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Parenting

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Original poster

Most heart stopping moment yet

24 replies

Ozziegirly · 02/11/2011 05:14

We were at playgroup today, all the children out in the fenced garden. I realise I can't see DS. Peer round the corner and I see that one of the mums has left the side gate (which I didn't even know was there) open.....

I couldn't see him. I could have given Linford Christie a run for his money how quickly I was out of the gate as I had visions of him on the road.

Thank goodness he had gone the other way. Heart pounding I scooped him up, covering his semi bewildered face in kisses.

Lesson learned - check the gates and don't rely on them!

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recall · 02/11/2011 05:19

Fucking Jesus

That other Mum needs a good kicking for that !!!

Original poster

Ozziegirly · 02/11/2011 05:32

It was an accident, although given that she is a primary school teacher it did give me pause!

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25kilopumpkin · 02/11/2011 05:48

When DS was just crawling I ran into the kitchen to stop cat jumping up and getting dinner. Turned around and DS had pushed against massive wooden table that was propped up against living room wall. I flew and stopped it millimeters from his little head! My Mum refers to these as "one from God" a warning that makes you stop it happening again in future.

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Original poster

Ozziegirly · 02/11/2011 05:53

That's a bit how i feel - I am quite keen on letting him wander and explore and not hover around him. In a non gated area I am much more careful, but this just shows I have to keep watch even when the area is "safe" as someone else might do something dumb to render it unsafe!

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Tinkerisdead · 02/11/2011 06:28

Mine is the time dd fell the full length of the stairs and crashed into a unit at the bottom. I tried to catch her but its one of those times the world moves in slow motion and your own feet feel like treacle.

I rang dh and screamed for him to get the unit moved as it had sat there for ages and dd has never messed about on the stairs since!

Fuzzled · 02/11/2011 07:22

Yesterday, when DS happily toddled through carrying the chopping board and sharp knife (thankfully by the handle!) I'd chopped his apple on! My heart was in my mouth as I tried to persuade him to give me them safely and I had to have a sit down after!

I now know that I have to ensure the safety gate handle is all the way down or he can open it and that he is now tall enough to grab stuff at the edge of the counter top.

They grow so fast!

Original poster

Ozziegirly · 02/11/2011 09:44

DH just got home from work and I was telling him and just dissolved into sobs and incoherent "but whaaat if there had been a car?oramadman, ororororraaaeeiiiiieeee" as he gently patted my back..

Awful. These children will render my whole hair grey.

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Octaviapink · 02/11/2011 10:08

Was in a playground in east Dulwich a few weeks ago and council workmen were doing some maintenance. Had a go at them for smoking, and then saw that they'd left the gates open and went BALLISTIC. They did have the grace to apologise - I don't think they'd appreciated how crucial the gates are.

I have regular 'one from God' moments (I like that phrase) - one was discovering dd 9 feet off the ground up a vertical ladder when she was 11 months old. She couldn't even climb the stairs at that point, nor crawl very well. I still have no idea how she did it in the 90 seconds it had taken me to go to the loo.

LovelyBath · 02/11/2011 10:49

We went to a hippy dippy forest school type playgroup in an allotment/public park. One of the children ran through a gap in the hedge into the path of a huge council hedge cutting machine. Luckily the mum got there in time. I couldn't believe the attitude of the lady running it though she didn't seem to care..we had to ask if she could make sure it was shut last time and a laminated card o it telling people to keep it shut

Bit of a shame really, we stopped going after that but it still worries me!

NinkyNonker · 02/11/2011 12:57

DD (15 months) fell ove earlier and landed on her forehead on the sticky up metal valve at the side of the radiator. Cue hysterics, an egg the size of...well, an egg and blood. I ran to the docs at the end of the road to be told to wait 2 hours.

Anyway, she's fine. And breathe.

matana · 02/11/2011 14:30

My 11 mo DS has given us two massive scares in quite quick succession over the last 2 weeks. First, he turned blue and shivery literally in the space of 5 minutes, having previously been happily crawling around. It was tonsillitis but i realised that however calm i usually am it all goes completely out of the window when you think there's something REALLY wrong with your child. I mean, you don't expect your baby to turn blue. And on Monday i was on the loo and my DH had just got out the shower when we both heard a huge crash. DS was lying on the floor with a bookcase on top of him. It was a little bookcase and he just lay there looking up a bit dazed. He wasn't even hurt but i think our reaction made him cry.

Taffeta · 02/11/2011 14:34

We moved house 2 years ago. DD fell off the sofa 2 days before and was under investigation as she fitted twice. My mind was on her.

A very large cupboard had been emptied and it toppled on DS. Very, very, very slowly. (not really, just all went in slo mo ). It landed so his head and neck were inside one of the shelves.

I was a wreck for about 2 months afterwards.

Clawdy · 02/11/2011 16:41

Laid my sixteen-month-old down on changing mat for nappy change,and as he opened his mouth wide laughing,I saw a small lego brick he had in his mouth drop to the back of his throat(don't know where he found it). I yanked him up as he started retching,banged him on the back,in a terrible panic,and luckily the brick shot across the room with a stream of vomit! Cue much hugging and weeping(me!)

Svrider · 02/11/2011 18:40

I had one of those circle clothes line things. It was in it's down position , with it's cover on
I looked out of kitchen window to see dd (2yrs) had stood on tip toe, on a flower pot. She had the line wrapped fully around her neck , and was tottering, just about to loose her balance!
I rushed out and got to her just in time.
Scary stuff

FoxyRevenger · 02/11/2011 21:09

This thread is giving me the jitters

First incident was when DD pulled a cup of tea over herself at Playgroup; not my tea and not kept away from the edge of the table but still my fault. Luckily it had been there a while and was just warm. I stripped her and had her in a sinkful of cold water in about 10 seconds flat.

Last week she was eating tomato, facing away from me and something about the way she was standing made me check; it was completely stuck in her throat and her eyes were bulging. I turned her upside down and whacked her back until a big big of tomato skin came out. If that hadn't work god knows what I would have done.

bibbitybobbitybloodyaxe · 02/11/2011 21:13

Losing ds (age 5) on a beach. He was out of my sight for about three minutes.

DedalusDigglesPocketWatch · 02/11/2011 21:26

DD suddenly turning purple at 11m. Turns out it was her temp raising very quickly due to a bug - very scary!

Also her wandering out of my grandma's back gate on to a dangerous bend in a country road. She was 18m, playing with her cousins in (what I thought was) a secure garden. Lots of shouting from the cousins, my blood ran cold, my sis and I ran as fast as we could and thankfully got there before any traffic did. Apparently the postman hadn't latched the gate.

These things do make you so much more aware of the day to day dangers that may not occur to you.

lynlynnicebutdim · 03/11/2011 10:56

this one was my own stupidity but i was in TK Max and DD (16 months at the time) was desperate to get our of the buggy so I let her. She was happily playing peekabook at me through a rack of clothes while i browsed when suddenly she didnt pop out again. I looked over the rack and she was stadning about a foot away from the escalators (which i previously hadnt noticed as we came up in the lift), poised ready to leap upon them. THey were the escaltors coming to that floor so would have flung her back and would have quite possibly gotten caught up in the grate (a phobia of mine thanks to stories my mother told me as a child about children having arms and legs ripped off by escalators). I managed to snatch her up before she jumped on them but i think i highjumped that rack of clothes to get there in time.

jubilee10 · 03/11/2011 15:00

At a car boot sale. I opened the car door and called for ds1 to unstrap himself and come out of the car. Little did I realise he had unstrapped ds2 (10 months) on the way past. A short while later ds2 fell head first from the car onto the tarmac. Luckly he survived to tell the tale.

Lindax · 06/11/2011 20:46

was at the local Tesco checkout packing weekly shopping and ds was just under 2 and pottering about nearby at the little car ride and I lost sight of him.

then looked out of the windows to see him walking across the carpark alone heading back to the car

abandoned checkout girl, sprinted the lenght of the store and across the carpark shouting some incoherent rubbish - never moved so fast in all my life

luckily a woman and her husband had seen him walk out the shop alone and she was waiting at the door of the shop while her husband followed him about the carkpark keeping him out of harms way

I was shaking so much dont think I even thanked them properly

YourCallIsImportant · 07/11/2011 10:49

DD slamming the car door shut on her thumb, I just about vomited on the spot.
Last year was at a big cycling event in a park and heard a tannoy announcer saying 'could the parent of xxxx xxxx please collect him from security' I thought 'how odd that someone else's DS has the same name as mine, then realised that my DS wasn't in the playpark any more. I had to sprint about 200 yds through hundreds of people, all with bikes, to get to him.

Cue another vomit on the spot.

JustLea · 07/11/2011 16:57

Two guys tried to take my car while my 1 year old Son was in the back..I had stopped outside my parents house (in broad day light) after takin my mum shoppin. I left the keys in the ignition as I had only got out to open the boot for my mum, she picked up her shoppin from the boot and walked towards her house. At that point I had closed the boot and saw the two guys sprintin towards my driver's door..I thank my lucky stars I reacted in that split second with out givin it a chance and beat them to my door. I threw myself into my seat, and locked the doors. They then stopped dead in their tracks and turned around to walk away. I called the police etc.

Anyway, even though I hadnt actually left the car, it was broad day light, I was with my mum...I never leave my keys in the ignition, even if I get out my seat to get somethin from the back of the car...I was shakin for days on end at the thought of what could have happened to my Son if they had drove off with him. I feel like I cant breathe when I think back...I just thank above it didnt happen.

bearhug · 07/11/2011 17:25

my DS is 3 now so there have been a few (lost in the woods etc..) but the most recent one was last week, when we wer staying in DGPs house. He was supposed to be napping, but came down proudly carrying 2 lightbulbs that he had taken out of the bedside lights. 'look mummy!'

I had to have a little cry.

Tonksforthememories · 07/11/2011 17:43

DS 2.2 has had several choking incidents on really innocent items, the most recent being Yorkshire pudding. I've become an expert at the 'flip and slap'!

DD2 coming downstairs at age 3 after cutting her lip on a razor that DD1 (5) had 'helpfully' got down from the cabinet for her. (She climbed in the basin to get it! Cabinet now has a lock.)

DS learning to climb Under the stairgate into the kitchen and emerging with a sharp knife. Thanks DD1! (7.6, no excuse at this age!)

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