First Incident Report

It has been years, daycare is long behind us, and I think I'm finally ready to write about it now.  I have hopefully enough distance, and keeping things in perspective there was no permanent damage.  But at the time it was my worst nightmare come true.  I've put it in the past, but want to jot it down here mainly because I don't want to forget about it.

When Colin was about 10 months old he was dropped on his head.  On concrete.

No, this isn't a joke.  And it wasn't me or his dad, it happened at daycare.  And it was the worst phone call I have ever received.

I was at work, at the front talking to the Office Manager when a call buzzed up to her.  I heard her say "she's right here" as she handed me the phone.  It was our daycare, calling to tell me that Colin had a fall and hit his head, and could I come up to the school.  I could hear him sobbing in the background and dropped everything.  The school is only about a mile and a half down the road, and the whole drive I kept telling myself it just sounds bad.  It isn't really bad.  It can't be.  It can't be.  I also called Hari and told him what happened and that he needed to meet me at the school.

We had already dealt with Colin's cleft, surgery on a 10-week-old infant, and putting him in daycare.  Each a nerve-wracking heartbreak in itself.  Nothing truly bad could have happened now.  It wasn't possible.

I flew out of my car, into the school, and into the infant room.  In the rocking chair one of the teachers had Colin cradled in her arms, and he was still sobbing but I couldn't see him.  I said his name and he turned to me... and I saw his face.  I snatched him from them, and like every mother in every bad movie clutched him as tightly as I could without smothering him, trying to console him.  The head teacher, assistant, director, and owner all stood there speechless.  Clearly they knew they screwed up, but didn't know what to do next.


I called Hari and told him the additional details.  Colin had been dropped from his crib, onto his head on the concrete during a fire drill that had gone terribly wrong.  He had abrasions, his face was bruised and swollen, and I had no idea just how bad it was.  I think he must have teleported because he got to the school in no time flat.  In the meantime I was on the phone with our pediatrician who recommended that we go to the nearest ER and have Colin checked out.  The teachers offered to hold Colin while I made the calls... I think I may have acknowledged this offer with a look that would have terrified Sir Lancelot himself.  They thought I was going to hand my child back over to them???  SERIOUSLY?!?!

On our way to the ER I struggled to keep Colin calm but awake, which was tough because it was his usual nap time and the poor little guy just wanted to go to sleep.  But we were afraid he might have a concussion so I was trying to keep him up.

When we got to admissions the guy hardly looked up as Hari was trying to get us checked in.  My patience, however, was long gone.  I held Colin up and snarled that my child had been dropped on his HEAD at daycare and needed attention.  NOW.

The guy took one look at my face and paled, realizing that I was clearly on the verge of hurting someone badly, and made the sage decision that he wanted my fury directed elsewhere.  He forgot all the stupid paperwork and told me that I could go immediately to the pediatric triage station, and we were walked over without further ado.  (Wise man.)  The nurse looked Colin over, asked what happened, looked at the "Incident Report" (where the school had documented what happened), and began measuring all his vitals.  She reassured me that in spite of the way he looked, he seemed to have sustained no significant or serious injuries.  However they wanted to keep him for observation for a couple of hours, just to be safe.  So we were admitted to a room in the ER, and waited for a doctor to come by to do another exam.

The doctor who came by, along with all the nurses couldn't believe what happened.  I think if we hadn't had the Incident Report they wouldn't have believed us (which is why I made sure I brought it with me, and had it documented as part of the hospital records).  There was no way I wanted anyone thinking that this had happened on our watch - the last thing I needed was DYFS (Department of Youth and Family Services) swooping in to "save" my son.

It was such a freak thing.  Apparently during a fire drill the infants had been put in the rolling cribs as usual and wheeled outside.  One wheel of the crib Colin was in went off the sidewalk and got stuck in the mulch where they make a 90º turn.  The teacher tried to wiggle the crib back and forth to get the wheel back on the sidewalk.  Colin happened to be standing, and the side of the crib popped open when the teacher was trying to get it dislodged... and out he fell.  Headfirst.  Onto the concrete.  The teacher tried to catch him but not in time.

Ultimately Colin had some scratches and bruises, but miraculously nothing more serious than that.  And in spite of Hari's constant worry that Colin would be permanently marred and scarred I can attest that his perfect face is exactly that... perfect.  As parents I think we were both permanently scarred, but that's another story!

And in spite of the litigious society in which we live, we did not pursue any legal action against the daycare.  The teachers weren't negligent (the owner likely was for not properly maintaining the cribs which were VERY outdated and for not setting up a location/path where the teachers had room to safely turn the corner with the cribs), and Colin's care up to that point had been exemplary.  We knew the owner had insurance, but it would likely be the teachers who would take the brunt of anything we did - probably losing their jobs (at a minimum) which we didn't want to happen.  Ultimately Hari decided that we shouldn't tempt fate. Since our son had come through a harrowing incident without any permanent damage we decided to just let it be, and move forward instead of being vengeful.  And that was undoubtedly the right decision.  We could have made an easy buck off the incident, but who knows which way fate would have twisted?  As things are, I have a handsome, intelligent and quick-witted boy who is loving, caring, and just the right amount of crazy.  I couldn't ask for more!

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