Baby Overboard!

Well, I wasn't going to post this but after sharing the story with a few moms, and realizing how often it happens, I figured I would go ahead and tell another story about poor-parenting skills. =)

Remember when your baby was first born (and for the first few months) you could put her down on the bed and walk away? You might lay her there and use the restroom. Or, you might lay her there and put clothes away. Whatever it was, you are confident that they baby would be exactly where you left her when you get back. You may even let her sleep on the bed long enough to shower.

Then, after a month or so, your baby starts scooting. I'm not really sure how they do it, but they scoot themselves around (very slowly) without purpose. So, if you lay your baby on the bed you put her in the middle and surround her with pillows, use the restroom, and come back. Again, the baby is pretty much where you left her. So, you can probably take a shower with the baby sleeping on the bed and be safe.

Around four months or so your baby learns to roll over and suddenly you have to be much more careful. If you leave your baby on the bed it will be for a much shorter period of time. If she is sleeping, there isn't major rolling going on so you may be safe to leave her on the bed for the amount of time it takes to run to the bathroom and pee.

So, around 7 months your baby starts crawling. Leaving the baby on the bed alone is really a no-no. If she is sleeping you may be able to walk away momentarily, but leaving the room is out of the question. That brings me to my story...

My husband travels quite a bit for business. One night, a few weeks ago, my husband was gone and Brett woke in the middle of the night. It was almost 1am. This is actually pretty rare these days so I was super tired. I had to pee but I went and picked her up because I figured I would just sway/rock her to sleep. She was crying, crying, crying. I held her and swayed/rocked her in her room. I rocked her in the rocking chair. I tried everything. She wouldn't go back to sleep and she was really unhappy. I brought her into bed with me. I nursed her. She was definitely teething and would be half-asleep but would thrash her head around and scoot herself all around. One hour goes by, two hours go by. I have to pee so bad! Finally, around 3:15am she falls asleep! I am laying there with her for about 15 minutes. During those 15 minutes she doesn't move at all. I figure it is safe for me to run to the bathroom... I put pillows around her and leave the room.

I decide I am going to go to the bathroom down the short hall so that the noise doesn't wake her up. I pee, flush, wash my hands. Then I decide to blow my nose (I guess I do this rather loudly). So, I throw my tissue in the trash and all of a sudden I hear THUMP and CRYING!

I go RUNNING back into my room and there is Brett on the floor! She is in a crawling position. I pick her up. I'm shaking- who do I call? My husband? The pediatrician? My parents? I try to call my husband but he is on a plane and I get voicemail. I decide not to call my mom because I think she will overreact. I kissing Brett, telling her I"m sorry, rocking her... I am lightly squeezing different body parts to see if she cries out at all. I look into her eyes to see if her pupils are dilated. I decide I will call my pediatrician. Just as a start to dial she stops crying. She looks into my eyes and, as if to say she is ok, she smiles.

I got back into my bedroom with her and turn on the light. The pillow I had put next to her fell off the bed first so it cushioned her landing. She had narrowly missed (by inches) the end table.

Brett started crawling around, smiling, etc. She showed absolutely no signs of injury.

That was the last time she slept in bed with me when my husband was out of town...