Technically, I’m writing this after midnight, so it’s Saturday now. It’s amazing how quickly the day flies. Thankfully, I was able to end this Friday while watching movies with the hubby, all of the excitement of the day behind me.
Needless to say, this Friday started out as a lovely day and then took some interesting turns before ending on a pleasant note.
In the morning, Claire and I met some mom’s group people at the park here by the lake. Claire has discovered a newfound skill in climbing up all the ladders and chain-linky things on the playground equipment. She’s quite good at it…and amazingly so…and much to my dismay. 
She’s got mad skillz, yo!
But I am right there, making sure she doesn’t fall. Rather than tell her not to do it, I try to teach her how to do it the safest way. Far be it from me to hold her back. Can one stop the earth from turning? Can one hold back the tides? I didn’t think so.
Plus, I guess if I’m going to threaten to sell her to the circus, it’s best to get her skills in order.
We played for a couple of hours and then she told me she needed to pee (yea!!), so we go to the porta-potties, which are disgusting (boo!). “It is GROSS!” Claire says, and it is. Even I wouldn’t pee in there. The poor thing refuses to go, and I don’t blame her. I tried to get her to pee behind a tree (shhh, don’t tell…I was desperate!), and she refused. So, we decide to call it a day and head back home…I was just hoping she could hold it for the walk back.
We sit down at a picnic table to get our things in order, and somehow, she slips off the bench and smacks the back of her head on the cement. Honestly, I didn’t even see it happen. I heard it. 
I had my head turned for one second and the next thing I know, she’s lying under the picnic table on her back.
Luckily, it was popsicle day for the mom’s club, and the other mom still there from our group had an icepack in her cooler. So, I sit there with the icepack on the big ol’ goose-egg on Claire’s head.
Note to self: Goose-egg = swelling on the outside of the brain = GOOD
All the while, Claire is apologizing for falling off the picnic table. She wasn’t horsing around, and she wasn’t goofing off. There was no need to apologize. Poor little thing.
And, during all this, she still hasn’t wet her pants!
After sitting a while with the icepack, we decide to go home. Somehow, she made it home and onto the potty in time! As I’m getting lunch ready, she goes to her room and falls asleep! Uh oh! I decided not to wake her up, but kept checking on her. Finally, I woke her up to eat. She ate, grudgingly.
Then, I go to my office to check my mail, and she comes in and says she wants to be picked up. She says her head hurts and she doesn’t feel good. I pick her up and she throws up all over. Lovely. So, I run her to the bathtub and call the pediatrician. Hmmm, let’s see. I’m not a professional, but a goose-egg on her head, not acting like herself, and then barfing all over? Not the best sign. I’m not sure how to proceed, so I called the experts.
They say that letting her sleep is okay as long as I check to make sure she doesn’t aspirate on barf.
They also give me the following tips for future reference:
The “Don’t let them go to sleep” Rule = OUT
The “Letting them sleep but watching them like a hawk” Rule = IN
Throwing up ONCE after hitting your head = OKAY
Throwing up more than once after hitting your head = BAD
Good to know…so I don’t feel so bad for letting her fall asleep while I was making lunch.
My hubby has been in a class for work all week, so I page him with this latest development. This way, he won’t be surprised if he gets another page telling him at which ER to meet us.
Luckily, after the Tylenol and a nap, she seemed to be just fine. In fact, by the time Daddy got home, Claire was showing me how high she can jump (awesome! …not) and singing Happy Birthday to all of her animals.
And, in case there is any confusion, yes, she climbs all over all kinds of things without so much as a wobble and then smacks her head falling off a picnic table bench.
Go figure.
sent to your Email
Oh that’s scary isn’t it. Poor little girl, it’s so hard when something sucky like that happens.
Scary day! I’m glad things turned out OK. You give some good pointers here.
I’m completely insane over this sort of thing. Hitting head + barfing + “I don’t feel good” = hysteria for me. You handled it well. I was frizzing out last night because my 12-year-old son got sunburned yesterday at the public pool. (For the record: not on my watch. Mr. Mom was in charge.) His shoulders looked so bad and he said he didn’t feel good and was nauseated. I spent the whole evening bringing him cool wet cloths for his shoulders. He’s fine today, but I always get so anxious over the most routine health matters when it comes to my kids.
Mayberry Magpie
If that was me, it wouldn’t have been the child I’d been worried about wetting their pants.
I still feel bad for the time my neice (who is roughly the same age as your girl) hit her head when she was in my care. She cried for about an hour. Non stop. Not kidding. Full on scream cries. Its HORRIBLE. I think I still managed to get more worked up than she did, though.