Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Thud!

It seems like the most often-shared parental anecdote -- right behind "I never realized how much I'd miss sleep!" -- is the "just wait until the first time your baby falls off the bed/changing table/chair" line. "You'll never forget that sound! You'll never get over the guilt!"

Well, 9 months had passed without mishap (other than the almost-losing-a-finger nail clipping incident). Until yesterday morning.

Ironically, we had just been at a friend's house the night before, and she shared with us the horrifying tale of her baby falling off the changing table that morning. And of course, I smugly thought how I would never let that happen, my child has never fallen, etc. etc.

Well, I was getting dressed yesterday and had Scooter Baby on the bed. She had scooted her way towards the edge to check out what I was doing, but not so close that I was worried. I turned my back to grab something from the dresser drawer, and THUD!

I whipped around to see the Chicklette lying and squirming on her side on the floor. She immediately started screaming, and I scooped her up. Nothing seemed broken, and all of her limbs and whatnot were moving as they should (including the right hand slapping me in the side of the head as if to say, "bad Mommy!"). Within 5 minutes (and after many kisses), she was smiling and playing again. But sheesh. Scary.

So, yeah, I got taken down a peg. I am no longer smug. Thankfully, the Chicklette is fine.

But I never will forget that sound.

Or get over the guilt!

5 comments:

Kerri said...

Guilty. I used to look down on the mothers on my mommy message board who posted about their children falling off of changing tables and/or beds because I knew I would NEVER let that happen. Then one day, Camden was napping on our bed (swaddled, mind you-- this was a while ago) & he busted free of his swaddle and scooted/crawled off the bed. That thud is an awful sound.

EC said...

it's horrifying isn't it I cried so hard when D fell off the bed that he cracked up laughing at me. The bumps come thick and fast now he's almost walking but I will never, ever forget that first one.

kdactyl said...

Oh...you got off easy...my poor husband was the one to put the first dent in our son...at only 11 days old!!!! He was in our family room and wanted to try out the baby bjorn for the first time...but of course...he did not read the instructions so he had it all buttoned up and lifted the baby up to lower him in feet first....WELL...he lifted that poor baby's head right into the ceiling fan that was ON!!!! Thank goodness it was on low...but it hit William just to the side of his eye and broke the skin a little. I was in the shower and missed it..but when I got out I couldn't figure out who needed more consoling...the baby (who was fine really) or my husband who was white as a sheet, sweating profusely and on the verge of tears. Poor guy! we joke about it now...but it was awful at the time.

Anonymous said...

Scary. Glad she's OK. I conked my niece on the head with the mobile when she was just a month or so old trying to get her in her bouncy seat. I felt horrible.

Happy ICLW!

JenM said...

Visiting from ICLW, and to date, my babies have fallen off of: The couch, the bed, the changing table, the ottaman, the kangaroo climber and an office chair.

They really do survive, but oh man, the guilt!