Over anxious mum??

[Sopster]

On Friday morning last week my 5 year old DS slipped and fell in the shower at a local leisure centre. He landed head first on the edge of a ceramic tiled step splitting the back of his head open quite deeply. There was a lot of blood and tears and we went off to A&E and although at first they were talking about putting him out and stitching it a lovely nurse managed to glue it back together. He really has been absolutely fine in himself ever since. He has never complained about it hurting until tonight when we 'washed' his hair (poured water on it) for the first time as instructed by the hospital. It still looks dreadful as you might imagine and the skin around it seems very 'loose and wobbly' which is worrying me as we're off to Spain on Saturday. Anyway, ever since this has happened I have been having constant flashbacks to it happening, am struggling to sleep and feel almost permanently sick and worried about him hurting himself again. Is this normal?? Obviously there are many mums who have had to deal with far worse situations than this, surely I should be able to pull myself together by now?? Has anyone else ever experience similar and can reassure me I will pull myself together soon?!!! Thanks x

I think time will make you feel less anxious but for peace of mind can you nip him to the nurse at your GP's to check all is as it should be?

Oh blimey, sounds horrible, I'm not surprised you're still reliving it
Is this the first time he's properly hurt himself? I split my head open as a baby, and my DM says she still remembers the noise my head made. I think it's perfectly natural for you to feel the way you do, don't add extra guilt by saying you're over anxious
Just keep reminding yourself that he's fine, you're a good mum who does her best to keep him safe, and that eventually you'll be so used to his scrapes it'll be a case of chucking him a plaster and Avalon and carrying on MNing
Lots of sympathy to you both!

I would guess it is normal to have a post-traumatic reaction to something like this. It's not the severity of what happened, it's what it means to you, especially if it's the first time he's hurt himself this badly (and hopefully, the only time). So I don't think it's helpful to chide yourself for how you feel.

Savlon* blimin' autocorrect!

I second running by the GP and have the nurse check it looks OK seeing you are going away. Maybe that will help you feel a bit better about it.
Don't beat yourself up over it. We've all done stuff or had stuff happen. I know when I've had a near miss with my kids I re ran the bloody accidents over in my head for days/weeks even, eventually you relax and get over it. You sounds perfectly normal to me

YANBU. When mine have a fall or other near miss, I feel sick about it for days. It's very frightening but it will pass.

Thanks everyone! He has had bumps before but never as nasty as this. I have just got my neighbour (a paedatric nurse) to come and have a look at it and she was really reassuring and said she'd look at it again before we go so it looks like hes healing ok I guess in time I will chill out!

Very natural when you have had a moment of horror like that. Check if you're scared but he will be fine

head wounds bleed massively.. i split the back of my head open a few years ago, and my white tshirt was almost all red, it was horrible.. but it did heal quite quickly even though it left a scar

OP I feel for you and YANBU to still be anxious. My DS 3.5yo lost control of his scooter yesterday, I was feeding DD at time and my DP ran but couldn't prevent the inevitable crash landing. I was expecting something like you described your DS suffering but he only had a few scrapes on his face and arm and, of course, shock. It isn't keeping me awake at nights but I have had moments of panic today just imagining what could have happened. (I've also ordered a helmit, knee and elbow pads and gloves for his recent gift of a bike - he will not be on a bike without them!)

Ok blooming heck it's totally normal to feel anxious and relive it!

When Ds was3 he partically amputated his thumb in a door slammed shut by the wind.

i got throug all the hospital, fasting, surgery and recovery. But a while after some one asked what happened, I opened my mouth to itell them and had a full on panic attack.

It's normal, he's your baby, who you want to protect and not be harmed. If you are concerned about it, ask your GP, and if they say it's fine and it's nothing to worry about all the better.

Have to say that, despite it being years ago I still recall it and feel anxious, not to panic attack stage, but the memory of it can make me draw a deep breath!

Darlin' girl you don't need to 'pull yourself together' at all, you had a shit scary experience and it's entirely natural to feel shaky about it! I was wobbly for days after DS cracked his head on the windowsill and that only resulted in a bump and borderline concussion, if he'd split his scalp open I suspect I'd still be under sedation. Or at the very least, still on the gin and Valium.

It will lessen with time but if you really feel your life is being curtailed by panic then a quick chat with your Gp is entirely valid, I'd say.

Quite normal OP Glad he's OK! My DS1 fell out of a window in front of DP ( it was in no way DP's fault and he couldn't have stopped what happened ) and banged himself up quite badly ( he's fine now ) and poor DP couldn't go into that room without a panic attack for months! ( He's fine now too )

Give yourself time to let the shock of what happened work it's way through your system ...

Oh god, yes it's awful. My DS "escaped" from a gated play area when he was about 13 months as someone had propped the gate open and I hadn't thought to check. I was ok at the time (thank god he had gone round the back instead of onto the road) but when I told DH about it that evening I was a shuddering, sobbing wreck and just kept imagining him being flung into the air by a car.

In a way it was good as it ensured that I would never trust people not to do dumb things and I always double check that gates are shut.

He also fell into the corner of a wall once and cut his forehead quite badly (not terribly, but again, head wounds just pour blood) and I just kept playing it over for ages afterwards.

I'm sorry to say that there will be more to come. My son seemed to have started to live at A&E from the age of 5 until ........ Well, the last one I remember was when he was 17. If it's not falling down a kerb or banging a head and cutting it open, it evolves into football injuries or burns when working in a canteen kitchen on Saturdays.

Thanks everyone. Am definitely starting to feel like I'm not going mad now!

Welsh - your post made me laugh-I can assure you the pinot and gin have been free flowing since last Friday! Larks- glad your little one was ok!

I think the problem was, I was very shaken up by it. I was shaking as I held the wound together and really struggling not to be sick or cry! I desperately didn't want my little boy to see how upset I was and further upset him but I think because I was on my own dealing with it for hours (husband at work) there was just no opportunity for me to have a quick breakdown and get it out of my system!

My Mum told me last night she can still remember the sound I made falling out the car when I was 2 and she had to take me to hospital so I guess I'd better start learning to live with it!!