** by the way, he started the photo app by himself, I just handed him the phone…

Unfortunately, upon our return, he adopted a new schedule in which he wakes up at 4am every morning to eat. This is a boy who has been sleeping through the night since he was eight weeks old so we’ve gotta find a way to break this new habit. We’re at the stage where we’re to start introducing solid foods which apparently often helps in sleeping.

His recent trip to the doc revealed a healthy little fella and he got his four month shots. He’s 26 1/2 inches tall and weighs 17 lbs. (as of December 7th). A friend of ours has a 11 month old girl who is 18 lbs. It’s weird — I’m proud of this silly stuff in an illogical way. Being an especially large baby is not a sign of health, necessarily, and neither Elizabeth or I are large people. I’m tall and she has tall genes. Neither of us are wide in girth. Obese women have large babies — clearly, that’s not what we want. I guess as a dad, I’m proud of every and anything.

Santa, Baby!

I went into the kitchen and began to clear the counter. Within 30-40 seconds, I could faintly hear that Luke was crying and while I wasn’t too worried, I decided to go check on him. The first thing I noticed was that Duncan, our dog, was looking into the nursery from the hallway with his ears pricked and instinctively I felt that something was unusually wrong. As I approached doorway, it became clear that Luke was screaming pretty loudly–I ran into the room to find him curled up, having fallen on the hardwood floor by the changing table (which is really a changing pad on a dresser). Shocked, I screamed his name and rushed to pick him up.

The next few events happened quickly. I was horrified because I knew that he must have hit the floor pretty hard. I scooped him up and attemped to reassure him. I didn’t know his condition but I tried to reassure myself that the fact that he was crying was probably a good sign. I tried to assess his physical condition but I could see nothing obvious and his eyes were sealed shut as he wailed (I really wanted to see his eyes because I felt they would indicate whether he was really okay).

My mind was racing. I could not figure how he managed to squirt off of the table, and so quickly. It was a worst case scenario because he’d fallen on the hard floor when I wasn’t there to break his fall in any way. After about 4-5 minutes of tears, amazingly, he started to quiet down. I went into the bathroom so I could hold him and observe him in the mirror at the same time. He seemed okay, although not happy. I sat down on the tub and released some tension. I was extremely shaken but let myself feel a bit of relief. I was debating what to do next since it seemed logical that he might be just fine yet I couldn’t help but think that that’s how all the tragic baby stories started: There was an accident, the baby seemed fine, the baby went to sleep and never woke up.

Luke didn’t seem sleepy but I soon noticed a good bump on the corner of his forehead.  As bumps go, that’s probably the best place to get one. If you look at a baby’s head, they seem to have a good bit of extra bone developed in the forehead to absorbe the inevitable impact of falling forward. Of course, Luke is only 3 1/2 months old so a blow to the head could cause unseen damage and I needed to be the responsible parent. Within another five minutes, I packed him up and was out the door.

I headed to Rush Medical emergency room because it was nearby and we’d been there once before for something minor so I knew where it was and where to park. I was aware that the emergency room of choice for kids in the Chicago area is Children’s Memorial, which is nationally recognized as a top childrens’ hospital but I wasn’t sure where it was and I didn’t want to stop to map it. Also, I knew I could get to Rush within 5-7 minutes. I popped on the highway, just as quickly back off and was walking into the receiving area of the ER within a few minutes of leaving my apartment.

The Rush staff acted pretty quickly and it didn’t appear busy so I immediately felt good about my decision to go there. A three-month-old is probably going to get priority in an ER anywhere you go, but there was a nurse weighing him (16 lbs, 6 oz.!), checking his heartbeat and temperature within minutes (all normal). Soon after that I was ushered into a waiting room and a doctor stopped by within minutes.

It was all pretty routine and all the tests were normal. By the time the doctor finished his five minute exam, Luke was smiling and laughing. I could see that the usually stoic doc was caught off guard — he even asked if Luke was normally that way (quick to smile)… I mean, you know, a head injury and all. I was, of course, overjoyed and proud to see him laugh and smile at the doc and I replied that yes, he was often like that. The doc and nurse soon moved on to the next patient and I figured I was just going to wait a bit and be released. All the while, I’d not contacted Elizabeth because there was nothing she could have done but worry. My instinct was that Luke was okay and when I told her, I wanted to preface the story by saying Luke was totally fine.

After about ten minutes and providing my insurance and co-pay to a Rush representative, another fella in a lab coat came by and asked that we come with him for some tests — a CT scan. Since I was expecting to be leaving, I was surpised by this. I verified that it was simply to be thorough rather than a suggestion that there was a concern. The lab guy hedged on this (because he probably couldn’t comment) but seemed to imply that was the case.

We entered the scanning room and saw the giant CT scan donut and table. The table had some towels and blankets on it, some rolled sideways to position Luke’s little body. Luke had been completely calm during the ER visit thus far and I hoped he’d continue through this ordeal. I think he was tired because it was late and he was a bit taken aback by the unfamiliar surroundings, which all combined to keep him interested and alert but pretty calm.

The tech asked me if I wanted to stay in the room with and I said that I did, so I got a lead apron to wear. Luke was also generously covered with aprons and there was a strap applied to keep his head steady. Despite the circumstances, he was absolutely adorable, this tiny little body on on this big bed, only his head visible, with a headband-like strap over it. The motorized bed positioned him inside the donut and he yet remained calm staring at me the whole time. I started singing one of his favorite songs and he immediately smiled… he loves “Wheels on the Bus.” Within five minutes, it was over, and the tech and his assistant couldn’t believe how still he was. I guess they’d probably done this on babies before and just expected crying, squirming, movement. I was proud of my little guy, but now had something new to worry about, the results of the tests.

We were ushered back into the holding room and were told it would be 5-10 minutes before the radiologist could examine the test results. It was about 10:45 pm at that point. We waited a bit and Luke started to doze. Fortunately, our room had the TV in it and Oprah with the Sarah Palin interview was coming on. I figured I’d occupy myself with the first few minutes of that stuff until we were let go. Unfortunately, I watched the entire show and half the Jimmy Kimmel show before I was allowed to leave.

In that time, a nurse stopped by to assure me that the CT scan results looke fine and there was nothing to worry about. Apparently, I just needed to get the “doctor’s orders” so we could treat what was basically just a bump on the head. When I did, eventually, the prescription was simply to ice his head every 3-4 hours for about a day and make sure his behavior remained normal.

Amazingly, at this point, Elizabeth hadn’t called me so I was relieved I’d be able to give her the whole story but only before assuring her the ending was happy. I drove home and, despite the fact that it was 12:45am, Luke was awake and hungry again. This wasn’t usual but not surprising since his schedule was so completely disrupted.

Luke has been completely fine since and his bump turned to a bruise by morning. It’s changed colors a few times since as it fades away but I won’t forget what was perhaps the scariest five minutes thus far in my life. That experience has made me realize just how important this little guy is to me. Yeah, he’s my son, of course I knew I loved him before, but this has taught me to really enjoy every moment with him.  When I look at my phone and see his smiling, drooling face as wallpaper, my heart breaks a little to know I might have lost that.

As for how he managed to fall off in the first place?  Ironically, I actually think the safety strap WAS the problem.  It works to prevent a baby from rolling off sideways, but Luke has been kicking his legs alot lately.  I think he was kicking them and caught his foot on the strap which allowed him to push himself right off the end.  

Luke in the ER

bouncin_luke