About Me

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I live in Kent with my husband, toddler Tilly (henceforth known as Monkey) and another baby due in November. We have two cats, Duncan and Lady Macbeth, and four chickens who kindly lay us eggs daily. We live in the picturesque seaside town of Broadstairs. I enjoy reading, knitting and cooking. I'm trying to be a bit 'greener' (not sure how successfully), and to be a gentle parent. Extended breastfeeding and co-sleeping don't freak me out, we use cloth nappies and try to follow some of the ideals of Attachment Parenting. If that sounds as if I know what I'm doing, I don't! I am also a psychotherapist with an interest in Focusing-oriented therapy, and I have a small private practice in the area.

Friday 7 August 2009

Our first trip to A&E

Before the drama

It happens to us all at some point I guess. Monkey and I had just returned from spending a lovely day and evening with my best girlfriend Shelley, she was playing on the lounge floor and kneeling in front of the television. She put her hand out obviously expecting something to be there but instead fell onto the glass TV cabinet, I saw it happen and heard her forehead hit the glass. She let out a huge scream and I carried her into the kitchen as I know she is often sick when she cries really hard. She held her breath after the first scream and I waited for her to inhale again... and waited... and she hadn't taken another breath. "Breathe, sweetheart, breathe". Her eyes rolled back and closed, and one frantic mama is trying to get her baby to breathe again. Less than a minute, but it felt like forever. She came back round to huge screams and cries, and was sick in the sink. I called the ambulance because she had lost consciousness and there were at the front door within 4 minutes! In that time the babe had actually stopped crying and was nestled in my arms as I frantically gathered a bag together and some keys. As we made our way to the hospital I could tell, with much relief, that she seemed to be fine. She was subdued but gave a little smile, there was a bump on the head but no broken skin (the glass is an inch thick and hadn't broken). At A&E they checked her over and waited for an hour to make sure she wasn't sick again. Dada had caught the train home from London and came to collect us. We spent a quiet evening at home, Monkey didn't want to eat but had lots of booby milk. She was a bit lethargic but also possibly because she had her MMR last week and has been a little feverish anyway. I can't even think about how it might have been worse, I'm just thankful that she is fine and that I was calm enough to (hopefully) do all of the right things. But Monkey, please don't ever do that again. Mama doesn't need any more grey hairs...


13 comments:

Flower said...

Sounds very scary...well done you for staying calm and doing the right thing....and pleased to hear that monkey is ok :-)

Joxy34 said...

Crikey how terrifying! My heart was stopping just reading about it!

Hope she's back to her usual self very quickly.

lots of hugs
Joxy.

Earthmummy07 said...

Ouch! Poor little thing!

And poor Mummy! It's so scary when they do something like that. It sounds like to kept it together very well. After T's first accident I had to hand him over to my mom to first aid as the only thing I was good for was sitting on the stairs sobbing :(

Hope she feels better soon xx

Liz said...

Oh, scary, I'm glad it had ahappy ending though! My DS also does the breath-holding thing, and I have to remind him to breathe when he cries really hard, but thankfully he's never actually passed out with it. What amazing presence of mind you had, well done!

Daisie said...

Oh, poor Monkey, poor you!

I would like to hope that nothing like this will ever happen to her (or you again) but it will and we Mummies are super and can cope with anything, even if it doesn't always feel like it at the time :-)

Hope the bump goes down and that her headache isn't too bad today?

xxx

Claire said...

Good Grief! How scary for you. I know I was a quivering wreck the first time DS1 hurt himself badly. Well done for keeping it together. I hope you both recover quickly.

xx

arwen_tiw said...

Poor baby! Poor you!!

Thank goodness all is OK. (hugs)

Cave Mother said...

Oh my gosh, that sounds terrifying. I'm so glad it was OK in the end though. It is awful reading about things like that and it makes me worry about what we will have to contend with in the future. Poor you and poor Monkey - I hope you're both over it.

willow81 said...

Thank you all. I am fine today. Monkey has been a bit unhappy and has wanted her mummy and booby most of the day, but I think that might also be a combination of teething and her MMR last week.

Unknown said...

Bloody heck! Eyes rolling back and not breathing! Talk about making you grey instantly!

Glad to hear all is well again, if a little fragile.

Naomi said...

Oh it's awful isn't it? Tristan's first accident, I panicked for about 10 seconds then remembered all the stuff you need to do in an emergency, ie. lift his hand above his heart because it was bleeding heavily!

Well done for staying calm, hope Monkey's feeling better now :) xxx

Antoinette said...

My blood ran cold just reading this. I'm so glad it wasn't worse, but it's terrifying thing to happen. Poor wee girl. And what an ordeal for you too!

It's a relief to know that all is well now. There's nothing quite like a trip to A&E is there? Grey hairs indeed.

mom said...

How scary!
I can't believe you stayed so calm! I'm so glad Monkey was ok!

*hugs*