The fall

I saw it happening, but my mind wouldn't register the reality of the situation. I was reaching through the side door on the drivers side to get my purse that was wedged in between the front passenger seat and the seat holding Israel's car seat base, and I happened to glance up and catch what looked like a doll rushing past the open door space where Ryan was getting Israel and his car seat out. It was strange cause the doll was wearing the same orange colored romper that Israel was wearing and it had really similar hair. I didn't hear a thud, but I did hear my husband swear and say, "Oh my god, I dropped him. He wasn't strapped in, oh my god, I dropped him!"

We had come to Fred Meyer to pick up a few groceries. Had I left the house a moment earlier, Ryan wouldn't have been with us, but he happened to pull into the driveway just as I was backing out, so he parked his car and hopped in for the quick trip. When we got parked we spoke really quick about pulling Izzy out of his car seat and placing him in the shopping cart, so Ryan opened up the door behind the passenger seat and unstrapped Izzy to pull him out. He then mentioned it'd probably be better to have him in the stroller, so rather than pull Izzy out, he unhooked the entire car seat in order to place it in the stroller. Whether it was the momentum of him heaving up the seat, or Izzy leaning forward or a combination of both, Israel toppled from his the seat, and fell fast, smacking the concrete and landing flat on his back and head.

We rushed to the hospital, I was driving and Ryan was holding a screaming, crying Israel in the back seat. As scared as I was, Ryan was much more so, and I found myself repeating to him "Calm down, it's going to be ok, keep him awake" as Ryan continued to say Israel's name and hug him with tears streaming down his own cheeks. We pulled into the ER parking lot, Ryan hopped out with the baby and I quickly parked and ran inside. We were in to be examined within 2 minutes. The gal asked us a few questions, checked out the knot on the back of Israel's head that was rapidly growing to be the size of an adult index finger, and then sent us back to the waiting room.

That was the scariest part because as we were waiting, Israel began throwing up. And throwing up, and throwing up, and throwing up. It couldn't be stopped, I was completely covered in vomit, and the poor baby lost in a sea of confusion and pain couldn't help but cry that much harder. We were summoned pretty quickly back into the ER where we were treated by a really kind doctor that said we were going to get a CT scan just to be sure there was no internal bleeding. I have to praise the staff at Three Rivers because within 90 minutes of the accident we were in an ER room, with a CT scan completed and our pediatrician had come by to take a look at Israel.

Izzy kept fading in and out of sleep, but when he was awake he just wasn't himself. His cry was different, it sounded almost disconnected, like it was out of reflex rather than reason. He couldn't keep his eyes focused on anyone, and if he did, there was zero recognition in his face.

His CT scan results came back with zero harm done to his brain but a slight skull fracture. The good thing about the fracture was that it could easily heal itself. Our pediatrician recommended to feed him for a minute and see if he was able to keep it down. He wasn't. Ryan ended up covered in baby puke as well, so we decided to stay overnight.

The turn in his demeanor happened around 6:30. The nurses attempted to give him an IV, but his teeny veins wouldn't allow it. Not that they gave up easily. After a day of hearing him scream in pain, you'd think I was jaded to it, but he did not like them tightening that band around his forearm and thigh. It's almost like that moment of trauma woke him up though cause afterwards he was alert and aware of who Ryan and I were. He was making great eye contact and even laughing occasionally. I was so happy that I wanted to pass up staying the night, but Ryan still thought it'd be a good idea so we were shuttled up to our room (which was awesome), shown how to use the bed and crib (which could have slept Ryan comfortably) and left with our family.

Izzy nursed great about 10 minutes after we got to our room, and he didn't gag or show signs of nausea whatsoever. He fell asleep soon afterward and slept for a few hours, then woke up, fed again and this time slept 'til 5:30 this morning.

A couple posts back I wrote about how much I've prayed in 2 Timothy 1:7: "The Lord has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind". Our Lord is an incredible God that answers prayer because throughout this entire situation if there is one emotion I didn't feel it was fear, and if there was one overwhelming emotion it was that of a sound mind.

I will never be able to express how much the prayers and words of encouragement sent our direction meant. I absolutely believe that the reason Izzy doesn't have any permanent damage is because of the onslaught of prayer that covered our family in the hours following his accident. Ryan and I were talking about how it happened and angels must have cushioned his head because he fell a long way and he fell hard. But the way that he has come of of this situation is miraculous and we will be forever grateful to our wonderful friends and family and mostly to our King.