Everyone's doing it...

at least that's what they told as at the hospital. They said that everyone drops their baby at least once. Ok, even if everyone does it's still a very scary thing to happen. Here's how it happened:

We were getting ready to go over to the new house to finish painting. Oliver was hungry so I was heating up a bottle and I was going to sit on the couch with him until it was ready. As I was walking into the living room I tripped and out of my arms he flew, hit the floor and rolled under the coffee table. He started screaming and so did I. I scooped him up as fast as I could, and as I did I noticed a big lump on his head. I was crying really hard, so Bob took Oliver to see if he could calm him down while I found the number for the pediatrician. I called, but they weren't open (it was Saturday) but there was a number to call for the on call doctor. I wrote the number down and called it. Poor woman that answered the phone, it was the wrong number and I scared her half to death. Bob called his sister (who is a nurse) and asked her what we should do. After he got off the phone we drove over to the emergency room. I ran in and told the nurse what happened. He was very nice, but said we should have gone to the other hospital instead of this one. He took Oliver and weighed him (10 pounds, 11 ounces) and checked him out. He was calm by now, and acting normal. The lump on his head had gotten bigger though. After he got Oliver's temperature and made sure he was generally ok he put us in an exam room where Bob cuddled Oliver and I tried to stop crying. The ER doctor came in and checked him out, then told us he needed to have a CAT scan of his head and neck to make sure there was no damage to his brain. We waited a long time then they finally came and got us and took us down to X-Ray. They strapped Oliver down under a lead vest and taped his head to the table to hold it still. He started crying really hard and it was so hard not to just run in and grab him off that table. Bob put on a vest and stayed with him in the room while they did the scan. I was in the room where the scan shows up, so I got to see his brain! It took probably about 20 minutes or so to get him set up and do the scan. When the lady was looking at the pictures she called someone and asked them to look at it, too. This scared me - it made me think something was really wrong. After she was done she took us back to the exam room to wait for the results. The ER doctor came back in and said "I don't want you to freak out" ...ummm...hello! Get a bedside manner! Why on earth would he say that? It just made me think something was really wrong. Fortunately there was no damage to his brain, the swelling was all on the outside of his skull...where it was fractured. :(
They said they were going to transfer him to the other hospital to be kept overnight in the PICU. We waited a while for the transport unit and when they showed up they strapped him to a big bed and wrapped him all up in blankets. They were VERY nice! Once they got him all set up they told us to meet them at Moses Cone. (we didn't get to ride with him, I don't know why)
We got to the hospital and they got there right behind us. We got all set up in a room and by this time poor Oliver was so hungry. (remember at the beginning of this story I was fixing a bottle...they wouldn't let us feed him until the X-Ray results came back) So I fed him and then they hooked him up to the heart/respiration monitor and put a little thing on his toe to monitor his blood oxygenation. Once he was set up Bob went home to check the puppy and get some clothes and toothbrushes and dinner. He came back and we ate and fed Oliver again. Bob and Oliver went to sleep, but I just wasn't tired yet. I stayed up a little while, cuddling Oliver. (luckily his cords reached to the chair) I held him all night from the time he was hooked up until about 4:30. I was so tired then that I woke Bob up and handed the baby over to him. I got a little bit of sleep, but had to wake up again at 6:30 to feed him again. Anyway, he's doing fine. The doctor at Moses Cone was so nice, he explained everything to us in detail (a little over my head with medical terms) and didn't act annoyed when I kept asking questions. They sent us home shortly after that, and we slept and slept all afternoon. They said that he may or may not need some pain meds, so we stopped and got some Motrin for him. He's acting normal, been eating and sleeping like he usually does. Well - sleeping a little more than normal, but I would too if I had busted my head.
They said that injuries like this are very common and if he had to fracture his skull this was the best age for it since the bones are soft and still forming. There won't be any permanent damage and it won't affect the shape of his head. There won't be any evidence of an injury except this story and the X-Ray. In fact, the bump on his head is gone!
Anyway, it was a horrible experience that I wish no one ever had to go through.