Today started out innocently enough. It was sunny and warm, perfect weather for the outdoor carousel birthday party Daddy and I had organized for you. We arrived at the carousel in the morning, set up the decorations (this year's theme: your favorite TV show, Team Umizoomi) and rode the carousel while your friends arrived. Over the next hour, you had a great time riding the carousel over and over again, playing with your buddies and watching the boats sail by on the nearby river.
The party came to an abrupt halt, though, when you suddenly fell backward off of one of the picnic table benches and hit your head on the gravel-covered ground beneath it. I didn't see it happen. I was putting your baseball cap away in your diaper bag when I heard you crying in pain. I turned, saw you sitting on the bench next to Daddy, ran over to you and immediately felt my body go numb when I saw how badly you'd been hurt. Daddy was pressing a bunch of napkins on your head where you had bumped it and when he moved them, I saw blood oozing out of your head. Your head just kept bleeding, even after several minutes, and there were bright red drops all over the backside of your shirt. I was shocked and terrified and I really don't know how I managed to not pass out. Instead, I somehow sprang into protective mom mode, hugging and kissing you and telling you that you were going to be okay, that you just got a little boo-boo, that you were being so brave. And you really were brave. You were visibly shaken and wanted me to hold you, but you stopped crying right away and answered all of the questions Daddy and I asked you (you may have wondered why we chose that moment to ask you to recite the alphabet; we wanted to see if you could still think and talk clearly after such a big hit to the head).
To our horror, the blood kept coming out of the wound no matter how much pressure we put on it, so your friend Marcus's dad called 911. In a matter of minutes, a big ambulance with lights flashing drove through the park and right up to the party (the paramedics just so happened to be getting lunch at a nearby food festival when they received the call). When you saw it, you were equally amazed (you get so excited when you see ambulances and we told you this one had come just for you) and scared (you, understandably, did not want to go to the hospital). The paramedics checked your head, wrapped it in gauze and said a doctor should look at the wound, so you and Daddy got in the back of the ambulance and went to the nearest ER while I stayed back with MuiMui.
I told your friends that you were going to be okay and that they could go back to riding the carousel--and then I burst into tears. I get so scared any time you get hurt and this was by far the worst injury you'd ever had. I couldn't get the image of all the blood out of my mind and kept checking my phone for any updates from Daddy. The only thing that gave me any comfort was the fact that while we had been waiting for the ambulance, I had been talking to you and when you saw a helicopter fly overhead, you pushed my head to the side so that you could see it. So you couldn't have been in that much pain if you were still that interested in the helicopter, right?
And thank GOD, it turned out that you really weren't that hurt. An hour after you and Daddy left for the hospital, I was sitting on the very bench you had fallen off of and staring at the boats on the water when you seemingly came out of nowhere. I didn't think you'd be back for awhile but there you were, running toward me with a big smile on your face as if nothing had even happened. I almost burst into tears from the relief of seeing you be your usual, happy self. Daddy told me that the doctor had checked you out and said the wound on your head was only superficial, that you didn't even need any stitches and that you were fine; we just had to keep the cut clean. "Whew" doesn't even begin to express how glad I was to hear that!
So the party picked up right where we had left off! A few of your friends had gone home while you were at the hospital but most of them were still at the party and we all hopped onto the carousel for a special birthday ride during which the operator personally wished you a happy birthday and got everyone to sing "Happy Birthday" to you. Then after that, it was time for cake!
You were playful, silly and active for the rest of the afternoon and had a great time at your party. On our way home, I asked you how you felt and you responded, "I feel fixed." Oh man, you are nothing if not resilient! This was actually the third time you hit your head so hard that it started to bleed and amazingly, all three incidents turned out to be minor flesh wounds, so I'm pretty convinced that your head *must* be made of steel. Let's not keep testing its limits, though, okay?
Love,
Mom
The party came to an abrupt halt, though, when you suddenly fell backward off of one of the picnic table benches and hit your head on the gravel-covered ground beneath it. I didn't see it happen. I was putting your baseball cap away in your diaper bag when I heard you crying in pain. I turned, saw you sitting on the bench next to Daddy, ran over to you and immediately felt my body go numb when I saw how badly you'd been hurt. Daddy was pressing a bunch of napkins on your head where you had bumped it and when he moved them, I saw blood oozing out of your head. Your head just kept bleeding, even after several minutes, and there were bright red drops all over the backside of your shirt. I was shocked and terrified and I really don't know how I managed to not pass out. Instead, I somehow sprang into protective mom mode, hugging and kissing you and telling you that you were going to be okay, that you just got a little boo-boo, that you were being so brave. And you really were brave. You were visibly shaken and wanted me to hold you, but you stopped crying right away and answered all of the questions Daddy and I asked you (you may have wondered why we chose that moment to ask you to recite the alphabet; we wanted to see if you could still think and talk clearly after such a big hit to the head).
To our horror, the blood kept coming out of the wound no matter how much pressure we put on it, so your friend Marcus's dad called 911. In a matter of minutes, a big ambulance with lights flashing drove through the park and right up to the party (the paramedics just so happened to be getting lunch at a nearby food festival when they received the call). When you saw it, you were equally amazed (you get so excited when you see ambulances and we told you this one had come just for you) and scared (you, understandably, did not want to go to the hospital). The paramedics checked your head, wrapped it in gauze and said a doctor should look at the wound, so you and Daddy got in the back of the ambulance and went to the nearest ER while I stayed back with MuiMui.
I told your friends that you were going to be okay and that they could go back to riding the carousel--and then I burst into tears. I get so scared any time you get hurt and this was by far the worst injury you'd ever had. I couldn't get the image of all the blood out of my mind and kept checking my phone for any updates from Daddy. The only thing that gave me any comfort was the fact that while we had been waiting for the ambulance, I had been talking to you and when you saw a helicopter fly overhead, you pushed my head to the side so that you could see it. So you couldn't have been in that much pain if you were still that interested in the helicopter, right?
And thank GOD, it turned out that you really weren't that hurt. An hour after you and Daddy left for the hospital, I was sitting on the very bench you had fallen off of and staring at the boats on the water when you seemingly came out of nowhere. I didn't think you'd be back for awhile but there you were, running toward me with a big smile on your face as if nothing had even happened. I almost burst into tears from the relief of seeing you be your usual, happy self. Daddy told me that the doctor had checked you out and said the wound on your head was only superficial, that you didn't even need any stitches and that you were fine; we just had to keep the cut clean. "Whew" doesn't even begin to express how glad I was to hear that!
So the party picked up right where we had left off! A few of your friends had gone home while you were at the hospital but most of them were still at the party and we all hopped onto the carousel for a special birthday ride during which the operator personally wished you a happy birthday and got everyone to sing "Happy Birthday" to you. Then after that, it was time for cake!
You were playful, silly and active for the rest of the afternoon and had a great time at your party. On our way home, I asked you how you felt and you responded, "I feel fixed." Oh man, you are nothing if not resilient! This was actually the third time you hit your head so hard that it started to bleed and amazingly, all three incidents turned out to be minor flesh wounds, so I'm pretty convinced that your head *must* be made of steel. Let's not keep testing its limits, though, okay?
Love,
Mom
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