So... Something really awful happened last night. Actually, it COULD have been really awful and luckily it turned out ok.
I was walking down the steps outside Mom & Dad's house, carrying Shelly in her carseat, with Dad and David following behind me. Suddenly, I missed the last step, started falling sideways and down, and in the process of trying to stay upright and not loose her, Shelly's carseat tumbled out of my hands and I saw it turn over as it tumbled the rest of the way down the steps around the corner and then land upside down in the driveway. It was one of those slow-motion moments, when you see what's happening and your mind screams "Stop! Stop what's happening right now!" But your body can't react, and all you can do is watch things unfold in front of you. Dad was walking behind me and says all he saw was me start to go down and Shelly in her seat completely disappear from view. He stopped behind me and I just started yelling, "Get Shelly get Shelly!" He rushed to the upside down carset (containing a now hysterical baby) and picked her up. "Is she ok?" I must have asked him 20 times in 30 seconds, I was sure she would have landed on her face and really be hurt and all because I can't walk down the steps without falling down!
Those stupid steps, that I've probably walked up and down a million times, and I still couldn't keep track of where I was and missed that last one before the landing when you turn and go down a couple more to get to the driveway. And that stupid carseat, so big and bulky and heavy and awkward, I HATE carrying that dumb thing around and can't wait until Shelly's old enough to give up that carseat. And at that moment - THANK GOD for that carseat and its big bulky protection around my defenseless baby. It tumbled completely head over heels and landed face down, but the handle was up and Shelly was strapped in and stayed in while the handle kept her from actually landing on her face. The poor girl must have thought the world was about to end, can you imagine just riding along, Mom carrying you to the car, and the next thing you know you're flying through the air all alone and left hanging inside that seat until someone finally comes to rescue you?
When David helped me up and I was able to get a good look at our daughter's face and see that she was scared but not scraped up, I was so relieved I couldn't do anything but laugh. And as Dad described it, one minute everything was normal and the next minute I was sitting on the steps and Shelly had disappeared and all **** had broken loose. Thank God for that stupid carseat.
1 comment:
I was right behind the Mom when the above mentioned incident occurred. One minute we are walking down the (dimmly lighted) steps casually on our way and the next instant, time slows and I see my daughter going down as if both legs have just given out...the car seat with the baby took one bounce on the landing and shot off to the right and was gone from sight. The Mom is down and yelling to get the baby and the baby is somewhere out of sight crying back. I jump past Mom and there in the driveway upside down is the carseat; I pick it up and flip it over and there is one very upset little girl. Careful inspection yielded... Not A Scratch!! The seat belt had held her secure and the carry handle had acted as a roll bar! The only damage was a pretty big road rash scrape on Mom's elbow. Now we have one more story to add to the "Baby rolled down the stairs" category which all families seem to have.
Post a Comment