Brain injuries and Bunny Rabbits

Accidents happen in a matter of seconds, unexpected, and unpleasant. We had one such accident on Saturday. Our sweet Michael was sitting on the top bleacher in the dugout with his blastball team. It was a picturesque scene. All the little uniformed kiddos, lined up in a row, chewing bubble gum and chatting, waiting for the other team to show up. Daddy was standing in front of him talking to another mom, and I was standing behind the dugout to take advantage of the shade for my sleepy girl, Scarlett.

I guess in a child's mind, Daddy is ALWAYS ready to catch them, and on a whim, Michael stood up on that 3 foot high bleacher and jumped to his Daddy without a word of warning. He slammed into him and fell to the ground, catching the base of his head right on the edge of the bottom bleacher. It was loud, it was scary, it was similar to a lot of other times he has fallen and hurt himself. Expect when Daddy picked him up his head was to the side and his body was rigid, then in an instant he was crying, dirt smudged all over his handsome little face.

We tried the usual stuff, snacks, juice, water, to cheer him up. I wiped the dirt off his face and sat down with him in my lap. His head was sweaty, his face turned grey and his lips went white. Then his head fell back and his eyes closed, that was when we knew this wasn't like the other times. We yelled a half hearted apology to our team and took off for the car. I sat with him in my lap for the short trip to the hospital, shaking him and engaging him so he would stay awake.

We were at the hospital for less than two hours but every second felt like a week. When they put the cervical collar over his face and he didn't flinch, I knew something must be terribly wrong. He went in for his CT scan and Daddy held his hand while I waited with the other kids in the hall. He told Daddy he was scared, we were all scared. Denton told me he was afraid his baby brother was going to die. I assured him he was fine, he just needed to get checked.

Our brave boy

After the CT, the real Michael started coming back. He started to talk, he noticed the baby crying in the next room, he began to get angry about the collar, and he wanted a SNACK! What a joy to hear him cry and be grumpy! The scan was clear for head and neck, the figured he had a mild concussion, was maybe knocked out, and had been in shock. We met my mom for lunch at Taco Casa and by the time we left, he was attempting to jump off the top of the booth (lesson well learned! HA!)

That day, every time I looked at him I thought I would cry. I can't imagine my life without this maniac. Last night he ran around the house to find Daddy, and he came back in seconds screaming and terrified. I grabbed him and asked what was wrong. Through his tears and panic he said "THERE WAS A BUNNY WABBIT OVER DER!!!!" I couldn't help but laugh, I told him bunnies were nice, he said "There are SCAWY!!!" Keep away from my baby boy, you wascaly wabbits!!