1 Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed...

Jude fell off and bumped his head. Hard. He may be hard headed but evidently not hard enough.

It all started on a peaceful afternoon - by peaceful I mean that our friends were over and it was chaos in my house. A good chaos to be sure but chaos nonetheless. The kiddos were happily playing all over the house and my friend Liz and and where chatting and gathering her things as she prepared to leave.

It was about 1pm or so. We heard a thunk and then Jude crying. Liz rushed to Jude's room and I followed more slowly, mistaking his cries as falsely intense. Lately even the slightest bump or stub of the toe results in his failing bloody murder - I may need to start telling him the story of the boy who cried wolf. Upon examination I saw a huge bump and bruise forming on his head. He said he fell off the ladder of his bunk as he was climbing down. Sam, Liz's 6 yr. old, helpfully answered our questions and we determined he had not hand anything slow his fall. Straight from ladder to floor. I was comforting Jude, having handed Asher to Liz, and realized Jude's nose was bleeding - all over my brand new skirt (thank goodness for peroxide). I asked if he had hit his nose or if it hurt and he said no.

So I gathered him up and carried him to the living room, set him in the rocking chair and went to rummage in the freezer. I was able to scrounge up a bag of frozen peas to place on his head. Jude was still crying and I couldn't get him to calm down. Liz suggested I put vaseline on the bruise to help it not swell and not look so bad. So I went in search of vaseline and paused to put my skirt in the sink with peroxide. Having applied vaseline to Jude's head. I helped Liz out the door.

Jude was whimpering still but much calmer. Asher had fallen asleep and been laid down in my bed by Liz. So I hurriedly got Shiloh ready for nap time, reading his book and singing him to sleep. It was about 1:45 when I finished up with Shiloh and went to check on Jude. He had fallen asleep in the chair. I scooped him up and took him to his room. Waking him and checking his pupils for dilation because I was slightly concerned about concussion. Jude went back to sleep and I let him be. Nervously checking every 15-20 min to make sure he was alright.

Around 4pm Jude, Shiloh and Asher were all awake. We skyped with my parents who are in the Cayman Islands. Jude was kind of lethargic and still fussing about his head. In addition he was complaining that his tummy hurt. So Mimi and Pops googled concussion while we were skyping and I determined to watch Jude closely. After hanging up with Mimi and Pops I tried calling Chad but couldn't reach him so I texted him a picture of Jude's head. He called me right away and after hearing Jude's symptoms wanted me to take him somewhere. I almost had a mini meltdown because if you know me you know that I hate making phone calls and dealing with this sort of issue freaks me out. I decided to call Dr. Mick our Chiropractor and started to get the kids ready to go there and have him give Jude a once over. Shortly after hanging up with Dr. Mick Jude threw up. I called him back and he said I should take him to a clinic or ER. Freaking out again because my first course of action was no longer the best I called my friend Miranda. Miranda would know what I should do. She has five kids and has been in this situation countless times. Bless Her. Miranda suggested maybe a clinic so I ran with that. But which one? Which would the boys insurance cover? Freak out again.

Chad saved the day and located an urgent clinic for me and off I went. Pausing long enough to stuff some diapers in a bag and call Liz and ask if I could leave Shiloh with her - thankful, thankful, thankful for friends in the neighborhood, God answered my prayer for friends so well! Jude, Asher and I made our way to the clinic. Only once we arrived and explained the situation they advised us to go to an ER as they could not do a CT scan. So if you ever have a head injury, skip the clinic and go to and ER. We loaded back up in the car and headed to Texas Children's West Campus in Katy. We stopped long enough to wait for Chad (who being downtown at a work conference had gotten a ride from some co-workers).

We made it to Texas Children's around 6pm. Got checked in. Got Jude's vitals taken. Got situated in a room. The nurse turned on Planes for Jude and he was quite content. We saw a Dr. The Dr. thought after a little exam we could go home. Then came back - on second thought she wanted to know how high he was and then decided since it was  above 5ft. we should do a CT. Jude had some goldfish and gatorade (things which we never buy but we hadn't eaten dinner and he was hungry) which made him happy. We got CT done and settled in to wait for the report. Good news we could go home. Then the Dr. came back, ummm actually I'm sorry but I think there may be a fracture I just thought I should look again and thats when I saw it. So the Dr. began to consult with Texas Children's main campus where the neurosurgeons where. We where then told we were going to be transferred.

Chad rode in the ambulance with Jude while I took Asher home to get some diapers, feed the dogs and ultimately sleep for 2-3 hours. Chad and Jude made it to the Main Campus and saw the neurosurgeons who observed Jude, reviewed his scans and ultimately determined that there was no bleeding or swelling in his brain. There was a fracture running through his sinus cavities but that it was not leaking fluid into his brain causing a risk of meningitis so we were sent home with instructions to keep an eye out for some symptoms and a follow up appointment in a month. Long night. We got close to 7am.

I am so thankful that he is going to be ok! Thanks to everyone who prayed!

  

Jude's head :(

Asher chilin'

Sleepy.