The First and Hopefully Last Bike Accident

Harper had her first very bad bike accident last night. It was one of those moments that seemed to be moving in slow motion, but it really happened so fast. I felt like I should have reacted differently or sooner or something. She was obviously not feeling really comfortable riding, yet she started down this hill anyways. I wanted to stop her and should have stopped her, but I didn't.

If she had just put on her brakes or if she had just glided down the hill, she would have been fine. The problem was she couldn't decide what to do and ultimately crashed. I watched the whole thing and it was horrible. I was too far away to know for sure, but it looked like her face smashed the street. She was screaming instantly. Mitch ran to her. He grabbed her and the bike and started back up the hill. All I could say was, "did she hit her face?" He said very seriously, "yes, she hit her face." I couldn't see her because she was faced the other way, but I could see Mitch's face and knew it was bad. As he passed me, I saw her and there was blood every where. We hurried home to further access the situation. She was still screaming. Mitch took her to the bathroom while I grabbed some ice. After we got her calmed down and Mitch took a good look at her mouth, he decided she needed to go to the ER. My gut was telling me she should go so I was glad that he felt the same way.

I stayed home with Miller and Mitch took her to the ER. It's a good thing I have a calm and collected husband. I truly don' t know what I would do without him.

I took this photo this morning. She kept ice on it the whole time she was the hospital so the swelling had gone done considerably by the time they made it back. As you can tell, she was not really excited about me taking a picture of her big, fat lip.

This is the worst injury that I have had to deal with so far as a parent. You feel so helpless, so much guilt, and so much pain. You wish that you could trade places. You wish that you could rewind time. It makes you realize how easy it is for something to go really wrong. You replay the scene in your mind over and over again. You want to just hold them in your arms and comfort them forever.

I know at the end of the day this was pretty minor. She escaped with no stitches and all her teeth intact. She is sore and swollen, but she is okay. I hope her confidence isn't shattered by this accident. She told Mitch that she wasn't riding her bike again until she was sixteen. To be honest at this very moment, I am ok with that.