Scary morning and it's not over yet.

I don't know the last time I've ever been so scared in my life. This morning started off normal. Dominick slept in for the first time since we started construction until about 6:30 (yay! Keep it up buddy!). I got up, made him a bottle, went into his room and changed his diaper and put him back in bed with his bottle. This is our normal routine. He wakes up wet or dirty and cries. I change him, give him some food and lay him back down. He usually goes back to sleep long enough for me to lay back down for a few minutes or for me to at least get ready. Or was until construction started.

This morning was no different than how it used to be. It was great. I laid back down for a few minutes and then got up to get ready for work. He was fussy so I brought him into my bathroom to play while I got ready. He LOVES climbing the step to get into our tub. Every time he does this, I pull him down and set him back on the floor. But he's a quick guy.

Again, this morning was no different. He climbed the step while I was putting my contacts in and he fell down. Just on his butt and onto the scale which was pretty tall. So instead of falling 10", he probably only fell 6". He looked up at me and started his little pouty cry. I told him that's what happens when you climb stairs and I moved him far away from the step.

Well, silly me. Like a 1 year old will listen to that and stay away. I had given him some toys and he was playing when I started brushing my teeth. I told you he was quick. I don't even know when he did it but the next thing I see is he is falling from the step backwards onto the hardwood floor. It was like slow motion. I could see it. But I couldn't stop it. This is not the first time I've felt this slow motion feeling with Dominick and it terrifies me every time.

He fell onto his head from a 10" step...and Dominick is about 33" tall. So his head fell about 3 1/2 feet before hitting the hardwood.

As soon as he hit the ground he started screaming. This part I could handle. I literally threw my toothbrush into the sink and didn't wipe my face off as I scooped him up and started soothing him. He screamed that loud scary cry for a minute. You know the one. Where he doesn't seem to be breathing and he's trying to suck in all the air. Then he just stopped crying. This is where it got scary.

He laid his head down on my shoulder and his eyes got kind of droopy. His eyes kind of rolled back like he was about to fall asleep. I pulled him back and looked at him. He kind of woke up a bit and looked at me. But I would say his name and try to talk to him and got no response.

I did the most logical thing to me at the time. I called my mom. She didn't answer. I tried again. Still no answer. I knew she was going to get Cecilia today (since it's Wednesday - and she was actually getting Dominick today too) so I figured she was already on the road and I called my sister. She answered. I told her what happened. When she heard "not responding" and "eyes drooping" she didn't even hesitate.

Call the doctor.

So I did. I got the answering service and explained to the nurse what was going on. At this point I'm in tears. Dominick is awake. I see his eyes are open but he's not acknowledging me. I'm beyond terrified. I don't think you realize how much you love your children until something big happens. It was early, but I think I was already playing the "I'll never do __ again if he's ok" game with God.

Halfway through the talk with the lady who answered and was taking my information to pass on to the on call nurse, Dominick sat up straight and just stared at me. I didn't know what to make of it. I kept talking to the lady and she assured me that I would get a call back within 10 minutes.

After I hung up, Dominick started talking. Like normal. Like nothing happened. I finished getting ready. Called my mom and told her we'd be late meeting her to drop Dominick off. And we went downstairs to finish getting Dom ready. Before I even got my coat on the nurse was calling me back. She asked me a bunch of questions.

Can he move his limbs?
Does he have any bumps on his head? Anywhere else on his body?
Is the inside of his mouth ok? Like did he bite his tongue?
Does he have any flu like symptoms?
Is he babbling?

While I was talking to her, he looked at me and said very clearly "HI!". The nurse heard him. We both kind of laughed, which felt great after crying for a bunch of the morning.

She told me that right now it's a wait and watch game. She thinks he's fine (thank GOD!) but we need to watch him very carefully still.

He needs to be woken up every 45 minutes while napping. Really woken up and see his reaction.
He needs to be fed bland food and not very much (cheerios and crackers basically) so if he throws up we can know it's probably because of the head injury and not overeating or anything.
We need to monitor his diapers and if his stools aren't normal or he hasn't urinated in 8-10 hours we need to note that.
We need to check his color constantly. If he's very pale or ashen, we need to call the doctor back.
We need to check his sheets when he's sleeping to make sure he hasn't vomited.
Absolutely no tylenol or ibuprofen today.

Hopefully, it's nothing. But I'd rather be way, over the top, crazy, obsessive, safe than sorry.

I'm going to be calling my mom a lot today and probably leaving early to go get him. When I called her before I could hear him just screaming and it nearly broke my heart. I'll keep you posted.