One Fell Down & Broke Her Head

Seriously. Broke her head.

Remember that fall I posted about 2 days ago? Turns out it was more significant than initially thought.

So here is the full story...

Friday morning around 8:30 am I was blow drying my hair & she was standing on the tile playing in a drawer that holds my curling irons, etc. Admittedly, she isn't the strongest stander just yet, but she knows how to get up & down, so I didn't worry too much. As a mother, I am not a worrier...although I think my tune has been changed.

Turns out I should have been more careful. She let go of the drawer & fell straight back onto the tile. Her head taking the full force of the fall. And while she didn't fall a great distance, it was definitely a good crack. Like I said before, I was praying to not see blood when I picked her up. She started crying immediately & her crying lasted less than 10 minutes, which were signs my pediatricians office had told me were good. Just prior to that I had given her some Tylenol for the pulling she had been doing on her ears, and she had a runny nose & just looked to be feeling rotten.

Friday wasn't her best day...fussy, not too much of an appetite, but overall, nothing alarming.

By that night though I took her into Urgent Care. Not for the fall, but for the pulling she had continued to do on her ears. I told the doctor about her fall, her shots the day prior & he assessed her head, ears & breathing. Prescribed ammoxicillian for her ears & a steroid to help with her breathing. Nothing major.

Saturday came & went.

Sunday morning went as planned...breakfast, played, took morning nap. When she woke up I went in to get her ready for church {Scot & Zack had already left}. I got her dressed & then went to put a bow in her head, when I felt the huge lump on the side of her head. It was soft & squishy...

Look at the right side of her head...

It was alarming.
It was gross.
And I quickly drew my hand back in surprise.

But knew why it was there.

I quickly headed to church to show Scot.
Then I stepped out to call my friend, whose husband was the Urgent Care doctor. She told me to take her in right away.

I went back into the meeting, told Scot, grabbed my purse & we left.

We went to a local ER where they saw to us quickly. Within 45 minutes, I had met with the doctor & we were doing both chest xrays & a CT scan.

An hour later the doctor came in to tell me Olivia had suffered a fracture in her skull. And that the swelling was really blood from broken blood vessels & that they were going to be transferring us to Cardon's Children's Hospital for observation & to see a Pediatric Neurosurgeon.

And while that would be enough to scare anyone silly, it was hard too be too worried when she looked like this...

So 6 long hours of waiting to be transferred later...
we found ourselves taking our first {and hopefully last} ride in an ambulance across town. She was still mostly all smiles. This was after completely missing her afternoon nap & being 2 hours past her bedtime...and oh yes, having a fractured skull.

I think it is safe to say she handled it well.

Upon arriving at the Children's Hospital we promptly met with our Pediatric Neurosurgeon {whom I adore at this point}. He looked her over, ordered some blood work to make sure things were clotting properly & told us to get some rest. We'd do another CT scan in the morning & if it came back okay, we could go home.

The rest part didn't happen until after midnight...she had to have blood drawn 2 times...and what seemed a million other things. That & I was trying to get her to sleep in her crib, since the nurse gave me strict orders that that was mandatory. After 3 failed attempts I decided that I was in fact her mom & was in charge of where she was going to sleep. Which was with me on the pull out bed.

Whose kid sleeps in those prison like cribs anyways? I mean, I'd lay her in asleep only to pull up the rails with a screech & have her screaming again...hurt, scared & tired. so sad.

Anyway, I told the nurse what I intended to do, because I did not want her waking us once we were settled & she thankfully turned a blind eye.

So I snuggled my baby all night long & frankly, enjoyed every minute of it. She was so so so tired that once she fell asleep she barely moved.

Once we woke up, we learned that she would have to have blood drawn AGAIN because the lids had fallen off the other two.

For real? I was annoyed.

But first, we were headed for another CT scan. We rode in style.

Can you tell she is real torn up about all this?

Little did she know this is what awaited her...
a long 3 minutes later & she was all smiles again
We came back to our room to find this:
My mom was at the hospital bright & early {before the CT scan} but I had to laugh when we came back to see her like this. A staple. Anytime I have ever been in the hospital myself, or with my kids, or my sister this is what my mom is doing. classic. She has even tried to bust this out at Kevin's wrestling matches...another story for another day.

Our favorite neurosurgeon was quick to get the results back & reviewed. She is healing well & will still need some follow up, but we were okay to take her home...he canceled the other blood work, saying if they kept dropping the lids, they should be poked, but this baby was not getting poked again...see why I adore him? He then wrote our order to go home asap & we were out of there in 45 minutes. love him. We left with orders to look after her bump {that it doesn't grow too big, or get tough} and to make sure she doesn't fall again.

Tough orders {really, they are...she is wanting to climb on everything!}

But we will manage & thanks to my neighbor she got some new wheels today.
We are so very grateful to be home.
So very grateful for all the calls of support & prayer.
So very grateful her injuries are healing well.

It was a sobering 24 hours. I am grateful for the time I was able to spend with just Olivia. She handled everything like a champ. It was wonderful to snuggle her close all night & pray for her full recovery.

Upon coming home, her & Zack were so excited to see each other. They just sat in the family room & giggled at each other for a bit. I was acutely aware of how differently things could have gone & I am grateful.

broken head and all.