My Toddler Fell On A Cement Stair

Posted On: 2010-07-21

A little more than a week ago we were invited to a friends house for dinner. We accepted the break from our busy schedules and appreciated the invite, accepting it graciously.

That night we arrived with our 15 month old son and they have a 10 month old little girl. My friend removed a potted plant from the coffee table that her child could not get to yet but she knew Dylan could. They played for a little while and then we began feeding them, Dylan free roaming while he ate and her little girl in a highchair.

Then it happened. They had french doors that were wide open because Washington finally had summer weather, and they had a screen like veil hanging in the opening to prevent most flying bugs from getting in the house. At home we have a screen door that is on a track so when Dylan pushes against it, it doesn't go anywhere (at least so far it hasn't).

In slow motion I watched as he pushed against the screen without any resistance, lost his balance, and tumbled head first into the first cement stair just outside the french doors. I knew it was bad and couldn't believe I had just witnessed it... I couldn't get to him in time even though I was sitting at a table right in front of it.

I picked up him and I immediately started crying because I could see blood and rock indents on the top of his head and of course he was crying in shock. After a few minutes he calmed down and I was able to get an ice pack on his head and clean up the wounds which actually weren't as bad as I would have expected.

I called his doctors on call service and after thorough questioning about the event was advised to not give him any kind of pain reliever and to wake him up every 4 hours to make sure he still had functional arms and legs. This is a standard procedure for this kind of head injury.

There are too morals to this experience:

1) ALWAYS do a quick inspection when you drop your child off anywhere or are visiting like we were.

2) It's a good thing we moved that potted plant, lol.

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