Scariest moment in my entire life....litterally.

insanityfw

insanityfw

Ban Me Please!
I just have to share this with as many people as possible, because it was the most profound fear I've ever experienced. The kind of fear that buckles your knees....the kind of fear that makes your heart jump so violently that you can't believe it doesn't explode.

My wife is out of town and I'm on my own playing dad, which is nothing new. I have a 14 month old boy named Austin that is very big and very active, so he's a handful when taking care of him by yourself.

We live on a hillside home, which means that we have a staircase that rises about 13' and is about 5' wide. It's massive and scary. We've had it carpeted since my wife tumbled down a few stairs, but it's still a long way down and steep. I had a guy come out and build a pretty serious iron gate with recoil hinges and a pool lock to keep the baby away from the stairs. It's a pain, but it would hold back a bulldozer.

So, I was in the kitchen around the corner from my son prepping his dinner and peeking around the corner watching him watch Elmo. No big deal. Business as usual. I look down to slice a couple of peaches and hear him let out this weird noise and a strange cry. I step around the corner and look across the room at the OPEN GATE with no son in sight. At this point my whole life flashed before me as I ran towards the gate yelling some weird warbling cry of some kind of unknown language (must be a parent thing).

There about five stairs down, on his back, head towards the first floor is Austin crying and hanging on dearly (luckily he is a robust baby). I skip all the steps and land next to him, careful to scoop him up soft and straight, just in case something is broken or worse.

I take him to the top of the stairs collapse with him to the ground and close the gate. He stands up, stops crying, points to the gate and the stairs and says "Du, Du, Du", which is his "what the hell are those things" speak and walks off happy as can be.

Needless to say that I'm a 6' tall, 220lb guy and every ounce (3520) of me turned to mush. I could hardly stand and the tears just shot out of my eyes as I watched my boy wobble around no worse for the wear.

I watched him for hours to make sure he was fine and the whole time he looked at me with such love and laughed with me all the while not realizing that his daddy just about killed him.

I am a very cautious parent, but I learned many lessons today and the most valuable one is that it really does only take a second and bad things can happen in just about every situation....oh, and I learned that many other things just aren't as important as my little boy.

Sorry, for the long email, but after 37 years of life this is by far the most monumental thing to happen to me and I've seen all kinds of pain and death and wonderment .....none of it even compares to the importance of your own child.

THANKS FOR LISTENING.
 
Thanks, He's just fine. I'm not, however, but I'll get there. I don't ever want to forget this. When I get mad that I can't get any filmwork done, because he needs attention or a bath, etc. I want to remember how I felt today.

DL. The gate is amazingly solid, but what I found is that the self-closing hinges have lost some of the tension, so I can get it fixed well. That said, I'm working on a new house right now and believe it or not part of the reasoning is because of the monster stairs.

thanks again for posting.
 
Its good to hear your son's ok. Scarry indeed, but you would be suprissed what they can go through and just walk it off like it was nothing. I guess it is all part of the growing up thing. We bash around and just get up and smile and laugh all the while giving our parents hart attacks.
 
Thank you for posting this insanityfw. I have been a stay-at-home dad since my daughter was 15 months. Now she is 6 and I have a 2 year old boy. I had never intended to stay at home, but my wife is a doctor... you can do the math.

insanityfw said:
I don't ever want to forget this. When I get mad that I can't get any filmwork done, because he needs attention or a bath, etc. I want to remember how I felt today.
Click to expand...

My jaw hit the floor when I read this. I thought, "hey, there are other people that feel like this too!?" It is a tuff balance. You have to have passions and goals to exist with any fullness... and so that a good example will be set for your kids. At the same time though... they need 100% of your attention.

My daughter has taken us through the ringer. She has had 3 surgeries, one of which she almost didn't make it out of. She has full-on choked twice (FYI: small pieces of tortilla ball up like glue if the little one isn't swallowing each piece). Oh, and of course she swallowed a hair clip which the doctors had to pull back out 5 hours later. And keep in mind that I was an EMT/firefighter for 2 years and my wife is a pediatrician... so trust me, we overkill the safety stuff. Now matter how safe a parent tries to keep a child though... anything can happen at any time.

Thanks again for this post.... I was a little edgy today knowing that it would be a few more days until I could have some time to work on my current project. Reading this set me straight.

Big time happy for you that you boy is okay.
 
WOW insanity..........all I can say is thats very scary. I have a daughter almost two. Theres been some scary moments but nothing like that, I can only imagine it must be hell. Someone was watching out for the little guy. Take that last comment and fit it to any belief system you have... if none then change to you are one lucky guy. Very happy all is ok for you.
 
Thanks everybody, I feel better already.

Snodart, you and I seem to have some things in common with kids and successful wives (not that we don't have our own sucesses) and hanging being filmakers, etc. :) We should commiserate about the challenges of that some time as well, but you can guess that at this point I wont be complaining about it. :)

I'm not glad to know, but I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one that will go through these kind of things. This is a learn as you go process and as Brandon said it's AWESOME...in both uses of the word.

IMG, i still don't know if my hearts going to make it. I've gone in to look at him five times in his crib just in the past two hours.

Tommy, I've always been big on perspective when possible, but this does take it to a whole new level.

NCJE, I can't even imagine the handful this one will be when he's 2 like yours. Mines already almost 3' tall and 30 lbs and runs like he was born running. I guess that's why he was able to hang onto that stair so well. :)

Thanks again everybody. I'm going to go to bed soon and you'd better believe I'll be checiking in on him at least one more time.

Best,

Jason
 
We always hear about the bond between mother and child. Let's give some respect to the father's too. :) Glad it turned out ok.


After reading your story I kept picturing tommyinla's avatar (baby Hewey) as your son, pointing at the gate and saying "du, du, du". But, of course, baby Hewey would have said, "What the deuce?!?!"
 
PK Gillock said:
We always hear about the bond between mother and child. Let's give some respect to the father's too. :) Glad it turned out ok.


After reading your story I kept picturing tommyinla's avatar (baby Hewey) as your son, pointing at the gate and saying "du, du, du". But, of course, baby Hewey would have said, "What the deuce?!?!"
Click to expand...


LMAO, PK.

Thanks for the kind words. Dad's do get the short end sometimes, but like I said I'm not complaining. :)
 
Wow, what read.

Makes me think of a story I did TWICE in Idaho.

A man ran over his own toddler by backing up his own truck on his own driveway.

These were two different dads and two different babies. Big trucks in Idaho, you know.
 
Bonds is bonds. :) My daughter has had her hair caught on fire, had a stupid carnival pony break free from his tie and take off with her trapped in the saddle, and older...while trying to help a neighor with something, she partially fell thru our apt ceiling, and yeah, got jacked at an ATM machine.

Some children just have angels perched on their shoulders. I dont think the adrenaline surge/relief goes away...ever. Glad your boy is fine! :)
 
man, I'm glad your kid is safe.

You should try one of these:
Tether Strap by Baby Buddy
bb-170large.gif
 
Wow, I'm glad everything was o.k. with your son, insanity. I'm a stay-at-home dad like snodart. Unfortunately my wife's not a doctor, though.:)

I've had that adrenaline burst when you hear some strange sound come from your child when they aren't in sight. It's crazy how the parent instincts kick in when you sense something wrong. The ability to differentiate between the normal cry and the somethings really wrong cry is something only a parent can understand.
 
That's a great story - great because it ended well! Sometimes, things just happen and you can't be there every second. Kids have a way of finding a little trouble during those eyeblink moments.

I was out cleaning the pool a couple of years ago, the 2 year and something month twins were playing nearby on the slide and swings. At one point, I pivoted with the skimmer net to shake its contents onto the lawn. When I turned around, The Boy was in the water, head down, sinking toward the bottom.

What the hell?!

Needless to say, my shoes, phone and clothing went in with me as I scooped him out of the water and deposited him on the side. He looked surprised, but didn't cry. He'd been in the water for such a short time that he hadn't even taken any. After a moment, he said, "I went pool. I wet!" Yikes.

Of course, I was completely and totally terrified. Horrible alternate scenarios to that fortunate ending have run through my head a thousand times since then. I'm grateful every day that I hadn't gone inside to pick up a ringing phone or get some chemicals from the shed. We have a well-maintained gate around the pool, but I don't take anything, or any too quiet moment, for granted.

Diligence is the order of the day with those younger kids. Man, are they good at finding trouble.

e
 
insanityfw said:
I am a very cautious parent, but I learned many lessons today and the most valuable one is that it really does only take a second and bad things can happen in just about every situation....oh, and I learned that many other things just aren't as important as my little boy.

THANKS FOR LISTENING.
Click to expand...

Pretty much that sums it up. With my 3 years experience that's the only thing parents must never forget. Never leave the child out of your site, it takes only one second as you say.

In 3 years I have lost half of my life from such terrors.
 
We should start a DVX Dads club. "We make films, and we're dads. Deal with it."

Or maybe something a little more catchy. :undecided

Insanity, you're a good parent. I've got a three year old and a 16 month old and they're handfuls, but worth it. From what I've seen with my own kids, and the stories I hear about me from my parents, I am absolutely amazed that anybody lives to adulthood. :laugh:
 
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