Pretty Necklace

Thursday night at 7pm:
I was making cookies and cleaning up dinner.
Vince was in the shower.
Brooke and Jack were in the booster seats at the bar eating cookies.

Jack pushed his barstool away from the table to get down when he was done, like always.  Brooke is strapped into her booster seat and sometimes will push herself away from the counter as well to signal to me that I need to come and get her out.  Well, she pushed her chair away from the table and it got stuck on something on the floor, and the next thing I saw will haunt me forever.

I was at the sink facing the kids in their chairs.  As the barstool begin to tip over backwards, I could see the fear in her eyes as she fell. I tried to reach over the bar to grab her, but I wasn't even close. I heard a large crash and ran around the bar to find her still strapped in her chair, lying on the floor, with her head up against the rock fireplace that divides our family room and kitchen.
She was screaming hysterically, and so was I.

(they gave her a kitty in the ER and she LOVED it)

 All I could think of was to get her out of that chair and get her to Vince.  I ran her into the bathroom where Vince was in the shower and I couldn't even tell him what happened I was so crazy. Brooke was screaming uncontrollably. He jumped out and brought some sanity to the situation.
He kept saying "She'll be fine, did she just fall?" and I still couldn't even talk. It didn't take him long once coming in to the kitchen to see the overturned barstool and know what happened.
She wasn't even bleeding.
The next thing I knew, she went limp in my arms.
My screaming got a lot louder.
We scooped up Jack who was in shorts and an undershirt, no shoes.
Vince threw on some clothes, no socks, shampoo in his hair and we jumped in the car to drive to the ER.  As we were pulling out, I saw the Bishop,  a Dr., pulling out of his driveway and started screaming at Vince to flag him down.
As he came to my window, I had Brooke limp in my arms and I couldn't get the words out to tell him what had happened. He said to go straight the ER and he would call and let them know we were on our way!
We had no money, no phones and I was definitely lacking in sanity.

On the way to the ER she opened her eyes a few times but they would just roll back in her head. 

We got to the ER (it seemed like it took us an hour to make the 20 minute drive) and she starting throwing up when I got her out of the car. I had completely lost it by now.

(This is how we slept the first night)

A few CT Scans and MRI's later we found that she had a skull fracture at the back of her head close to the neck and a severe concussion. Vince's brother found out what had happened through the Bishop and brought us a phone and picked up Jack. He saved us that night. We had a rough night, but the next morning she started to act like herself again and even smiled.

We called the neckbrace her pretty necklace from the start, and luckily for us, she is very gullible, and never once tried to take it off.

 She kept her bucket close  by because she was still throwing up a little bit.

 Oh how she hated this thing on her foot!

And oddly enough, her port didn't even bother her.

She never slept in the crib, but sure enjoyed playing in it.

We were able to come home Friday afternoon and I was so excited to change me and Brooke out of our puke covered clothing!

 Notice the new high chair?  Jack doesn't know it, but his is on the way!

It was so scary and I definitely learned some lessons through this whole ordeal.
1-Barstools should be thrown in the garbage
2-I don't handle stressful situations involving injuries well at all! In fact I nearly threw up from all my hyperventilating.
3- Brooke is so tough!
4- I will kiss my babies a plethora of times every day!

 She was fitted for her new neckbrace today and she will wear it for 2 weeks.  We have a follow up appointment at Primary Children's then and hopefully she won't have to wear it anymore after we meet with their Neurosurgeon.    Her new brace is pretty intense.

We love her so much and we are so blessed that there haven't been any serious complications from the accident. She requires constant supervision for the next 2 weeks, so I am sure I will be very busy for the next few weeks.

Thanks for all you who helped us out and sent prayers our way!  You have done so much!