We had a bit of a scare yesterday.

Our little 4 year old soldier who loves a hill-bomb on his balance bike, came off it at full speed and absolutely smashed his mouth on the handle bars before hitting the deck......in the middle of a nature trail, just going on dark.

This is what dreams are made of.

There was no slow-motion about it. He was off down the hill like he’s done hundreds of times before, and then, just like that, he was literally off. Off the bike. And there was blood. Quite a lot of it. AND he had a white shirt on (of course he did).

Those 10 seconds before you get to your kid who’s fallen are a funny 10 seconds.... I feel like I’m usually a glass-half-full-kinda-Mum when my kids fall over.... ‘you’ll be okay buddy’ is my go to. I almost laugh in preparation as I trot over to the ‘crash site’ hoping to make a joke of it to help them get over it. Refusing to believe this is an actual proper ‘accident’. Because it rarely is right? Kids bounce. 

There was no trotting to this crash site..... I’ve never seen Adam move so fast.

‘Dust yourself o.......’

But there was no dusting off, his bike wheel was still spinning, and his little body (why do they look so LITTLE when they fall?) was still on the ground.

Thankfully he started screaming his little head off. The poor little pea was initially hysterical.... NOT about his mouth filling with blood but about the MILLIMETRE size cut on his finger...I actually loled a little (you should see your face bro)

But a few minutes in he got the full-on leg shakes, turned the colour of sea-foam, stopped crying which I thought was weird given the injury to his mouth, and by the time we got him and the baby (!) out of the bush, into the car and 3 minutes down the road he’d stopped responding to us and started falling asleep. 

I raced inside (the nature trail is literally a 4 minute drive from our place) while calling the GP who was just closing, grabbed an icy pole to keep him awake but also to keep the massive amount of lip swelling down, and then while Adam stayed home with Alfie, I dashed him to the GP at 5.03pm, all the while cracking jokes to Frase about his big bust up. ‘What a cool story you’ll be able to tell at Kindy mate!!’.

Internal voice: ‘F$%k’

The nurses and GP were so lovely to stay back for us. We looked quite the sight, me hurrying dramatically through the door carrying my 4 year old Clark Kent style, with blood all over his face, his Dad’s jumper thrown over him to keep him warm and cover the ‘white’ shirt.......meanwhile he’s just there happily slurping on a Zuperdooper like it’s the green whistle, yelling out ‘WHY ISN’T THERE ANYONE ELSE HERE MUM!!??’

So yes, he’s absolutely fine (his teeth should be as well.. ..we’ll just have to wait and see). His helmet saved his head. No concussion. Just a very sore lip and some squashed little teeth. My dentist friend got sent some pretty gross photos of his poor little front teeth throughout the ordeal, accompanied by a lot of crying emoji faces.

We went for an emergency dentist visit this morning. Luckily they’re his baby teeth and apparently baby teeth are built for times like this! They can withstand a bit of movement. Let’s hope so. I really want to do the tooth fairy thing for the front two teeth - they’re definitely the most exciting to lose and worth big money to a kid!

(On a side note, Fraser has not ONCE in 4 years allowed the dentist to even look at the OUTSIDE of his mouth let alone the inside……and today he opened up wide, mashed up mouth and all. I guess he realised how important it was this time) .

So as you can probably tell, this whole thing scared me. I don’t get scared that much when it comes to tumbles. Our kids have both had many a tumble down our stairs and they both permanently have eggs or grazes or bruises on their foreheads. But this was different. I felt sick. And a little bit of panic. 

Do you know when a head knock is worth going to the doctor for?

I think everyone knows when you definitely need to call an ambulance (loss of consciousness, any obvious broken bones or severe lacerations etc etc) But in this case, I didn’t.

GP? Emergency dentist? Drive him to hospital ourselves? Ambulance? I really questioned if the Ambos would be cross if we called! (I am sure they are never cross!)

So after a bit of research, I now know this.

If your child experiences any of the following after a minor head injury you should seek help immediately:

• Frequent vomiting

• Severe headache or dizziness

• Convulsions/spasms in the face or limbs

• Unusual or confused behaviour

• Restlessness, drowsiness (or irritability in a baby) 

• Difficult to wake up 

• Weakness in the arms or legs

• Abnormal or unsteady walking, poor coordination

• Slurred speech

• Double or blurred vision

• Or if you are worried for any reason.

Fraser was drowsy, difficult to keep awake in the car, and was behaving a little out of character. It was enough for us to want to seek help.

His teeth were also not looking so great (another reason to seek help). 

So now we just monitor him, give Panadol and ice packs (icypoles) as needed, and let him rest. Children need to be monitored for 24 hours after a minor head injury as occasionally they can get worse.

P.s did you know it is now advised you can let your child fall asleep after a minor head injury like Fraser’s? I didn’t realise this and tried desperately to keep him awake in the car. If they want to sleep, let them, but check them every hour for the first four hours making sure they respond to gentle stimulation, and check on them regularly throughout the night ahead.

So, will we be encouraging him back on his bike to do hill bombs? Absolutely. They’re so fun! Just maybe not this week. And his bike might need to go to the Daddy bike mechanic first.

Actually now that I think of it, maybe this will be a good transition to a pedal bike (which he is currently heavily resisting as he’s so good on the balance bike)..... I can see it now.....

‘Where’s my bike mum?’
‘Oh it got written off in the crash darling. Insurance these days’

Life is so timely sometimes! 

And just so you know he’s not scarred from the event: Fraser’s three main memories from yesterday.

1. The doctor checking my chest

2. The doctor checking the back of my chest

3. Nothing else

4. Can I have another icy-pole?

Love Alana xx

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