Scariest Night Ever.

Over the past couple of years, I've read some posts by fellow bloggers about babies falling off changing tables and beds, or falling down stairs. And I've also read some tragic posts about babies falling into swimming pools or into canals. My reaction is always the same: I get a sick knot in my stomach and have to stop reading the entry. And, as sympathetic as I might feel towards these parents and certainly towards the babies, I will admit that this thought always crosses my mind: How did they let that happen?!

As parents, it's our job to protect our children and keep them safe. I am an extremely overprotective parent. It could be argued that I'm borderline overbearing. I follow two steps behind my son when he's walking outside so that I can catch him if he happens to stumble. I avoid people (even relatives!) if they have so much as the sniffles, because it breaks my heart to see Camden sick. He sleeps in our bedroom because I feel more comfortable having him close by, where I can keep an eye on him even during the wee hours of the night.

And still, we had an accident here a few nights ago. One of those kinds of accidents that I'd read about on other blogs and wince and think: How could this have happened?!! My answer: it only takes a second. And even the most meticulous, overprotective, control-freak parents sometimes look away for a second.

So let me give you a brief set-up of our house before I tell you about the scariest night of my life.

When you walk up our stairs and head left, you'll find Camden's room & Camden's future playroom (currently under construction) across the hallway from each other. If you head right when you walk up the stairs, you'll find the gym room & the theater room directly across from each other. Hopefully that gives you a decent visual. This tour of our house is relevant, I promise.

And here's our staircase. Scary steep, right? I know.



A few nights ago, Matt, Camden, and I were upstairs in his playroom. Matt was disassembling a bed that was in there, since this room used to be a guest bedroom. Camden was playing with some of the toys we'd already set up in the room. I was sitting next to Camden. Matt opened the playroom door so he could start moving the bed into our gym room (which, as you recall, is down the hallway). Camden immediately jumped up to follow his daddy out of the room. Of course, I jumped up as well and followed a couple of steps behind Camden, since Matt was too busy moving furniture to supervise.

At this point, Matt walked into the gym room and started putting the pieces of the bed down. Camden followed him into the room. I stood out in the hallway by the gym room door, but turned my back briefly to look at the screen in the theater room across the hallway. Matt didn't notice Camden leave the gym room because he was busy rearranging bed parts. I didn't hear Camden walk less than a foot behind me as he passed me in the hallway.

But I heard this loud and clear: an awful, terrifying, will-never-forget-it-as-long-as-I-live CRASH. I swear my heart stopped when I heard that sound. I literally froze in place for several seconds trying to determine the source of the crash. I think Matt and I realized what happened at the exact same moment. We both sprinted towards the stairs, white-faced, and in a state of panic. There were screams as we looked down to see Camden at the bottom of the stairs. I don't remember Matt running down the stairs, but I do remember him being at Camden's side. Meanwhile, I stayed at the top of the stairs screaming & asking if we needed to call 911.

Miraculously (and I don't use this word lightly; truly, I think this was a miracle), Camden was totally fine. Yes, he screamed his head off for about 5 minutes. Then he wiggled to get out of my arms, climbed down, and walked straight over to his favorite toy. He turned it on and started playing as if nothing had happened.

I was completely unconvinced that a one year old could take a spill like that and walk away unscathed. "We need to take him to the hospital to have everything X-rayed", I remember saying repeatedly. But we wiggled legs, bent arms, touched fingers and toes, ran our hands along his rib cage, felt his back and belly, and checked his head for bumps. Everything was in tact. That didn't stop me, however, from watching Camden sleep for several hours that night.

This story could've had a much different outcome- a busted lip, broken limbs, paralysis, or worse. We were lucky. I share this experience to drive home the point that it truly does only take a second for an accident like this to happen. Also, if you have a mobile baby & have been delaying babyproofing, get on it ASAP. (We have a safety gate at the bottom of the stairs but had put off ordering one for the top since we don't spend much time up there. Two days before this accident, our gate for the top arrived at the house but it was missing a couple of parts that we needed to install it. Those parts arrived today and you can bet that gate will be installed the second Matt walks in the door tonight.)