Our First ER trip.

*Note this was written between 1/6 & 1/7

Bear with me, there may be a lot of rambling.

My heart hurts.

Today was one of those "only in a nightmare" sort of days. The morning started off normal. A hot cup of coffee and leftover monkey bread. I even got to sleep in a bit because Braden was home from work on this particular day. Reagan played and watched a movie -today it was Tinkerbell- as usual. Braden worked on getting a couple projects done around the house. I did my everyday check of Facebook, the Blog, and gmail.

It was then THAT time.

We have started giving Jax 4oz of formula a day. I prefer to give him the bottle in the morning to help my milk supply come in better for the next feeding. This is because he pretty much eats all night to his pleasure and I feel drained by the morning. Anyway, so I put him in his car seat on top of the counter-just like any other day. I did not strap him in. As I was talking to Braden,  I went to make THE bottle right there in the kitchen next to Jax sitting in his car seat (on the counter). I filled the bottle up with water and all I remember next is hearing Braden shout....

"OH NO!" and....

My heart sank.

I turned to see my sweet baby boy face down on the tile from a 3-foot counter.

(Right now you're probably thinking I'm a BAD mom)

Braden rushed to pick him up. All I could think was "Is he OKAY!?". He started crying right away (Thank goodness!) and bleeding from his mouth. While Braden held him, I rushed to get a bottle fixed and proceeded to feed it to him. He finished the bottle and then I nursed him a little (which he didn't seem too interested in).

After the shock we decided to go to Urgent Care. We threw on some clothes (face not washed, teeth not brushed, deodorant not applied) and packed the kids up. We arrived at the closest Urgent Care right down the street and were told they don't ACCEPT children under 6 months. WHAT!? Are you kidding me? My child just fell of the counter and something could be terribly wrong.

So we got back in the car, call Jax's pediatrician (who told us to go straight to the ER), and headed down to the nearest hospital less than 10 mins away.

We arrived at the ER where everyone was extremely friendly. Before we had even left the house I told Braden we needed to have a plan.... what do we say? They take peoples kids away for things like this. Or so at least that's what I had in my head.

We got admitted VERY quickly and a nurse checked Jax out while he screamed and wriggled. I literally prayed that everything would check out and he would be OKAY. Please don't let there be any brain damage was my biggest prayer. He could move all of his limbs. He was conscious (he cried the whole way there, which I will take as a blessing). His temperature was fine. She handed him to me and he promptly calmed down-which she seemed surprised at. This baby (MY baby) loves his Mommy.

They gave him some Tylenol and sent us on our way to a lovely woman who helped us get registered. We then waited for a room. By this time, Jax had really calmed down and was sleeping peacefully in his bad Mommy's arms. People were quickly filing into the ER. One Man Nurse was nice enough to move us out of the waiting room (where there was a woman throwing up continuously and might I add, very loud) back by the rooms to wait in a more quiet spot.

The wait didn't seem too long. Braden took Reagan potty and while I waited a man in scrubs came up to me and started telling me a couple stories about his kids. He said that "he threw one of his kids out of the car seat" (exaggeration of course) and another time his kid fell out the car seat and he ran down the street so his wife wouldn't hear the child cry (he knew he'd be in BIG trouble). I thought to myself, is this guy for real!? He's crazy!

I soon figured out he was the doctor that would be checking out my baby Jax. And, you know what!? This is the kind of doctor that I needed. Someone who didn't make me feel like a bad Mommy. Someone who reassured me this happens and can happen to anyone. Let's just say He was AWESOME! He checked our little guy out and said everything looked 99.9% fine and recommended that we didn't get a cat-scan or any x-rays done.

Everything was QUICK and we were soon on our way home.

What I've learned from this experience

1. I am not a BAD Mommy. You know how I know this? Because I only want the best for my children and I hate to see my babies in pain.
2. DO NOT put the car seat on the counter with baby not strapped in
3. Crazy doctors are the perfect medicine for a worried Mommy
4. God has tremendous grace
5. Our children are a most precious & fragile gift (I already knew this, but in these circumstances things are put into perspective dramatically)

It is most definitely by the grace of God that Jax is okay. I still sit and ponder how he did not HURT (break a bone, scratch, or split open his sweet little head) anything severely. My prayers were answered and our little boy is back to his normal smiley self. Still giving him tylenol to help ease the pain, but everything looks like it will be alright.

And, I leave you with a photo of my precious boy resting peacefully