally, finally feel rested enough to blog, cook dinner and all the other fun little things that Mommies do.