Our little "Crack Head"

Well our trip to SLC didn't end on the most pleasant note. We had planned on leaving Saturday night, and at around 9:00 that night we had been loading up the car. Well Andrew came over to show Kynadi his dog. BLASTED DOG! When he got there everyone went outside to see the dog. Grandpa Texas picked up Brooklyn so she could go see the dog too. I was just behind them and as they went outside and off the porch, Grandpa Texas missed his step or something and Brooklyn and Grandpa took a bad fall. I saw and heard Brooklyn's little head hit the pavement, she bounced and hit it again. I felt frozen. I hate rememebering it all even as I write. John quickly rushed and picked Brooklyn up. She was screaming at the top of her lungs. I paniced and ran over as well. John said I asked for Brooklyn, but I knew I didn't want her, because I knew if she passed out and I was holding her I would completely lose it. I went over to my father-in-law and asked if he was ok, but quickly went back to John and Brooklyn. It's all kind of a blurr. I feel bad for leaving Grandpa Texas just laying there too, it probably didn't feel too good for him either. I'm grateful someone went to him, since I was worried about my little baby.

So John was holding Brooklyn and took her inside. At this point Kynadi had come over and was crying and no cooperating as well. I think she was just afraid since she knew Brooklyn was hurt, and she could tell John and I were both worried. She was acting out since she didn't know what else to do.

Anyway, at some point inside I finally got to hold Brooklyn. She was still screaming. It was almost worse to hold her because I could tell something was wrong. She wouldn't stop crying, but she couldn't hold herself up either. So I told John to give her a blessing and then we would take her to Primary Childrens. So after what seemed like forever...I felt like everyone was just taking their time to find the oil and give her the blessing, but it finally happened. Then John and I got in the car with Brooklyn and headed off. Kynadi stayed with Barbara, thankfully! I sat in the back holding Brooklyn trying to keep her awake. Neither of us were buckled up and John was not driving too slowly. The ride was scary in itself. Brooklyn kept wanting to fall asleep but I thought if you had a conconsion you shouldn't go to sleep. Anyway, I lost it in the car, I was so worried.

We finally made it to Primary Children's though and John dropped us off at the door. There was some relief just being in the hospital. But as I stood in line to talk to the receptionist in the ER Brooklyn started puking everywhere. This put me in more of a panic. The gentlemen in front of me stepped aside and let me go next. I almost burst into tears I was so afraid for Brooklyn. Anyway, the receptionist thought she had the flu and asked if she was just sick. When I explained about her hitting her head they got us right back. At this point John had joined us. We talked to a nurse right away and that helped calm me down. They said to let her sleep, so I finally just held her and let her rest on me. They also gave Brooklyn some PJ's and me a shirt to get out of our thrown-up ones. This was a perk...I now have a shirt to match my pajama pants.

Anyway, we talked with a couple nurses. Each wanting us to explain exactly what happend. This continued during our stay...we assumed they wanted to make sure no abuse had gone on. After talking with the nurses we waited in the waiting room to see a doc. We waited about 15 min and then they took us back. The doc asked us again what had happened and what kind of symptoms we were seeing. Since Brooklyn is so little she said it would probably be best to get a CT scan since we didn't know if she was dizzy or could speak well, ect. This made me feel good, just to be sure of what was going on. Well, since I am pregnant I couldn't go in with her for the CT scan. This was probably better. John went in and I stayed outside the door and listened to her cry. Not so fun. To make this long story a little shorter, they discovered from the scan she had fractured her skull. It was fractured on the back of her head, and the doc said that that part of your skull is the hardest part and to fracture it meant she must have hit hard. She said she obviously had a concusion but no bleeding or anything inside the brain so that was good. They said the first 24 hours were critical though and so they wanted to keep her there that night just to watch.

It was a long night. She HATED being hooked up to the monitors. She was tired, hurting, and I'm sure the last thing she wanted was things being hooked to her to make it more uncomfortable. No one slept too well that night. It seemed like everytime I had just gotten her to go to sleep a nurse came in to check her vitals and wake her up to see her response. Poor thing, just wanted to be held, so most of the night was spend holding her in the black chair in the corner (shown in the picture with John).

By mid-morning Sunday though, she seemed to be doing much better. She had terrible balance, but she wanted to play a bit. By that afternoon, she was ready to go I think. We found some toys to play with in the lobby area of the RTU and she like that. When I took her to the room she was cute and would wave bye-bye wanting to leave.

Well, that afternoon the docs said she was looking good so they released her. She was definately not completely herself, but who could blame her.

We headed back to WY that evening and she seemed to do fine. Monday morning she threw up again which worried me, but after talking to the nurses I settled down. If she threw up again then I had need to worry. Her balance Monday was AWEFUL at best. She wanted to walk but could hardly do it. She would get frustrated and just hold her arms out to me to be held. Anytime she tried walking I had to follow right behind her to catch her. The last thing I needed was for her to fall and hit her head again.

So it's been over a week now and she has finally gotten her balance back and is her fiery, funny little self. Although I must say, this week in sacrament is the first week I have stayed in the sacrament room the entire hour...so the crack has helped somehow :)

Needless to say I'm grateful she is doing well. The doc said I'll have to watch for future developement to make sure she is on track, just to be sure it heals right, but so far so good. I feel very blessed that nothing more serious happened and that all went well. I love my little Brooklyn and I'm sooo glad she's well.

The pics show the room we stayed in and our new attire after the throw up. The cage is the crib they have for her to sleep in. As you can see she didn't like that too much.