Skinny Mommy and Distance Triage

The other night, around midnight, I was working on my blog when I heard a loud thud come from upstairs, followed by my three year old son crying.  I waited a minute, my husband was in the next room (if not for a wall the beds are actually only like 5 feet apart) and I was hoping he would be roused and go see what the problem was.  When I heard nothing, men can sleep through anything it seems, I went upstairs and found my darling little boy trying to pull himself back into bed, with a delightful little trail of blood dotting his sheets to show his progression. 

He had fallen out of bed, which is actually less than a foot from the ground since it is only a twin mattress on the floor, and apparently landed face first on the hard wood floor, busting open both upper and lower lips.  Dad, finally, heard the commotion and I took care of the boy while he changed the sheets.  Maybe fifteen minutes and a failed attempt at getting ice on those already bulging lips he was curled back up in bed fast asleep.  It will be fun to see just how large his little lips get by tomorrow morning, we might have popsicles for breakfast. 

This got me thinking about how I handle the potential 'emergencies' my children get themselves into rather regularly.  I am the mom who sits on the bench at the playground, when my child falls down, even the little 1.5 year old, I bend my head to make visual confirmation and most of the time do little more than talk to them from the bench.  Sometimes I get raised eyebrows at my non-reaction from other moms.  However, despite what they might think my mind is quickly assessing the situation to determine the level of assistance I need to provide.

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1. Are the immediate surroundings safe?  Has my child fallen down in a crosswalk, or at the bottom of the slide with ten other antsy children bounding at the top, or half way down a flight of stairs?  Or have they fallen down in the middle of a sandbox, or a sidewalk that is otherwise empty, or in the middle of my living room?  If they seem to be in a situation where getting up or not moving fast enough might cause further injury to them I get my skinny tush off the bench and collect my child.  Otherwise I let them get up on their own time.
2. Is there blood?  Blood always gets me going.  One drop or a full out gush, it does not matter.  I need to at least wipe the area off and determine just what the wound that decided to leak my babies life blood looks like.  I infect easily and I am not trying to find out if I passed that trait on to my children just yet, so a leaking wound often at least gets a dab of antibiotic ointment and a Band-Aid.  So far nothing has needed stitches... so far... but I am prepared to pack them in the car and head to the nearest medical center when that is needed.  If there is no blood I sit still and continue my observations.
3. How do those limbs look?  Next I will do a quick survey of those precious little arms and legs and such.  Making sure nothing looks outright broken, twisted, swollen, overly red or already showing signs of bruising.  This is also the point when I start looking at the evidence my child is giving me.  Is he/she cradling a specific body part, or perhaps even saying that a specific body part hurts?  If any of these signs seems apparent I will again get involved, and if the baby has taken a really hard hit (I heard the thud from across the house kind of hit) I inspect her decently up close. 
4. Can the kid get up and move around on their own?  So the kid is in a safe place to temporarily recover from the fall, they do not appear to be bleeding, and there is no obvious sign that anything has been broken.  My next step is to coax the kid to stand up.  If they seem reluctant I tell the to stand up and come to me.  They can get hugs and kisses to make them feel better, and I get a chance to make sure all that fussing is because they are scared and not actually hurt by watching how they get up and walk.  If they are very reluctant, and not just being dramatic (my son can really ham it up), I will again get up and go to them. 

Most of the time I do not have to get up.  Kids are pretty rubbery, they can get banged up and keep going. 

I also find my method of assessing from a distance has a few benefits.  First my kids learn how to pick themselves up and go on.  They are not afraid to get hurt a little and try new things.  Second, it saves me from having to get up every. single. time. I spend enough of my day running after them, cleaning up after them, and otherwise on my feet.  If I can sit on the bench at the playground or on my couch for half an hour and everyone is still alive... well that sounds like a perfect way to spend an afternoon.