Unforgettable 4th of July

Our 4th of July started out pretty calm but ended up being an eventful and scary experience for us. We slept in because we were up late the night before, lounged around the house and went out for brunch. After Addie's nap, we decided to head over to our city 4th of July celebration. It was pretty hot outside and there wasn't a whole lot to do. We got a snow cone and sat down to enjoy it and get out of the sun.

Addie enjoying her snow cone

Once Addie was tired of eating that, she decided to climb on the picnic tables. While doing this- her feet slipped and she fell down between the bench and the table. On the way down, she hit the back of her head on the bench. She started crying and we got her out from under the table but she then proceeded to go into the "silent cry".

Clay was blowing in her face to get her to take a breath but she was not responding. She lost consciousness and her body went limp. We did everything we could think of to get her to breathe and she finally took a breath but started crying again and again she stopped breathing. Finally, after what felt like much too long (less than a minute), we were able to get her to breathe again and she stayed conscious.

The paramedics came and checked her out and her vitals were doing good but because she had hit her head and lost consciousness, we needed to take her to the hospital to be checked out. They gave us the option of riding in the ambulance or driving on our own. While we didn't feel an ambulance was necessary, if something were to happen, we didn't want to be away from medical help. So, Addie and I rode in the ambulance and Clay drove the car.

At first they just put her in a child safety seat but then the hospital told them she needed to be on a backboard and stabilized in case of any injury to her head. She had finally calmed down from having to be buckled into a seatbelt away from me and we had to take her out, put a brace around her neck and strap her to a board! I felt so bad and helpless! By this point she was so traumatized by everything- she was just looking at me with tears in her eyes.

Daddy, Grandma, Clayton and Brandi met us at the hospital. Addie was happy to see all of them and to be released from the backboard. The Dr. informed us that because of her age, she probably needed to have a CT scan to make sure there was nothing wrong internally. We gave her a blessing and they left us alone to decide what to do. We were going to do the CT scan just because we didn't want to have something actually be wrong. By the time the doctor came back in, Addie was acting pretty normal and was asking for food, moving around, etc. The doctor felt like she was doing good enough to hold off on the scan (thank goodness) and after observing her for about a half hour, decided we could go home.


Waiting for the doctors to come in.


So happy to be able to eat her pretzels!


Can I go home yet? I'm just fine, can't you see?

On the way home, Addie was back to her normal self- singing, playing, talking, etc. I've never been so happy to hear her count, say her colors, sing her favorite songs, etc. She was happy to get french fries and to go have "pociples" at Gwamma's house. She was so exhausted and ready to go to bed by the time we got her home and she slept very well (although we did check her and wake her a few times to make sure all was well). Today she has done very well- it appears that she is just fine.

We are so thankful that nothing more serious happened and we are truly grateful and so blessed to have Addie in our lives. It is scary how quickly things can change. Life is so precious and so easy to take for granted! This was definitely an unforgettable 4th of July for our family!