On Sat July 25th Eve fractured her skull. I’m so grateful she is OK it could have been so much worse. I can’t even think about all the things that could have gone wrong. Instead I have to focus on what went right.
She fell from the loft in my mothers barn. It’s about a 7 ft fall onto concert. There is a lot of metal stuff around on the ground where she fell. I thought she was in the loft with my brother and her sisters but everyone was gone and she and her 3 year old cousin were alone up there.
My sister in law heard someone crying and went and found her and then brought her to Brady and he called me so I was last on the scene.I was so scared something in Brady’s voice told me it was serious from across the yard so I ran. When I got to them she had cuts on her head and face and was crying a little. Her mouth was bleeding and I knew right away that something serious was wrong. She told me she wanted to go to sleep and that’s when I knew something was really wrong with her. As soon as I realized that I wanted her to have a blessing.
By that time everyone was in the house with me and it was a bit chaotic. Everyone wanted to know what happened and no one knew so they were asking one another what they saw and telling me we needed to take her into the ER. I just kept saying that she needed to have a blessing every time someone asked me if she was OK. Everyone was very upset and scared. My dad had to go in the other room and ask my mom Eve’s name. Brady anointed her and my dad blessed her. I can’t remember everything that he said but I do remember the peace that I felt during the blessing. I knew we needed to get her seen by a doctor and I also knew whatever happened it would turn out all right. I am so glad we had 2 priesthood holders right there and that my dad keeps anointing oil on hand.
After the blessing we went to the urgent care by my house. They sent us straight to the hospital emergency room so she could have a cat scan. They said she would need one after falling from that high. The doctor at the urgent care looked her over and said she would be fine to ride in the car over so we just drove. Brady held her in his arms for both the trip to the urgent care and to the emergency room. The urgent care called and so they were waiting for us at the emergency room and took us right back.
The emergency room doctor was wonderful he was so calm and reassuring. He checked her out told us she looked good and this it was a miracle that she wasn’t hurt worse than she was. He said it was a good day for him because she was in such good shape. She was very lethargic and just slept in our arms. I was worried and kept tying to wake her but the doctor said to let her rest he wasn’t to worried about her sleeping because her eyes were responsive and it was bedtime. He then sent us down to radiology for a CAT scan. He said we might have to sedate her for the scan but she never woke up. She opened her eyes for a second when I laid her down and then fell right back asleep. I had gotten her ears pierced earlier that afternoon and was really sad we had to hurt her more by taking her new earrings out for the scan. (She is still showing people her new earrings because she doesn't remember we took them out).
The emergency room doctor and the person who did the cat scan looked at it and said her brain looked good from what they could see but that we would have to wait for the radiologist to look at the CAT scan. So we waited and held our little Eve. The Doctor came in and told us that her brain looked really good but she had fractured her skull. He was quick to reassure us and said if it were his kid he would be happy it wasn’t worse because if the bone had depressed into the brain we would be in a helicopter on our way to SLC to see a neurosurgeon or worse. Then he asked me if I wanted to hear all the ways it could have gone worse. I declined. His calmness was contagious he seemed genuinely happy to treat Eve-Lyn. He also seemed convinced that it was a miracle that she came away from her fall with only a skull fracture. The ER doctor told us Eve would have to be admitted to hospital and stay for 24 hours for observation. It was a long night.
The nurses in the PEDS unit were awesome! They took such good care of Eve and were kind to Brady and I also. Our pediatrician came to see Eve around midnight and checked her out really well. She slept on and off but hadn’t been fully awake until he came. He chatted with her and checked her eyes. So many people had checked eyes by this point that when yet another person asked her where their nose was she poked his nose with her finger and said “right there”. No one had looked at anything but her head up until then because they didn’t want to upset her so he did a thorough look over and said she was fine, but for the fracture, and needed a bath to clean up the cuts.
Eve did not want a bath. The nurse had to do some sweet talking to get her to the bathtub. She finally convinced eve to go by showing her the wagon she got to ride to the bathtub in and promising her she could wear a sleeping beauty dress (aka hospital gown) when she was clean. After her bath on the way back to her room the nurses and cleaning lady came out to see her and waived to her like she was in a parade. The first thing she asked for when she got back into bed was her sleeping beauty dress. After the gown we put antibiotic cream on her scrapes. One is on her eye so we told her it was makeup and put a little on her lips also. She loves lipstick. It was really sweet to see my banged up little baby thinking she was a beautiful princess.
The next morning Eve woke up and was ready to go. She was still uncomfortable but didn’t want to rest anymore. I got dressed and asked her if she wanted to see the toys but she didn’t so I asked her if she wanted another wagon ride she said no to that also. Finally we went on a walk. We walked back and forth along the PEADS floor until she got tired. Once she was to tired to walk she still didn’t want to go back to her room so I put her into the wagon and pulled her up and down the hall until breakfast came.
After breakfast Eve went and played with the toys in the playroom, we watched the life-flight helicopter take off and I cried. I was so grateful that we were in the Pocatello hospital playroom playing and didn’t have to ride on the helicopter to SLC. The Dr came in at 10:00 in the morning and Eve was doing so well he let us take her home.
Eve slept most of Sunday and Monday and was feeling so much better by Tuesday you would never have guessed she had a fractured skull. She should be able to do everything she wants by her birthday so were going to make it a special one!
