So Wednesday night I actually uttered the words:

We’re home free in 15 minutes!  Kids are going to bed and we get to relax.

Mistake Mistake Mistake!! (Never, ever say such a thing and expect the next 15 minutes to go smoothly!)

Hubby looks at eClaire and says:

Come on honey, I’ll read you One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish before bed.

eClaire was thrilled.  She jumped up and went tearing around the corner toward her room.  Just as she neared her door, she tripped.

I saw it happen.  BAMM! eClaire flew head first straight into the door jam.

Hard.

Really Hard.

She stood up, held her breath and amped up for the scream of all screams.

By the time she began to run toward me, she was in full scream.  It was packed with agony, pain, fear.

And so was I.

In a matter of 5-15 seconds I watched a knot on her head develop that was at least 3 inches high and 1 1/2 inch wide, and bright blue.

I began to panic.

eClaire was hurt.  Really hurt.

After about 3 minutes we realized we needed to take a visit to our local ER.

The long of the short of it is that eClaire is OK.  She’s fine. There is no skull fracture or concussion.

What did happen though is she hit a blood vessel and it burst, causing the instant swelling.

Yesterday afternoon I got home from work and she still looked terrible, but her mood was quite improved.

Thank goodness!

How does a mom do it?  How do you stand tall, keep your calm, and walk through these terrible moments with your child?  How?

Are moms allowed to retire when their kids are still young?  I’m looking to put in my papers next week!