Monday, June 29, 2009

We need a plan

It hit me today that we don't have a plan. If it ever happens, we're going to have no idea what to do or how to handle it. Hopefully it'll never happen, but tonight, I've decided we need a plan. Thankfully we didn't need the plan tonight. We were close, but not close enough.

Tonight, Mommy's leg acted up again. It happened for the first time over 2 years ago. Back then, it locked up to the point where she was basically paralyzed in pain in an awkward sitting/laying down position. After a trip to the ER revealed nothing, which led them to a diagnosis of "nerve pain" and a prescription of OTC Motrin, we just let it slide. Every now and then Mommy's leg would act up again, but never to the point where she had to go to the ER again. And since she's had Kaylani, she's been able to tough out the pain to the point where it'll hardly even affect her anymore (and after experiencing child birth, I'm really not surprised). But tonight, it almost happened again and that led me to this whole notion of a plan.

At the time of "the incident," I was upstairs getting Kaylani ready for bed. I had just finished putting her pajamas on when I heard Mommy calling for me in pain from the bottom of the steps. After finishing the last 2 buttons on Kaylani's onesie (damn buttons), I went into a ridiculous minute of activity that went a little something like this:

Pick Kaylani up. Walk towards the stairs. Walk back into the room. Bend over to put Kaylani on the floor. Decide against it and stand up and walk back out the room. Change my mind again and walk back into the room. Put her on the floor and go back out the room. Hear her cry and start to walk back into the room. Decide I need to check on Mommy and walk out the door before picking her up. Get 2 steps down the stairs before hearing Kaylani cry even louder. Go back into the room and pick her up. Finally go downstairs to see Mommy while now holding Kaylani.

I had no idea what to do. I was so confused and that's not a good thing. Thankfully Mommy was seated at the base of the steps and only experiecing major uncomfortableness (described as similar to contractions 3 minutes apart, as opposed to major pain like contractions 1 minute apart). After staring helplessly at Mommy while I was still holding a squirmy Kaylani (who was expecting to be nursed any second since she was ready for bed), I realized that had Mommy been in real pain, we would have been in a lot of trouble since walking back and forth doesn't get things done.

I'm guessing that the right course of action would have been to leave Kaylani in a safe place in the middle of the floor (assuming she's still not crawling and I don't have to worry about her getting into trouble for a minute). That would have freed me up to check on Mommy and provide immediate help to make sure she was okay or stable before going back to get Kaylani. From there, I could take whatever the next step would be.

That sound about right? Hopefully a real emergency won't happen and that this new plan of mine won't ever need to go into action. But if it does, anyone have any suggestions on how to handle? Is my plan a sound one? It sure sounds like it'll be more effective than walking back and forth and doing squats with Kaylani while I try to make a decision doesn't it?

3 comments:

SurprisedMom said...

First of all, I'm sorry you're wife has such painful episodes with her legs. How awful for her and you.
Secondly, I'd put Kaylani down in her crib, go check out your wife, dial 911 if she needs to go to the ER, pick Kaylani back up, wait for the ambulance and then head to the hospital with Kaylani.
If your wife doesn't need the ER, I put Kaylani in her crib, check on your wife, get her a pain killer, help her to bed and then get Kaylani.
Yes, it's really easy for me to give you suggestions, but if it was me and my husband was in pain, I wonder if I could be so logical. Probably not.
I hope your wife's pain episodes grow fewer and fewer until there are none. Good luck to her and you.

Otter Thomas said...

I hope your wife's leg pain goes away. The crib is the only truly safe place we can put our son. We can gate him in the living room but he is always into something. You have to put her in a safe place and go check on mommy. I don't know what else you can do.

JonnyTam13 said...

The crib! Mommy said the same thing to me when I told her what I did afterwards. Can't believe how hard it is to think in these types of situations. Kinda scary! Thanks!