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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I feel so guilty I could throw up ....

48 replies

anothernewname09 · 23/02/2011 20:10

I was letting my 18 month old sit in the washing basket and she was playing with some socks ( trying to roll them up) when my phone rang.
I answered it, moved to the otherside of the room to get some signal, turned my back to DD and then hear her cry.
She was trying to get out but before I could get to her the basket tipped and she smacked her face on the hard floor and put her teeth through her lip.
She has gone to bed now but has a lip that looks like she has had a disagreement with mike Tyson.

I am sure she is fine but was so so upset and I feel terrible that I let it happen. I feel like I have caused her all that pain, just because I wanted to talk on the phone ............

OP posts:

eden263 · 23/02/2011 22:18

Don't feel bad, we all slip up occasionally. I used to sit DD in a spare wash basket while I pegged the washing out to stop her crawling off up the garden. One day she tipped it up and caught her forehead on the edge of a concrete stepping stone. Big bruise and gaze. But she lived (and forgot about it hours before I did!)

Hope she's fine in the morning.

Ismene, I cut a lump out of the top off DD's thumb with nail clippers, too. It was awful, just wouldn't stop bleeding. I had to make a teeny plaster as she was only about 6 weeks.

eden263 · 23/02/2011 22:19

*graze

Mists · 23/02/2011 22:20

Yes, fingernails too! Weirdly I once cut the skin on DD's finger but never DS who hates it and struggles like buggery.

Babies rolling off the bed is a common one. They hardly move on the floor or on a changing mat or table when you are there.

Turn your back for a second to get a nappy while they are in the middle of a vast adult bed and they can do a triple backward roll, flip, side roll and drop within two seconds

gordyslovesheep · 23/02/2011 22:22

oh bless have more - that jab they give you after you give birth - that's guilt - lasts a life time

here are a few of mine so far (3 kids not all the same child!)

broken finger tripping over x's 2
one fall down stairs aged 10 mths when stairgate left open
one fall off sofa - broken collar bone
one fall in soft play - broken leg
numerous head eggs
one eating of ibuprofen mistaken for tictacs
several bang head while being put in car
1 trapped finger in car door
363736873 cat scrathes

one black eye caused by me dancing wildly

get used to it - mine are all still alive!

Joolyjoolyjoo · 23/02/2011 22:22

Poor you- like everyone else here, I have had similar accidents- with the consequent wracking guilt trips!

At 18 mths, dd1 managed to find her way into MIL's bedroom, open her bedside drawer, remove her dosette filled with pills and spread them all over the carpet. I thought she was in the living room with DH, he thought she was in the kitchen with MIL and me . We had no way of knowing if she had taken any, so had to rush her to A+E where she was admitted for 8hrs. dd2 was only 3 wks old at the time. I thought I was going to pass out with hysteria on the way to the hospital, especially when she fell asleep in the car. Needless to say, she rampaged happily around the children's ward for 8hrs and was fine. We were totally drained with worry and guilt.

ds fell off the steps to the trampoline aged 2 and broke his collarbone. I remember posting about it on here, feeling like the worst parent in the world, and everyone was lovely.

And finally, ds did the leaping into the swimming pool on holiday last year, without my noticing . I had slathered him in suncream, but hadn't put his swim jacket on yet, and was preoccupied with making sure the other two were covered with suncream, while a complete stranger was rescuing my 2.5 yo son- felt sooo awful, sick and shaky.

Actually, that makes me feel terrible all over again, but hope it makes you feel a little better!

ddubsgirl · 23/02/2011 22:23

yup 4 boys,A&E is my 2nd home!

Portofino · 23/02/2011 22:25

I fell down the stairs carrying dd aged about 3 months! Literally from the top to the bottom. I put my hand out to grab the banister and it came off the wall! When I reached the bottom, I put my hand on dd and there was blood! I have never known such fear and panic. The blood was mine - I got a splinter in my hand from the bannister. We were both fine - though I had the wobbles for days after....

venni · 23/02/2011 22:28

I once tried to negotiate myself and dh through a metal turn-style thing at the airport baggage claim and dh (who was in stroller) was popped in the head by the darn thing once it recoiled backwards. I thought I would die - both of guilt and embarrassment.

Asteria · 23/02/2011 22:29

Oh really don't worry! I tripped whilst carrying my DS at a similar age up some stone steps - he broke our fall nicely with his head

A friend of mine backed her car out of the driveway of another friend's house after a big bonfire night party, only to hear a death curdling scream (it really was). A child (who had already drowned himself that summer and is still known as the kamikazee kid) had decided to hide under her car - he survived but needed stitches. The poor woman was devastated - how was she to know that a child had hidden in the dark under her car?

They are resilient little buggers - have a
I might have one too - just remembered my mother slamming my thumb in the car door and breaking it when I was about 5

captainbarnacle · 23/02/2011 22:29

Aw. Don't worry. She'll be fine.

When DS1 was just 2 we went on a day trip. He had a massive tantrum about something. I was holding him under his arms trying to get him to walk and he refused. I lost it and said 'well you just lie there' and let go :( - he landed on his face and smashed his front tooth into 3 pieces.

Blood everywhere, emergency dentist, nothing they could do, drinking through straws for 2 days, bit of teeth falling out - horrible.

2.5 yrs later and he's still missing his front tooth. All my fault. Poor boy!!

venni · 23/02/2011 22:29

I meant dd not "dh"

LOL!

isitmidnightalready · 23/02/2011 22:31

My littel sister is 6 years younger and has a host of scars from when I was looking after her. The one very close to her eye where she fell off the tree swing in the woods (ok, so it was a tip site for an old hospital and full of old bottles) and I discovered that blood actually pumped in spurts. Then I remember the sight of her face down in the pond by the woods - I guess I turned around when I heard a splash.

She got me back when I was carrying her on my shoulders( ages 2 and 8) and I fell and broke both my adult front teeth on the kerb.

Amazing she survived really, and still doesn't hold it against me.

The thing that makes my guts heave is the feeling that you have lost a child - it doesn't even have to be your own. Just the huge fear factor but still able to think straight. Each second lasts for about a minute.

outnumbered2to1 · 23/02/2011 22:31

last time i went to A&E it was cos i had trapped my hand in a door. Receptionist said "Hiya Mrs Outnumbered - which one of the boys has hurt themselves this time...?" now that is bad.

it happens to us all because lets face it we need an extra 3 pair of hands and eyes on the back of our arses to be able to keep up with them.....

gordyslovesheep · 23/02/2011 22:31

oh yes I forgot dd2 got on her bike
ME' you need you bike helmet'
Her (riding off) 'NO I DON....' fell flat on her face and knocked 2 teeth out

lesson learned!

isitmidnightalready · 23/02/2011 22:34

Where we live you have to pay for all doctor and hospital visits, and all medical care. It has made me into a more careful parent.

When DD3 (age 5) was spinning on a kitchen stool on tiled floor on Christmas day, I insisted that she stopped as the cost of a Christmas day call out for the doctor, the ambulance ,and then all the hospital costs would have been about 500 quid. Makes me think...

captainbarnacle · 23/02/2011 22:37

Where we live you have to pay for all doctor and hospital visits, and all medical care. It has made me into a more careful parent

I am usually a careful parent because I don't want to see my children in any pain. That's very odd that money motivates you to stop them hurting themselves?!

ddubsgirl · 23/02/2011 22:43

mine seem to have the knack of hurting themselves when they arent with me!

bumpsnowjustplump · 23/02/2011 22:45

Please dont feel guilty it happens to us all..

I wont list all the accidents my two have had just incase SS are watching the thread but the worst one was ds 6 months falling down our cellar (dinning room is down there.) only he didn't fall down the stairs but rather the 8 foot drop the opposite side of the gap straight onto stone floor... Horrific

DD also broke my fall with her head while I was 8 months pg with ds, her poor face was all cut and bruised.. Will never forget it..

I am not saying anymore for my own sanity..

ddubsgirl · 23/02/2011 22:53

ds2 is the worst,he fell over at school,no-one saw him and to this day he cant remember how he fell but school waited us us to take twins to nursery rather than call us,oh took twins to school that day,brought him home,i saw his head and took him straight to a&e the doc there went nuts that school didnt call 999!he had a lump the size of a tennis ball on his forehead,it was awful,the swelling spread to his nose and eyes had 2 black eyes for about 4 weeks,the looks we got when out was awful!

ddubsgirl · 23/02/2011 22:55

ds2 also broke his arm in the park on his dad birthday ended up spending night in hospital with him!

ds3(twin1)broke his foot in 3 places last year at sil 30th birthday party

didnt know till next day and only cos ds2 told us he had fallen down the stairs!felt rotten!

mikimoo · 23/02/2011 23:09

I did the fingernail thing too! The worst thing was it was the thumb that he sucked so every time he got tired, i got freaked out with the mouth full of blood dribbling down his chin like some demented Maggie Simpson character.
It's ok, he stored up the revenge - in the last week he's brought a picture down on my head, head butted me and weed on the bathroom floor so i slipped on it.
Me and dh are beginning to regret nicknaming him 'bubba' (short for beelzebub) when i was pregnant with him.

Morloth · 24/02/2011 01:15

Hah, if you got her to 18 months without anything worse than this I am most impressed.

If I give you a list of all the crazy shit my kids you may need a lie down. (I know I sometimes need one).

DS2 headbutted the coffee table the other day hard enough to cut under his nose, as I was crossing the room to comfort him, he did it again, on purpose...

These kids are going to drive me to drink.

whethergirl · 24/02/2011 01:30

I remember one time at an indoor soft play centre, ds pulled his arm out of his socket, and I was like "Oh stop making a fuss, you're fine. Go on, go back in and play..." etc. Then made him sit down for 10 minutes until he felt better. Then I told him to take his cardigan off and realised he couldn't lift his arm....poor thing had been sitting there with an arm out of his socket whilst his mother was busy gossiping over coffee!

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