Let me preface this with: Ben is totally fine.
We landed in the ER tonight. Single scariest moment of my life to date as a mama. I'm not sure whether to be thankful for that or totally terrified still that it happened (maybe just embrace both).
We met some friends at pump it up this afternoon for a fun afternoon play date (which is such a rare thing these days). I was in one of the jump houses before our friends arrived just playing my heart out with the kids. I was thinking to myself "this is awesome, we haven't had this much interactive fun in a long time". I was playing monster with them and I kept thinking, "sheesh, this could end so badly". Ironically what happened to land us in the ER had nothing to do with an inflatable bounce house or 2 & 4 year olds jumping millimeters from one another.
Brooklyn and her friend were running around chasing each other.
I only remember it in slow motion now. Ben was standing right next to me, I was talking to my girlfriend, when Brooklyn came tearing into Ben, running faster than I've ever seen her run and smacked right into him. He went back like a sack of bricks, smacked his head on concrete covered with a thin layer of carpet (hardest floors ever). No joke he bounced, he hit the floor THAT hard. I scooped him up. His eyes rolled back in his head and he started falling asleep on my shoulder immediately. I don't really remember what exactly happened from there. I don't think he ever actually fell asleep, but he definitely lost consciousness. When he came to he was hysterical but couldn't talk or focus his eyes on anything. I was just staring at him, begging him to look me in the eyes. He couldn't, his poor eyeballs were vibrating back and forth in his head. I felt like I was having an out of body experience. I didn't cry, I know that, but I remember thinking "stop shaking Lauren".
Thankfully Christie (my friend) rushed up to the front and dialled 911. So the fire truck & ambulance came. They checked him out and gave me the option to drive him in or take him to the ER myself. They thought he definitely had a concussion and said it sounded like he might have had a seizure. The dr didn't think so (soooooo grateful for that).
I opted to drive. The (most) bizarre part here is that as we were leaving a man with an automatic rifle slung across his shoulder came walking by (seriously, like it was nothing...he actually looked me in the eye and smiled). The wonderful fire man that had walked me out to my car was standing right there with me as this guy passed by. He hustled us into the car, told me to drive the back way out of the parking lot and they rushed off to radio the police (or follow him) who knows. Seriously BIZARRE and SCARY.
So off we went to st v's. By this time Ben had calmed down completely and by the time we got to the hospital I actually questioned whether we even needed to go in. I did of course. We got him all checked out and the dr said it was def a concussion but not to worry about internal bleeding as the chances for that are like 1/10,000. I'm not a fan of those odds (that was the same odds of Luke's diagnoses). So we're home, safe and sound. Both kids are asleep and I'm supposed to check on Benny throughout the night. Ugh. Worst afternoon in a long time...but I am so incredibly thankful for God's amazing mercy. Things really can change in an instant. I was wandering around pump it up with my baby in my arms just pleading with God over and over "please take care of Ben". over.and.over. again.
This story could have had a much different ending. I am grateful it didn't, I am grateful I have (once again) a fresh, renewed sense of how precious life and health is and to treasure every moment.
Thank you Lord for protecting your son tonight. I promise to love him to infinity and beyond.
