Another first

Well Tuesday brought another first in our world with Asher, but not a first that I'm excited about. As Asher was walking down stairs from our upstairs floor to our main level, he tripped over his pant leg, and fell down the whole flight of stairs. I was about 3 steps behind him and saw the whole thing; he was just out of my reach as it happened.

12 stairs is a long way down when you're falling.

It is a moment I will never forget, seeing your precious child fall and crash and bang this way and that, and twist and turn and roll head over feet, and land with a thud and then seeing blood. It was scary and I didn't know how much damage there was. Asher was crying, hard, and there was blood and I didn't know where it was coming from. He held his breath and turned blue; he didn't quite pass out, but he was close.

I was panicked by trying to be in the moment to help Asher. I felt a bit of instant relief when I saw him kick his legs. "OK" I thought, "he's not paralyzed".

I called Greg and asked him to come home right away. That was a tough call to make and I'm sure an even tougher one to receive.

It took Asher about 10 -15 minutes to calm down. I could finally see that the blood was coming from his lip and I didn't see any obvious breaks or blood coming from anywhere else. He stayed very close and sucked his thumb a lot, but eventually he got up from my lap and walked around a bit. I grabbed his gear and got him and Marek dressed just in time for Greg to walk in the door. We knew we needed to go to the hospital in case there was something broken.

During the 3 hours we waited in the Emergency Room, my boy began to act more and more like himself. He had been pretty quiet and had not been moving around much for the first hour or two. Eventually he started talking and laughing and being his silly old self. My goldfish cracker eating boy. More and more relief came to Greg and I the more and more he seemed OK.

We finally saw a doctor who stripped him down and did a thorough exam. It didn't appear that anything was broken or seriously damaged. He didn't flinch or cry as she tugged and moved his limbs and joints this way and that way. We did find a few bruises and some carpet burn on his face, and were told to keep an eye on any possible signs of head trauma. All we walked out of the hospital with was this:

Thankfully.

Asher has seemed a bit more cranky than normal since this happened, and is having a harder time sleeping. I'm sure he's just a bit scared and probably sore from his big fall.

But he's OK - and I couldn't be happier. Let me tell you, it's moments like that where what's really important becomes so crystal clear.

Health.

Family.

Love.

Safety.

Time.

Connection.

God's care and provision.

Prayer.

Faith.

Marble chocolate cake, fresh flowers, and the good friends who gave me these things without even knowing what a tough day we had all had.

I can honestly say that I hope this "first" is never repeated again!