OT: I fell and smashed my son's face on the street

I was walking with my youngest son (two years old) from my T's office to the car. It was cold and windy and he asked me to carry him. I picked him up and took two steps, twisted my ankle in a little hole that was partially filled in with blacktop, and we both went down. As we were falling, I was able to hold him to my body, but I couldn't turn fast enough to save his face from hitting the ground. He ended up with a nasty red bruise on his cheek and I am expecting that it will be black and blue in the morning. I have minor pain in my ankle, a bit of brusing and am getting a little sore in my back.

I keep having a flashback and wishing I could have twisted faster so that he would have landed on my chest instead of the street.

hey don't even do that. don't even think about it. kids fall anyways! chances are probably in the next year or so your son would've hit some sort of hard surface and bruise himself anyways. you had absolutely no choice in the matter. and the fact that you didn't throw him through the air to have him land on the back of his head, tailbone, or even in such a way to break a bone, is awesome.

he knows it was just an accident. so don't lose any sleep, okay?! you wont even think about once the bruise fades and your ankle pain subsides.

sending love your way

Aw, you poor baby. I am sorry you fell and I know you did the best you could to save your baby from being hurt. UG the guilt of that must really suck. But reliving it is only going to make you feel worse. Think about how good it is that you didn't drop him!

I hope his bruise and your ankle are better fast.

I am sorry you and your son were injured. I too have a bad habit of reliving moments that are emotionally hard on me for a few days after. It just shows how much you care for and love your son. You did all you could but that part of you that wants to completely shelter your child wishes you could have done more. That is a manifestation of your love for him. It's because you care.

I hope you both feel better soon.

I am so sorry this happened to you. Its one of the things you never wanta happen and you did your best to deal with the situation. Please have no guilt cause it will heal. Sometimes we do lose that control and accidents happen.

Hon, I know it's so hard when that stuff happens. We were living in substandard housing in Pasadena when my oldest was lttle, (2-6yrs old) and when we had an earthquake, the whole house started to shimmy like crazy. I tried to reach out to catch him because he was panicking, and he fell just as my hands brushed him. One of my nails put a two inch gash into his little face that he still has a faint scar from.
It happens. I think we bipolars get so used to second guessing ourselves that we really react badly when it does. We live fiercely and love even more so.
Hope his bruise and your heel are back to normal soon. And you done good, BNLsMOM. HUGGS

Please don't fret about this. It is a big deal that you two fell, of course it is. But you didn't throw him to the ground or purpously try to hurt him. He's a little boy and he's going to get hurt. A bruise is no big deal... wait until the first stitches or the first broken bone... these things happen and you're not a bad person because it happened. Because you clutched onto him you potentially avoided him having a bad head injury so you could have saved his life.... a cheek bruise, no matter how ugly it may be now, is a small price to pay for the awesome job you did keeping him safe. He thanks you for it!!! Nice job with the quick thinking.

I'm so sorry about your accident. Pleaase don't beat yuourself up over it. Hugs

He is better today. Just a little puffiness around his eye, and my arm that I landed on is killing me, but it feels like no more than a pulled muscle. Strangely, my ankle is 100% pain free.

Thanks for all the well wishes. I think he is totally over it. Now I just have to stop seeing it over and over.