Posterchild for Thudguard

A friend told me about the Thudguard awhile back. I really had two feelings at once. 1.) That's crazy weird. 2.) How cute are those helmets with the ears and everything! I was also thinking that it wasn't a terrible idea. I really dreaded the day that Declan would get a HORRIBLE injury, especially on his head. That day was Saturday.

Actually, Declan has not had the best couple of weeks when it comes to getting hurt. First, a cousin (who will remain nameless as to protect his/her identity.....because when I posted his/her name on facebook, his/her dad gave me grief for ratting him/her out) hit Dec square on the head with a hard plastic toy. That same day, he pulled a kiddie gate down on to himself, catching his eyebrow in the process. Although he is really getting better at walking, and he walks ALL OVER the apartment, he still trips over his feet often. A few days after the toy and gate incidents, Dec tripped and hit his head on a wall corner. That was the worst one yet, and then a couple days later he did pretty much the same thing again. Then.....there was this last Saturday......

Trevor and I were visiting a park, to see about having Dec's birthday party there. We were letting Declan walk around, watching him the whole time. Then this happened (in Daddy's words): forehead meets concrete. Concrete wins. :( It was quite a thunk too! We could hear it from several feet away. He was in my arms in seconds and already bawling. By divine planning, we had a cold pack on us and we were able to get ice on it right away. He cried for about 10 minutes, while, despite the ice, his forehead swelled to about silver dollar size. And then, he was fine! We put him back down (FAR from the concrete) and he toddled around like he loves to do! He even went in the swing for a little bit. What a trooper! Needless to say, the park has been vetoed.

We went home soon after and fed him his afternoon snack.....and watched and worried that we should do more. After icing it a bit more, and talking to a Kaiser Advice Nurse, we decided to take him to urgent care. Everything seemed fine with him, but the bruise was just so large, and we were so unsure, we figured it would just be best to have it checked out. The Dr. felt the same way, it was probably ok, but might as well get an x-ray, to be safe. Of course, Trevor and I are thinking, "Awesome! An x-ray of our son's head! I hope they let us take pictures of it!" (Yes, I brought the camera. You need to be ready for anything, anytime. That's my motto......as much as it bugs my husband.) Declan didn't enjoy the x-ray process too much, but it was fast, and they were in the system before we even went back upstairs to the Dr.'s office. The doc said everything was fine, no fracture.....and we begged to see the x-rays. Ok, we didn't have to beg, but we did give a little puppy eyes. And of course, they wouldn't let us take pictures. A medical legality thing.....lame. Whatever.

We were sent home with the instructions to look for any abnormal behavior, or rather any behavior that is abnormal for Declan....babies have some pretty abnormal behavior in general! We were also told to wake him every 4 hours at night and check his pupils. It actually sounded worse than it was, we only had to check him twice. And apparently I wasn't really involved the second time. In fact, I don't even remember getting up, but Trevor said I did, and he said I also kept saying "his eyes are open, he's fine!" Dec went back to sleep just fine each time we woke him (he is SOOOOOOOOO wonderful!!) but he did wake up about a half hour early (he's still SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wonderful!) Today he was great, a little cranky, but probably from the heat and perhaps his head ached a little. He'll be fine, just won't be getting any modeling gigs in the next month or so. :)

Here you go, what you've been waiting for, a thousand pictures of my son's injuries! I couldn't take a picture that really showed how bad it looked, so I took many.

A sad mommy with her little bump-head buddy.

Icing...

By the time we were at the doctor, it had gotten all red and bright.

Playing in the exam room. "What bump?"

And wouldn't you know it.....when we got home, we set Declan down to play and walk around, and within minutes, he had tripped again, hitting the exact same spot on our office chair mat (not so hard, but not so soft) and the bump just doubled in size! Seeing the bump from so many angles was just crazy. I did my best to get them all....

This was today, Sunday....a little better. :)