Life with Ladybug: “I’m taking her to the ER”

By Shannon Magsam, Ladybug’s mama

Thirty minutes into Gwen’s book launch party Friday night, I was chatting and laughing with people, grateful that they continued to stroll into Nightbird Books on Dickson Street despite the fact that the street was blocked off for the homecoming parade.

We were so afraid it would be “crickets” (why, oh why hadn’t we realized the parade was right at 6?!) but a big crowd braved the busy street and stopped by to support Gwen and get her to sign her book, Reporting Live from the Laundry Pile: The Rockwood Files Collection.

I had my iPhone to shoot a few pictures and suddenly I realized it was ringing. The screen said “home” so I took the call, expecting my husband to let me know that he’d picked up Ladybug and they were on their way to Sonic for a mom’s-not-here treat.

Instead, he said they were headed to the ER.

My heart felt like it literally jumped in my chest.

He quickly said there wasn’t any blood, but that he’d rather be safe and have her checked out. I agreed.

Ladybug had been riding a scooter up a friend’s steep driveway and somehow – at the very top — lost her balance fell off backwards. She hit the very back of her head on the concrete and was able to keep from crying until she got in daddy’s car – out of sight of her friend. He said she was in a lot of pain.

He also said he had it under control – that he was sure she was fine — so I stayed at the party, checking my phone every few minutes for an update. I told Gwen’s husband, Tom, what was up and he encouraged me to leave if I needed to. I told him John had it handled. My husband is probably more of a worry-wart than me and is a very competent dad.

I wasn’t able to breathe normally, however, until he texted me a picture of her in the waiting room with a smile on her face and an ice pack on her head. Exhale. John also said he was giving Ladybug a hard time, teasing with her to make sure she seemed “herself”. She joked back and forth with him until he was satisfied her brain was “normal”.

However, the ER doc did a CT scan and made it official: she was great. Except they realized she had a bad sinus infection. Dad and daughter left with the ice pack and a prescription for an antibiotic.

They also had a doctor’s note for school telling “whom it may concern” that she couldn’t run or jump for two weeks.

On Monday morning, we were late for school. Traffic was backed up and the tardy bell was about to ring.

“Hop out and boogie!” I said to Ladybug.

So she did and then I remembered the doctor’s warning: no running or jumping.

So I rolled down the window and yelled: NO RUNNING OR JUMPING! NO RUNNING OR JUMPING!!!

She heard me and slowed down to a fast walk. And as she disappeared into the middle school, I remembered that quote by Emily Stone:

“Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ”

Amen, sister.

Shannon Magsam is mom to 10-year-old Ladybug, married to Ladybug’s dad, John, and co-founder of nwaMotherlode.com. To read previously published installments of Life With Ladybug, click here.