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August 12, 2001
(A he's-okay, no ER ending.)While standing on the arm of his little chair, Jake fell. I only caught the last bit of it, and what I saw was confusing. It looked to me like his feet had slid off the arm of the chair (which is shaped like an easy chair) towards the floor, and off-balance, Jake was falling backwards into the seat. And it seemed like his legs or feet were caught on something, making it impossible to fall backwards into the seat. The view of his bottom half was blocked by my desk. In the few seconds the fall was happening, I was thinking that the chair was pressed against the side of the tv cabinet and his feet had fallen in the space between, allowing his body to bend over backwards into the space above the seat of the chair. (I know, confusing.)And for the nanosecond he was falling backwards without his legs, his face was just full of terror. He managed to pivot himself around (like a cat does when it falls from a height upside down) at the waist, and land somehow with his hands in the seat. He immediately began howling and sobbing in fear and pain. I scooped him up, being very careful with his legs and back, imagining that was what hurt. We were in the regular hug position, with his face over my shoulder. I couldn't figure out what was hurt, and kept asking him. He finally calmed enough to tell me it was his mouth.His mouth? I was baffled, but looked anyway. And sure enough, there is blood just dripping down his chin. I rush him into the kitchen and sit him on the counter. I'm not at all one to panic about blood and wounds and the like, and I know that head wounds tend to bleed a lot. I was worried about any broken teeth and the need for stitches. After wiping away the blood, I get to see what he's done. He apparently hit his mouth on the tv cabinet, and cut clear through his bottom lip. The hole is actually under the lip, just to the side of where you would get your lip pierced. It's not big enough for a stitch, and none of his teeth are loose. On the inside, it's two tooth-shaped slices.From the wound, I was able to figure out the fall. He had been standing on the arm of his chair, with his elbows on the tv cabinet, eating popcorn. I imagine that his elbows slipped or something, slamming his mouth into the edge of the cabinet. What I saw was an over active recoil, in which he flung himself violently away from the pain-inflictor.Poor little monkey. He seems perfectly fine now, and had no problem nursing, eating more popcorn, or drinking from his sippy cup. So I'm not worried. Well, I am a bit concerned about the risk of infection, since it's on his mouth. And it's all swollen... :( (sigh)
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