Barron Warrior

Well its 1.10am in Brisbane and we have just retuned home from the hospital with Ethan, our little warrior.

Cant sleep and have to wake my son up in a couple of hours to check on him and thought what better way to pass the time than update everyone on the latest escapades in the Barron household.

'Twas a nice but slightly chilly afternoon in Brisbane, and with Andrew and my brother working late and me stuck at home with my 5 kids and my 4 year old nephew, we thought 'what the hell, lets have a bbq'. So we invited ourselves to my sisters house for dinner (yay no dishes tonight, was certainly a strong point for my daughter)and packed up the car and went over.

It started out ok. The adults chatting around the barby and 9 kids running around the yard, playing and causing mischief. It was a relaxing start and everyone was enjoying themselves.

I was heading upstairs to check on my 7 month old godchild and all I heard was my sister yell out 'Liam be careful. Put that down.' and then more urgently 'Watch out!' then a thud and Ethan started crying. Loudly.

By the time I had got to my son, he had a lump the size of a basketball that varied in colours; pink, white and black, and a distressed older son who was staring with tears in his eyes at his baby brother.

Liam had found a block of wood in the garage (think wood chopping block shape but half the size), bought it out to the yard and was showing his cousins how strong he was by throwing it as far as he could. Unfortunately his aim was apparently off and his brothers forehead became the unintended target.

Neither me nor my sister had ever seen a lump so large and so I packed the kids in the car, dropped the others off at home with my brother, picked up his dad (guess they didnt end up working so late hey) and we rushed off to the hospital. By then Ethan had stopped crying and was back to his normal self. Giggly, alert, boisterous and stroppy.

We got him assessed by the nurse and sat down to wait for our turn. The emergency room started to fill up pretty quick while we waited. Lots of very sick and grizzly kiddies and equaly frazzled parents. We felt like a bit of a fraud amongst all this misery, as while there was lots of sad faces around us, our son was climbing chairs, chatting to various people and running around the play area at top speed with a massive grin on his face.

After two hours of waiting to see the doctor, Andrew was starting to get annoyed and if it hadnt been a head injury, he would have had us out of there. After a bit of a rev up at reception, we finally got in to see the doctor only to have them sit there and fill out an incident report and asessment for possible child abuse BEFORE they actually checked out his head. I could see Andrew start to get very upset and irate and sent him out to do Ethan a bottle while I hurried the paperwork up and got onto the important part of getting my sons injury looked at.

I totally understand and agree why doctors need to establish how any child would get hurt but is it too much to ask that they check your child to make sure that they are fine BEFORE trying to establish wether or not it was an accident?

By now it was 10.30, Ethan was getting tired and aggravated and wanted a shower, pjs, bottle, his blue pillows and purple mouse in his own bed at his own house. He was also getting upset at the endless lights being shone in his eyes, the rubber hammer that tests reflexes, the beep beep thingy that reads his pulse and heartbeat. But I have to say that he didnt wince once when they pressed on the lump that was thankfully decreasing in size.

Anyway they kept him for observation till 12.30 and now we are home. A very long and tiring night and Im not looking forward to daylight, when I have to be up preparing breaky and lunches, doing drop offs and handling two active pre schoolers and a toddler for the day.

The joys of parenthood :) Well gotta go and wake Ethan up and hopefully get a few zzzs.