Friday evening Henry fell off the kitchen counter and fractured his skull. I feel like a terrible mother, and so so guilty. I knew he shouldn't be up there, but he is such a crab when I set him on the ground to get anything done. I'd gotten in the habit of setting him on the counter right in front of me when I'm working on something in the kitchen. Friday had been a long day. I got home from work late, Jason didn't feel well, the other kids were watching TV and the kitchen was a mess. I just wanted to pick up a bit so that I could get dinner started.
I set him on the counter and turned my back for a second to throw something in the trash. In that second I heard aloud THUD. I turned around and found Henry laying flat on his back. I picked him up and tried to sooth him. He almost immediately vomited. A friends daughter had a skull injury earlier this summer and I learned from her that vomiting was a very bad sign.
I took Henry to the ER and after an hour was finally seen by a doctor. The doctor had told me that I should just go home and "observe" him for 24 hours. I insisted that something wasn't right and I wanted testing. She relented and ordered a CT scan. After another hour and half we finally had the test and knew he had a skull fracture. Thankfully the skull hadn't moved and it appeared he was fine, but the decision was made to transport Henry to Oakland Children's Hospital via ambulance for further evaluation.
Oakland Children's Hospital ER was amazing! We immediately had several doctors, nurses, and surgeons evaluating Henry. We were admitted for overnight observation. It was the longest night of my life, and a very trying day, but in the end it was determined that Henry was fine. Because the skull did not move there was no brain injury, bleeding or swelling. The fracture in itself isn't dangerous. We now have to watch him and try to prevent him from further injuring the skull for at least a month. After that time he should be good as new, as if nothing happened to him.
