Wednesday, 26th January 2000 – Eye Accident
We were very scared last night, your father and I. Just before you were to go to bed I was changing your nappy and then I let you go for a little walkabout in the room to get some fresh air on the parts that don’t see much light. I then left the room to ring my mum and left you and R. While I was on the phone I heard you fall and then cry. As that happens quite a lot I thought it was nothing serious. I put the phone down (I heard R. getting up to pick you up and console you) and made my way to the bathroom.
Then R. started shouting my name and I just ran up the stairs. As I open the door I saw you screaming with blood running down your face from your right eye (the same eye you had impetigo on). R. said that when he picked you up from the floor he just saw all the blood. We just said that we had to take you to hospital straight away. I ran back to the toiled as I was ready to burst. I was shaking and I had to tell myself to calm down as I had to drive us up there and I just had to stay calm… stay calm… nice and calm! We dressed you up while you were screaming. I tried to give you some paracetemol to bring down the pain, but you just spat it all out. We sat you in the car and you calmed down a bit, with your face full of blood, not a pretty sight. I just tried not looking at you as it made me feel awful. If only I hadn’t left the room to ring your grandma! Once we got there it was the usual hospital misery. They put us in the ‘children’s room’ and we were waiting for about an hour. There were another 3 children in there, all waiting. You were following a little girl around and trying to hug her and everyone fell in love with you, even though you looked like a baby boxer who had just lost a fight.
R. got the nurse to have a look at you eye and assess the situation as we were sixth in line to be seen by a doctor! You were tired and getting irritable and hyperactive. The nurse said that you would not need stitches. And as you cried straight away after you fell (so you weren’t unconscious, and therefore not concussed) the nurse said that you should be ok, but that he could not discharge us (i.e., if we left it would be of our own accord – he was trying to cover his back, as usual). We waited for 10 minutes to check that the bleeding had stopped. It had, and so we left without even seeing the doctor. We got home at around 11pm, R. and I were starving as we had no dinner and you were fast asleep.
Today R. went to work and I asked my mum to come around so I could buy a carpet to cover the whole of the bedroom floor. As it is now, there is a big rug and the edges of the room are floorboards. You keep falling on them! R. thinks it’s because you might be dyslexic like him, I think it’s because you’re a baby and too eager to get wherever you’re going. You are not clumsy normally, but you get like that when you’re tired. I went out and bought the carpet, on my credit card. It cost a fortune (£115.00) but you can’t buy peace of mind. Plus the room will be much nicer with a green carpet (like a golf course!). They are going to deliver it on Friday and R. and I will fit it. We’ve already put a carpet on the hallway outside the big room and bought a cupboard from IKEA to put all the things you shouldn’t touch inside. But you will drive us insane before you’re 2, there are just so many precautions to take it’s overwhelming. A lot of these things we only realise are necessary after some sort of accident happens! We’ve been very lucky so far though!
