If you read the title of this post you are either thinking 1 of 2 things.
1. WHAT?!??!?!?!?!?!?!
2. I can’t wait to read this because I dropped my baby too.
About 3 weeks ago, I was changing the Happy Baby’s diaper on his changing table.
I saw that we had run out of diapers in the little bin I keep them in, so I turned away for a second to grab a new box.
And that’s when I heard it.
The thud.
Oh my goodness I would not wish the feelings I felt in that moment on anyone.
I scooped up my precious fallen baby and the two of us cried enough tears to fill an Ikea store.
As I clung to the Happy Baby, frantically trying to make sure he could still track my fingers and respond to my voice, I felt a heaviness take residence on my chest.
How in the world could I let something like this happen??
After all he’s been through – did I really just add a major fall to the list??????
The guilt was palpable.
The Happy Hubby and I worked together to make sure our son was okay. After everyone had cried enough, there was nothing left to do but sleep, so we laid the Happy Baby down in his crib.
As soon as the door to his room was shut, I disappeared into our bedroom, found a corner, got in the fetal position and wept.
Then I sent out a text asking for prayer from a few close friends.
I called the Happy Baby’s chiropractor (a member of our church) and tearfully asked if he would be at church in the morning and would he be willing to fix any problems. He was so kind to me and said yes, he’d be there.
Finally, I called my pastor’s wife.
By the end of our conversation I learned 3 things.
1. When God says fearfully and wonderfully made, He was not kidding around.
My pastor’s wife told me was that God made babies to have softer bones than adults – that they are designed as these incredibly resilient, elastic little beings.
It’s like He knew beforehand (well, obviously, since He is God) that the busyness of being a mom would occasionally allow for accidents, so he went ahead and graciously provided protection for those precious babies in advance.
I think dropping the Happy Baby was harder on me than it was on him!
2. God is faithful.
Once again, the Lord showed me that in spite of my many, MANY parenting mistakes/failures/accidents/weaknesses, He is faithful to protect and care for my baby.
Once again, He loves my baby even more than me.
Nothing – no, nothing will hinder His good and perfect plan for my child.
Not even a 2 1/2 foot fall.
It’s stuff like this that further affirms in my spirit that God has big plans for this little boy.
After all he’s been through…yes, this is just one more way God gets the glory for what He is doing in the Happy Baby’s life.
3. There is a secret club of moms who have dropped their babies.
This may sound like I am making light of a very serious thing (like please don’t go carelessly smashing your kids into door frames or leaving them unattended on high places), but let me just tell you. As I spoke to my pastor’s wife and she told me about how her 4 month old had fallen from the kitchen counter in his car seat down to the tiled floor below and how he is totally fine now (although she joked ‘debatable’), I felt better.
Then 5 out of the 5 girls I texted asking for prayer wrote back with their own story.
My baby fell off a 10-foot-high bed, my baby fell off the ottoman, I literally dropped my baby to the floor – straight on her head, my baby nose dived out of the car onto the cement pavement…
And all of them – the babies were fine.
I suddenly did not feel so alone.
Some of the guilt I was carrying began to dissipate.
I wasn’t scum of the earth.
In fact, maybe dropping my baby was some kind of right-of-passage into true motherhood.
Now, this is not something mommies discuss openly.
Had I not asked my friends, I never would have known.
In fact, I am taking a huge risk sharing my own failing so blatantly here on the blog.
But I do it in hopes that maybe, just maybe you might find a little bit of hope if you dropped your baby too.
What do you think of his spiked hair?
And check out who is sitting up by himself now!
Plus, he has 2 teeth and is gnawing on absolutely everything in sight – including shoes, chair legs, and diapers (among some of his faves).
He even waves and says, “Buh-bye!” when someone leaves a room.
Still haven’t started solids yet, though… He just instantly barfs at the mere presence of non-milk substance in his mouth (which is strange because he can shove an entire shoe in there and keep it down just fine)… But I am confident that we will get there one day (and I do pray that one day is soon because I don’t know how much longer these tatas can stand being tugged by a machine).
Thank you to everyone who prays for the Happy Baby and our family. When my heart gets tired or I am tempted to be discouraged, I think of all of you and thank God for the sweet community I have here at Happy Home Fairy.
Much love!
-Julie
“The Lord upholds all those who fall…” Psalm 145:14
I belong to the Baby Dropping Club too. Not that I wanted to join… And I’m a first time mom!
The ‘first’ (yes, first!) time that I dropped him, he was 6 weeks old and in his car seat. I went to put the carseat on a counter at work – I was taking him there to show him off – and I thought the counter was deep enough. It wasn’t. He toppled, but barely cried. Over all, not too bad, I guess.
The ‘second’ time that I dropped him was about a month or so ago as he was learning to crawl. I thought he knew that he was at the edge of the bed cause he went to the edge and stopped. So I turned around to grab a sweatshirt and Boom! he crawled right over and fell off head first. He cried alot more that time, but he did okay and a few minutes, crawled away – safely. On the floor.
I did not have my baby properly restrained in her infant carseat/carrier thing, and she fell about 3 feet to the tile floor. Like you, I wept like a baby. In fact she stopped crying waaaay before I did. We just celebrated that baby girl’s 10th birthday yesterday, and she is happy, smart (it’s not just me that thinks so…she’s in the gifted and talented program at her school!), and has a heart for missions and charity work.
I love the first point your pastor’s wife made…God knew that we mommys have too much on our plates and get distracted at times! I’ll have to remember that point the next time a young mother calls me crying.
Love this post. Luke and Faith both rolled off my bed more than once! You’d think I’d learn! Lol!
Oh Julie honey, I read this and I felt like crying for you. I am so glad that YOU are okay.
I don’t mean this in an ugly way, but I am so glad you dropped him! I’m a mama too and not a baby hater in any way so let me explain that- you are the mama to little boys and a 2 1/2 foot fall is going to be minor to what happens in the years to come. That fall was just God’s way of letting you start practicing your “stay calm and assess how bad the injury is” skills and it’s best to start trying those out early on. Congrat’s my dear you did exactly what all good Mom’s do! You made sure he was okay, then you let out all that fear and worry in the form of tears and finally you called on the experience of others to find comfort. I tell ya, the one we need to check on is the Happy Hubby. If your’s is anything like mine the whole thing was roughest on him. Mine says the worst feeling in the world was the feeling helpless he had when this happened to us because not only does he feel super protective of the baby, but his wife as well and there we were both giving him something to worry about at the same time! But just like you guys, we all made it through it fine and all the tumbles and scrapes and other injuries that have come in the years since.
This fall has showed you what a tough little guy the Happy Baby is. Actually, it was just ANOTHER way God is showing you that. Look at how far that child has come against the obstacles he has faced in his little life! He is a testament to faith and prayer!
Of course as mama it doesn’t make you feel any better because you feel like you have failed to protect him in some way. But there again is God saying “Julie, no worries- I got this”.
And that adorable little pic of him SITTING UP BY HIMSELF with that spiky hair!!!! He even looks like a little tough guy. I think I see a hint of mischief in those little eyes too like they are saying “just you wait Mom, you’re not gonna believe what I do next”!
Add me to the didn’t-snap-the-baby-in-the-infant-carrier drop club. He was 6 weeks old. We were on an island 50 minutes from the mainland by boat. I picked up his carrier that he wasn’t strapped in to because I was going to walk two houses away with him. I was in a restaurant. The handle wasn’t snapped in place and as I exited the restaurant he just spilled right out on to the ground past the threshold in to the gravel! Gravel! My fresh-out-of-the-womb baby was face down in the gravel and his 20-month old sister was right on my heels as a witness to this horror (not to mention the whole restaurant)! I scooped him up and ran from the restaurant! i kept it together until i got to the house we were in and told my husband, in sobs, that I’d broken our baby! Now he’s 12 years old, 5′ 6″ and no worse for the wear. Those drops are surely way worse on mommy.
Love u Julie <3
Well, looking at the posts, you are certainly not alone!! I don’t have kids, but nieces and nephews. I’m sure I dropped them, stepped on them, watched them as they went right off a step, tripped them…you get the idea! All these little oopsies prepare us for the bigger ones, build character, and make us trust in Father God more deeply. I think you are a wonderful & beautiful mother and your kids are blessed to have you! Love and adore your family…it’s all good!!!
I joined the club 47yrs ago! He was asleep on the changing table while I was changing him….I thought….turned to dump the diaper and he rolled off! He was only 2 months old and I thought I’d killed him. NOT. But, God is good and faithful. After a frantic trip to the Ped’s office with my father driving like a maniac, all was well. thank you for your story.
The biggest thing I gather from reading this post is that your baby is BLESSED to have such a caring, loving, and wise mommy!!! We’ve had a couple similar experiences in my home, too! Whew, I feel a bit more normal now! Oh by the way, the whole chiropractor thing… A-M-A-Z-I-N-G right? My first thought when I read the title was, aw I truly hope she knows about the magic of chiropractic care…and of course, being the awesome mommy you are, you do! Our chiro has seriously worked wonders for us. Anyway, have a blessed Sunday and thanks again for another fabulous post.
My daughter fell off the changing table and my son fell off our bed. Two kids. So how does that grab ya? Both kids are wonderful (my daughter is now 19 and my son is 8) and all I can say is that for childhood, that fall was the practice fall for them. More serious spills are on the way. Especially, for boys.
Didn’t drop him, but wanted to share how beside myself I was as he learned to walk on our tile floors… The first time he walked into the kitchen, mouth bleeding, I think I would have fainted if (doc) hubby hadn’t been there. I finallly asked our (wonderful) pediatrician if he thought I should buy him a FOOTBALL HELMUT! His laughter broke the mesmerism of fear!
Julie: I love your ‘confession’ as only you can write it. Can you imagine how many times babies were dropped and banged up in cars BEFORE car seats, like when I had my babies over 40 years ago? Merrie Beth (see post above) was one of my babies
. She was strapped in one of those baby carriers that rocked and that we all set on the back or FRONT passenger seat while we drove everywhere (mind you, that’s all we had back then).
Many times when you were going too fast, or rounding a bend, the whole device would slip off onto the floor, and I remember once thinking I had killed my baby when that thing went flying into the back of the driver’s seat and then onto the floor. But God HAD fearfully and wonderfully made children, even back then!! Also toddlers stood up on the back seat floor and when you would stop suddenly, they would bang themselves up. So thank God and techology for all the much-safer devices we have now. Now if everyone would just learn to buy low beds and low changing tables, we’d be even further advanced in the dropping-baby world. Love the Happy Baby’s new spiky hairdo, though at first I thought it MIGHT be a result of a scary fall!
Dear sweet Julie…if you only knew! My oldest baby fell off the exam table in his pediatrician’s office when he was 8 months old! I thought they were going to take him away from me forever. He is now 27 beautiful years old and being all boy growing up, endured much worse tumbles than that one! Thank you for your sweet posts, they always make my day!
Oh sweetie. You def are not alone! Every mama goes through a scary moment or two with their kiddos! With our first baby I watched him fall down our stairs. He looked like a rag doll flying down the stairs!! It was awful. I cried harder and longer then he did!!! Then out second fell off our high bed more then once!! We are all human and do the best we can!! You’re so sweet to share it helps so many others feel much more at peace knowing they are not alone!!
You sweet dear, I feel for you! I think all the advice you were given by your friends are right, and I’m glad they made you feel better! I don’t have a dropped-my-baby story (I don’t have kids), but when I was just starting to walk, I tripped and fell into my Mom, and my Mom is in a wheelchair and I cracked my head open on the metal of her chair, blood dripping everywhere. I think she probably could relate to all the feelings you just went through!! And my husband may disagree
but everything came out just fine, apart from a little scar above my eye. Like you said, God is watching out for his children and just like he made sure I hit her with my eyebrow and not my eye, and possibly do terrific damage, he too was watching out for your angel.
Hope you are both feeling better now!!
BTDT! I discovered #several# of my kids could roll over the hard way. They are all fine. Even the one Daddy dropped while being a human amusement park ride.
I love your thoughts on what babies’ resilience tells us about God. And, realizing He has something special for our little ones that *shouldn’t be here* but are!
You are never alone, Julie! We are all part of the club. Sebastian has woken up to a tile floor while we were sleeping together at Grandma & Grandpa’s in Arizona. My sister, you are not alone and Praise God he looks after our children and hears our prayers of protection. I love you and thanks for sharing your soul with all of us. You are so special to so many. God Bless and thanks for your amazing talk on Friday! Lots of goodies for our hubbies!
My little one fell off a retaining wall and broke his arm- on mother’s day!!!
Sent from my iPhone
You most certainly are not alone! Thank you for sharing, it makes all us Moms feel better! I love your sharing what the Pastor’s wife said. God is awesome in his making us resilient! As I read that you are comforted by knowing we all are praying for you and your family, I had a real warm hearted feeling! In praying for others, I can focus on God and not myself, or things of this world. Thank you for your blog! I truly enjoy it!
I think every Mom has dropped her baby at some time or other. With my first child, I had gotten up to go into the kitchen. He was very little and not rolling so I felt it was okay to leave him. Then I heard the THUD and cry! I thought maybe I left him too close to the edge. DUHHHHH!! He rolled off again.!! Still I didn’t realize that the child was actually rolling off…. How dumb was that????? The third time it dawned on me. LOL He’s 26 today and a productive member of society. LOL I guess I didn’t do so bad after all. Hugs to you Momma!!! I say next time you do something dumb. Call your pastor’s wife. She sounds pretty smart
You are so precious! My little guy rolled off the changing table, too, when his big sis spilled a glass of water all over the floor behind me and I turned around and apparently completely forgot I had 2 kids. At the same time. Yes, the fall was shortly after he spent 45 days in the NICU. And he was (and is) FINE. I reacted exactly the way you did. Bawled with him, bawled even more by myself later. I felt like a horrible mom. But God trusts me with him, so I had to learn to trust myself, too. And let me tell you, it must have been his surgeries, transfusions, procedures, etc., but he is one tough little dude! You’re a good mama for caring so much, for hurting with your son, for making sure it never happens again. I’d only worry about your mom qualifications if you DIDN’T feel horrible.
I’m sure they’ll bring about falls of their own in the future. We just gotta keep these boys covered in prayer! Praying the Happy Baby gets the chow thing down soon!
Yeah, Julie, you’re right. Join the club. I think the greatest lesson is tucked in the middle of that post…He loves them even more than we do. (So hard for me to fathom. But He’s God and I’m just me.)
Thanks for sharing…..:)
I’m another one who has dropped her baby (or rather was in the wrong place to catch her when she fell). My little girl was about 5 months old at the time and we were waiting to see the out of hours doctor because she had an ear infection. I put her in her pushchair because she needed feeding and I needed both hands to get the lid of her bottle. I didn’t strap her in, after all she was only going to be there for 10 seconds and she was right in front of me. Unfortunately she chose that moment to show me a new skill, she pushed herself forward and toppled head first onto the floor, knocking herself out.
I thank God that if this was going to happen that it happened where is did, you have never seen a nurse run as fast as the one did who was called over when I went to the receptionist in tears saying that my baby was unconscious, They were brilliant with us, they checked my baby over and calmed me down. Then they called an ambulance who took us over to the hospital to see a pediatrician (we were waiting to see a GP and they decided that we needed a specialist to check my girl over). The good thing is that she was none the worse for wear and you can bet that I never did that again.
While I don’t belong to the baby dropping club, I have my fair share of scary moments. Hugs to you!
Hi Julie
I am sorry you had to go through this, i can totally relate and feel the weight in my heart as I too had my daughter roll off the bed…. Horrible feeling !
BUT most importantly, As I read your post you know what came to mind right away?
Where is the HYPOTONIA the doctors had diagnosed? Gone !!!! Glories to God !!!!! You precious baby can roll !!!! He has great muscle tone !! Look at him seating up straight in the beautiful photos !
Thank you Jesus for this sweet happy baby!
1. I have whacked just about all 4 of my kids’ heads on the changing table. 2. When a neighbor’s #4 child was brand spankin’ new (like you could still tell her age in hours old) the neighbor handed her to my husband. He dang near fumbled her right onto the floor. 3. When my #2 was starting to roll around he was on our bed. DH and I were having a “discussion” and I left the room and went into the bathroom across the hall. DH thought I was watching the baby and thinking I was watching him DH let him roll right off the bed. He’s fine.
I remember crying the first time my daughter got scratched – God gave me a perfect child and now the package was damaged. I also worried about dust getting on her clothes. LOL Seems funny now, but at the time it was SERIOUS!
Some forty-odd years ago, I almost did the same thing…turned for a second and my son rolled off the changing table. Luckily I turned and caught him just before he hit the concrete floor. I will NEVER forget that horrible feeling, and I am so thankful to God that I was able to catch him. You can be sure I paid better attention after that!
You are so awesome for sharing this with your readers!!! I wish I could have read something like this years ago when the EXACT same thing happened to me. My one and only child is now 7 yrs old. He is a bright, intelligent, loving, normal, straight A second grader
He fell about 3 feet down onto the hardwood floor. I thought I would DIE at that moment. I was shaking and crying. All that kept running through my head were those “new mom”, freaky thoughts…. “I think I’ve just killed my baby!!” I called our local hospital’s “on-call” # and the nurse assured me of the same thing your pastor’s wife did……children have soft bones, etc.
I calmed down then called my mother and she reminded me that I rolled off the sofa when I was a baby onto a tile floor and I was fine.
GOD IS GOOD and He looks after exhausted, sleep deprived, multi-tasking, hormone imbalanced mothers because he knows we have the most important job in the world!!
I LOVE your blog! Thanks for sharing. Keep up the good work
I shared your link on my facebook… you are real and I want the other young momma’s to be able to find you! I am a Mimi now, but when I was a young momma I would have loved to been your friend on blogland ~ you would have helped quench some of the fear our of the early months of motherhood. In the midst of this scary thing that happenened, you did so many right things! and you even moved on to sharing with (and educating) others and making us laugh, not at you or your baby, but laugh at ourselves as mothers with how amazing motherhood is, and that any of us come out of it alive or that some of us even move on to have more than one child ever. You could include my children in this story, and if you write about the child whose head got banged or bumped because you hadn’t quite learned about the extra length over the elbow as you walk them, they could be included there as well. Keep writing and sharing your life, your light is so evident!
Godspeed,
mary (mimi)