Lesson In Monkey Jumping On The Bed

I did a stupid, stupid thing on Monday. I sat my 7-month old on the bed, turned for one second to hear a heart-stopping BAM followed by a scream. My baby girl had fallen from the bed and bumped her head.  I write this utterly embarrassed of myself.

Of course you hear stories of this happening all the time, but I was smug and thought, “I’d never, ever be so dumb as to let something like that happen.” What had possessed me to put her on the bed? What was so important that I had to advert my eyes from her for a moment? Clearly, I wasn’t thinking.

The good news is LBD is fine. I called the doctor hysterically crying, at that point more than the baby, and was told to take to the ER to be on the safe side. After the fall, she screamed for 2 minutes and then was giggling at our kitty before I even managed to get her in her car seat to go to the hospital. She checked out great at the hospital and was her normal, energetic self the rest of the day and night. The only remnants of the trauma, a small purple bruise in the corner of her eye.

I, on the other hand, was not okay. And I don’t think I’ll be okay for a while. Even though the doctors and nurses at the hospital offered relief with personal accounts of similar happening to their own children, I remained sick with guilt. Humbled by the experience as a first time mom.

As parents, we try so hard to protect our children from harms way, but even the paramount of parents, without fail, have human moments. Mistakes are inevitable. That same day, my husband (my darling husband!) came home from work in the evening with a card in which he wrote, “Just remember, what sticks is all of the positive ways you impact her. Nothing else.”

All we can do is learn from mistakes made.

All we can do is our best.