Life's Happy Accidents

As a child, I was more than a little accident prone. My Mum still loves to tell stories of weekly grazed knees and how in my first ever sporting race, I fell over - sadly, this trait has not left me as I've stumbled into adulthood. Just this morning I smashed one of my two bad ankles ("bad" from multiple sprains) into the glass coffee table, leading to an explosion of bad language inappropriate for a mother of a young child.

It seems that I have passed these fabulous genes down (fist pump!), although I did choose an equally uncoordinated partner who, no exaggeration, bumps his head DAILY. Heike's first year has been FULL of accidents and I haven't always been involved, which leads me to believe it's her doing as much as mine.

Apart from the frequent bumps and scratches, there has been a roll off the bed (TRAUMATIC!!) and a fall out of the pram (EQUALLY TRAUMATIC!!). Then there was the time she fell out of the pram again (less traumatic second time round) after climbing into it at the park before I could say "STOP YOU'LL FALL!!"

This morning was the worst yet, as it involved poor parental supervision and a razor blade. Sounds bad, right? Yeah it was pretty bad but I THANK GOD that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Justus and I were in our usual manic 7.20am mode (showering, dressing, making beds, gathering washing ETC...) while Heike enjoyed her usual 7.20am free reign of the bedroom. Next thing conversation goes something like: "Babe, Heike's in the shower" "Is she wet?" "Yeah she's wet" "What's she doing?" "Playing" "Is she happy?" "Yeah" "Oh she'll be right for a minute" "OH F#@! SHE"S PLAYING WITH A RAZOR BLADE!"

It's that easy, folks, for your 13 month old child to slice off the top of a finger with a friiiiicking razor blade. I reacted in standard fashion by screaming, crying and dry reaching while Justus remained trademark calm and took control of the situation. In all fairness Heike was actually fine and only became upset when her mother was wailing and pinning her down while her father applied giant band-aids to her finger. She had probably already cut herself by the time we'd discovered her and she seemed perfectly content. Still, anything involving your child and lots of blood is scary, am I right?

The one good thing about these kinds of accidents is that; a) You learn something (e.g. don't leave razor blades in the bottom of shower, don't let baby play in shower, don't leave baby unattended. CLEARLY!) and; b) Everyone's reaction is "Oh, these things happen all the time with kids!"

Yes, when it comes to accidents no one's judging, because they've all been there before. It comes with the territory. Babies are fast and fearless and completely unpredictable. Parents are tired and stressed and often new at the job. Thus, accidents happen. Generally they don't involve razor blades, but every family's different, right?

Here's Baby Center's list of top accidents among babies, so you know where to be extra careful:

• Burns, one of the most common childhood accidental injuries. These include sunburns and burns caused by stoves, lamps, matches, lighted cigarettes, fireplaces, wood stoves, and hot liquid from a pan, cup, bath, or hot water heater.
• Head injuries caused primarily by falls from high chairs, beds, furniture, stairs, and play equipment.
• Choking on food or foreign objects.
• Strangulation caused by strings, ties, ribbons, and cords on toys, clothing, and household appliances and fixtures.
• Nose injuries caused by running into stationary objects, falling on a hard surface, or deflecting a flying toy (or the fist or foot of another child).
• Items stuck in a nostril, like small stones, chewable vitamins, pebbles, and peas.
• Cuts and scratches caused by sharp fingernails (either your baby's own or some other child's), pets, sharp objects, and encounters with sticks and other pointed objects that live in your yard.
• Fractures and sprains caused by hard falls and, as your child enters the toddler years, by playing energetically. Children tend to break bones more easily than adults because they have soft areas near the end of each bone called growth plates.
• Contusions — bruises under the skin — caused by bumps and falls.

From my experience, accidents are most likely to occur when you as a parent are stressed, anxious or busy, so these are the times to be extra careful with your bub, even though it's not always that easy. I also remember getting advice from the Children's Hospital that the MAIN thing they see EVERY DAY are falls from the change table, especially around the age when babies have just started rolling (which is what happened when Madame rolled off the bed). 

Wishing you all accident free days...

Z xx