So I think I am ready to share this now. Saturday morning, shortly after I read about Mer's sweet Averey's terrifying experience, we had a scary experience of our own. While DD was in the high chair eating breakfast I let the cat out of the basement because he was meowing. I left the door open because DD was in her high chair. When she was done with breakfast, I took her out of the high chair, turned to my iPad, and heard the most terrible noise I have ever heard. She fell down the stairs. I screamed for my husband, who was still in bed, and ran down the stairs. I didn't see her. Then I heard her cry. She had fallen through the open part on the side of the stairs and was on her butt in the basement sink. My husband ran out of the bedroom screaming. I came upstairs with her, and to our surprise she seemed fine. She only cried for a little bit and we checked her all over and the only evidence of a fall was a little red mark on her shoulder. We brought her in to the doctor and she said she was fine. We promptly bought a gravity-close baby gate. Please buy a baby gate, even if you "always close the door," like us. It was the scariest moment of my life. We keep replaying it in our heads and wondering HOW she didn't get hurt. My husband said he thought she was dead when I screamed. I am still beating myself up about it and feel so guilty.
This is my worst fear. THIS is what our basement stairs look like:
(This is the original stairwell from our 1951 house... I have to go down these to do laundry. Yuck)
When Marnie was a wee-one we just kept the door to the basement closed, but this summer we've had the door open to let cool air up. We do have a baby gate that is screwed into the door frame at the top of the stairs.
When DH's mom was visiting I had a scary moment when MIL didn't close the gate properly. She thought you just closed it - not that you had to push it down to latch it. Amanda likes to go to the gate and pull up on it. Sometimes she rattles the bars, sometimes she throws things down the stairs.
Luckily, every time I walk past the doorway, I always push on the gate to make sure it's closed. I nearly had a heart attack when I realized that the gate had been closed but not latched for at least 20 minutes.
That's a concrete floor on the bottom, and (obviously) no railings. I have nightmares.
>:D< so glad she is okay, that must have been so terrifying.
Me: 35 H: 35 Married: 4/5/13 "You know that place between sleep and awake, that place where you can still remember dreaming? That's where I will always love you. That's where I'll be waiting." ~Peter Pan
*TW*
BFP #1: 11/12/12 EDD 7/25/13 Baby boy: 7/27/13 BFP #2: 10/29/17 MMC dx @ 9 weeks BFP #3: 2/2/18 MC 2/7/18 BFP #4: 3/2/18 MC 3/9/18 RPL testing and hysteroscopy: all normal BFP #5: 4/1/18 MMC dx @ 14 weeks ----> genetically normal girl Hysteroscopy to remove scar tissue 9/28 BFP #6 11/5/18 EDD 7/20/19 Rainbow baby girl born 7/23/19 BFP #7 12/8/2021 EDD 8/22/2022
Oh, hugs mama! I'm sorry you had such a scare, and glad she's ok!
We have scary steps too, going to the basement and our second floor, and Luke's current favorite thing to do is climb them
FKA mimi4347: diaper rash magician and unofficial expert on excrement
This kid may not have a lot of bowel, but he has plenty of guts! DS born at 34 weeks with (surprise!) gastroschisis turned short bowel syndrome. 131 days in the NICU, 7 trips to the OR, G-button, daily TPN....
We are impatiently awaiting the day we can say goodbye to his girlfriend Ivy for good.
@KTZ17 >:D< that is sooo scary! Glad she was ok! This is one of my big worry too as we also have the side opening. Try not to beat yourself up, things happen no matter how careful we are! >:D< >:D<
@thegoodpotato I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought we could "just keep the door closed." Your staircase is terrifying. I REALLY always closed the door, until this one time I didn't. I am just really blaming myself that we didn't buy the gate sooner. And that I'm the one that left the door open. And I wasn't looking at that moment. So, yes, @Caitable25 I'm totally beating myself up about it, but I'm trying to just remember that she is not hurt. My DH has been reassuring that it could've happened to him, too, but what is upsetting me more is he keeps bringing up that he doesn't understand how she's okay and she could be dead. Really comforting. @gutsymama gate that sh*t up!!!!
@KTZ17 people slip up all the time.... and even if you're 100%, accidents happen. My sister fell down the stairs when she was a toddler after climbing up with a blanket in her hands... linoleum stairs with a metal tread on them.
It's scary, but I'm SO glad she ended up ok. Time for a latching gate. >:D<
@thegoodpotato I immediately bought a top of the line gravity-close gate that shuts itself for those stairs, and today we went and bought another one for the stairs going to the 2nd floor. We just had one of those flimsy impossible to secure ones for the steps going up because we don't use those bedrooms, so we rarely have to open and close that gate, but now we see how awesome the gravity close one is we got another one.
Hugs and glad she is ok. This happened to LO on DHs watch once, we have a baby gate but he forgot to close it. LO was fine and I guess he basically just slid down the stairs but nontheless it is still super scary. It happens don't beat yourself up.
That's so scary! I'm so glad she's ok. Try not to beat yourself up too long. Accidents happen. Thanks for sharing the gate though. I'm buying a ton of those for the new house!
Hugs! S also took a tumble down our stairs. We have a split level so it was only a few steps, but we have slate at the bottom. He was just fine, but it really freaked DH out. They are more resiliant than we give them credit for sometimes.
Omg how scary! DH did that one evening; he left the top of stairs gate unlocked and forgot to shut our bedroom door...Gavin got to the stairs and opened the gate before I got to him. I nearly died right there, there are easily 15 steps, all wood and fairly steep, and a wood floor at the bottom!
Bottom line, it happens, but you'll never make that mistake again. Hugs!
Glad she is ok! I have had that feeling as well. Nikita fell down a friends stairs right in front of me. She was 2. She started walking down (holding on to rail) and tried to turn around, slipped, and log rolled to the bottom. She appeared to spin above the steps and landed flat on her back. Aside from being terrified she had maybe a bump on her head and a little rug burn.
I had to stand there and watch. There was nothing I could do until she landed...and I was frozen.
Benefit...she hated stairs for a good year after. I didnt have to worry about her and stairs until she was bigger
Glad your LO is ok. I think all of us have an event like that where we just beat ourselves up over an accident. I let my 8 month old fall out of his crib.
I am so, so sorry - this is my biggest fear as well. Adeline has absolutely no fear of stairs and is super fascinated with going down them. Right now we only have baby gates at the bottom of the stairs to keep her from climbing up but it's about time I install them at the tops of the stairs to. We have a door going down to our finished basement and I am constantly pushing on it to check that it is closed.
Don't beat yourself up momma, everyone makes mistakes and it only takes about 2 seconds for something like this to happen!
F15 Siggy Challenge: What You're Looking Forward to Most After Baby Arrives: BELLY SLEEPING!
These things can happen so quickly to any of us, please don't be too hard on yourself. I had to take DD to the ER yesterday because she fell off a chair and cut her tongue. I put her on the floor and walked into the adjacent room to get dinner out of the oven. I thought she'd be fine in the family room. Nope. >:D<
@llmg0715 my brother told me they make gates with a cat door in them but I'd be afraid she'd crawl through it, so we just open the gate for the cat when he meows and make sure he's downstairs with his litter box when we leave the house.
Re: Worst moment as a mom (warning: upsetting)
(This is the original stairwell from our 1951 house... I have to go down these to do laundry. Yuck)
When Marnie was a wee-one we just kept the door to the basement closed, but this summer we've had the door open to let cool air up. We do have a baby gate that is screwed into the door frame at the top of the stairs.
When DH's mom was visiting I had a scary moment when MIL didn't close the gate properly. She thought you just closed it - not that you had to push it down to latch it. Amanda likes to go to the gate and pull up on it. Sometimes she rattles the bars, sometimes she throws things down the stairs.
Luckily, every time I walk past the doorway, I always push on the gate to make sure it's closed. I nearly had a heart attack when I realized that the gate had been closed but not latched for at least 20 minutes.
That's a concrete floor on the bottom, and (obviously) no railings. I have nightmares.
(Yes, I know our basement is a mess)
Monster Truck (It's a GIRL!) is due 19/02/2015!
Married: 4/5/13
"You know that place between sleep and awake,
that place where you can still remember dreaming?
That's where I will always love you.
That's where I'll be waiting."
~Peter Pan
*TW*
BFP #2: 10/29/17 MMC dx @ 9 weeks
BFP #3: 2/2/18 MC 2/7/18
BFP #4: 3/2/18 MC 3/9/18
RPL testing and hysteroscopy: all normal
BFP #5: 4/1/18 MMC dx @ 14 weeks ----> genetically normal girl
Hysteroscopy to remove scar tissue 9/28
BFP #6 11/5/18 EDD 7/20/19 Rainbow baby girl born 7/23/19
BFP #7 12/8/2021 EDD 8/22/2022
We have scary steps too, going to the basement and our second floor, and Luke's current favorite thing to do is climb them
DS born at 34 weeks with (surprise!) gastroschisis turned short bowel syndrome.
131 days in the NICU, 7 trips to the OR, G-button, daily TPN....
Shit happens! Hugs!
LFAF Summer 2016 Awards:
It's scary, but I'm SO glad she ended up ok. Time for a latching gate. >:D<
Monster Truck (It's a GIRL!) is due 19/02/2015!
This happened to LO on DHs watch once, we have a baby gate but he forgot to close it. LO was fine and I guess he basically just slid down the stairs but nontheless it is still super scary. It happens don't beat yourself up.
Baby girl #1 7/11/13
Baby girl #2 4/30/15
Baby Boy Due 2/16/19!
BFP: 12/01/2012 EDD: 07/26/2013 Birthday: 07/25/2013 ♥
Don't beat yourself up momma, everyone makes mistakes and it only takes about 2 seconds for something like this to happen!
F15 Siggy Challenge: What You're Looking Forward to Most After Baby Arrives: BELLY SLEEPING!