Scariest day of my life!
Andersen and I were playing hide n' seek, and it was my turn to count. As I counted, I heard a mighty CRASH in the front room. I didn't hear him crying, so I thought he just made something fall, but I hurried over to see what happened. To my horror, I found Andersen pinned under the wooden console table in our foyer, with the heavy ceramic platter that sat on top of it shattered around his head. As you can see in the picture the foyer also has a ceramic tile floor. The front curved edge of the table was actually wedged in Andersen's mouth! He had been working up towards a full-blown scream and when it finally came out, it was muffled by the table when I reached him. Obviously I lifted the table off of him first, but I didn't know what to do next. His face was scrunched up in pain, he was bleeding from his gums and teeth. He had a goose egg forming on his forehead from (what I believe happened) the platter conking him there before breaking on the floor and he was laying on his back. I didn't know if I could move him or not. I found shards of the platter around his head and some pieces on his face, so that made me scared that some may have ended up in his mouth. But with all the blood and drool, I really couldn't tell. I was worried about the back of his head from the impact of falling backwards too. I had to spend what seemed an eternity assessing him as he lay there before finally picking him up to hold and comfort him, but only after I was satisfied that moving him would be ok.
I really wasn't sure if I needed to take him to his pediatrician or to the ER. Or if either was necessary. The bleeding in his mouth scared me - I thought he might need stitches for his lip or his teeth were loose, and the double conks on his head really made me nervous. So after calling the ped's office they advised me to take him to the ER. Hendrik was out of the town for the day on business so I frantically called my pastor to help drive us to the local hospital. I was in no condition to drive and I wanted to sit with Andersen in the back. The ER ped was able to see him within the hour, but by then Andersen was exhausted from the ordeal and from crying and was starting to fall asleep! I had to keep him awake until they were satisfied that there was no serious trauma to the head. Beyond being battered by the table, Andersen was deemed fine and did not need scans, x-rays, or stitches. We were advised to take him to see a ped dentist to be sure his permanent teeth behind the baby teeth would not be affected by the impact, and to follow up with the regular ped's office. Both visits also resulted with good results and Andersen was on the mend in no time.
In the meantime, his lips swelled up so he looked like a little monkey and bruising made him look like he had long whiskers on each side of his mouth. Even a little under his eyes, which indicated how far the impact was felt. Poor guy. But he was totally back to his normal self by the end of the day and was in far better mental condition than I was for a while afterwards. It doesn't help that many seasoned mothers of boys assured me this would be the first of many, many happenings and trips to the ER. Let's just hope Andersen defies the odds.
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