The 411 On Brynn

As many of you have heard, our precious little Brynn had quite the drama this last week. It all started last Tuesday evening. Brodie worked late that day, so I was flying solo feeding the kids their dinner that evening. I had the boys situated and was getting Brynn ready to eat. Like so many of us have done, I stuck Brynn in her Bumbo seat...on the kitchen counter (pictured below for those of you who are unfamiliar).

On the side of this happy little chair is a great big warning that says, "NEVER USE ON A RAISED SURFACE...DESIGNED FOR FLOOR LEVEL USE ONLY...NEVER LEAVE BABY UNATTENDED." Again, no one really heeds this warning and often babies are placed on kitchen counters for meals and such. Well as Brynn sat in her seat (on the kitchen counter) I turned to grab her food. As I turned, our strong little Brynn happily dug her heels into the counter and shoved right off the back of the kitchen island. I ran around the side just in time to see her be released from the chair and land SMACK on her little head. I grabbed Brynn and held her tightly trying to erase the image from my mind of her landing on the top of her head. She screamed like a champion. True to form the boys were being super loud just then. I set Brynn on the floor and took the boys to play in their room. I needed a minute to be with Brynn and clear my head. I came back downstairs to examine the situation. Brynn's head had a large goose egg of a bump that was red and scratched up on one side. Oddly enough she had more damage on the opposite side as well. The best way it can be described is a ball of play-dough that was thrown onto a flat surface. The corner of her head was completely flattened and all of the muscles were squished to the front in a gross rippled mess. I freaked out and contacted Brodie. We decided the first thing to do was to call our doctor. I called the afterhours number, was eventually contacted by a doctor, and after explaining the situation in great detail, was told to simply monitor her throughout the night and take her in to our pediatrician the next day. Brodie came home early to help out and we survived the night.

The next morning I got an afternoon appointment and headed in with the boys in tote. Brynn's head was looking better (not great) and she seemed fine so I thought nothing of it. We arrived at the pediatrician's office, and after being examined, she ordered a head CT. Since her office is connected to the hospital, we walked straight over to the ER to get Brynn looked at. The boys were getting restless and the nurses were doing their best to entertain them with movies and toys. Eventually they rigged up the CT machine to fit Brynn's teeny head onto it and we went over to the CT room. The boys and I stood outside singing songs while Brynn screamed through the entire test. Pure torture not being able to do anything just outside the door. We went back to our room to wait for the results. It only took about 10 minutes for them to return with their findings. Brynn had definitely had a concussion the night before. Her brain was bleeding, her skull was fractured, and her skull was pushed in on the side that had been flattened the night before. In this case they wanted us to be in a place that was more suited for Brynn, so we were being sent to a children's hospital in downtown Houston. Because we couldn't leave their care, we were being taken there via ambulance. Luckily, shortly after receiving this crappy news both my husband and father-in-law were able to show up and help me get the boys taken care of (and hug me while I cried). They were none the wiser as they headed off to eat pizza and hang out with their grandparents. The boys had fun eating pizza and going skinny dipping. It was nice to know they were happy and being provided for considering what we were dealing with. Brodie headed off and went to grab us some food as Brynn and I got all geared up to get in the ambulance.

They do not mess around getting her car seat all harnessed into those stretchers. She actually loved the VIP treatment. Shortly after getting on the road, Brynn took a much needed power nap.

Once we got to Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital we were sent to the trauma unit. They examined Brynn and sent her off to the pediatric wing. Shortly after, our home teacher and another man from our church showed up so that they could give Brynn a blessing. This helped her physically and me emotionally! From this point forward it was just hanging out in the hospital and getting Brynn examined a whole lot.

Later that night Brodie left to go get the boys and put them to bed, and I was finally introduced to the head of neuro who had examined Brynn's charts. Ok side note-for all of you Grey's Anatomy fans I hope you appreciate this. Not only did the head of neuro have wavy brown hair, a nice smile, and blue eyes, he actually looked like Derek Sheppard. He explained that Brynn's bleeding was beginning to stop, but that as the brain absorbs the blood, sometimes the body can have seizures. Because of this, they decided to keep her overnight for observation. Don't worry, he had to come in our room a few times and every time he was stopped mid sentence by Brynn’s beauty which he couldn't help but comment on - so proud of her for snagging the cute doctor :) Unfortunately for many of you, I had contacted you or posted on facebook about Brynn's current status. Well with all the phone use my cell phone eventually died. Since Brodie was gone and my phone was dead, I had no numbers to contact people, and no way to get on facebook with an update.

At midnight they finally had our room ready and we were transferred upstairs. This floor looked like a baseball hall of fame museum. The nurses’ station was a hotdog vendor cart and we felt like we were at a stadium. That part was really fun. All night long they continued to check on Brynn. She continued to be monitored throughout the morning and into the afternoon. Finally around 3pm, 2 very official looking doctors came in to examine her. Both continuously commented on how strong she was for her age. They said the bleeding had stopped, but the reason they had taken a while in coming to see her was because they were worried about the dent in her skull. They had been debating whether or not to fix it, or let nature take its course. Ultimately they said that her skull is about as thick as a plastic 2-litre bottle (so not thick at all), and that over the next few months it will be forming and growing rapidly. It is their hope that her skull fixes itself. They want her to come back in 3 months to re-examine the dent. If it's still there, then at that time they will have to do something to fix it themselves. Only thinking awful things I didn't dare ask how this would be accomplished. They again commented on her strength and said that they could give her a helmet to wear for protection, but considering her abilities, she would probably just rip it off. So we ditched the helmet idea and were able to leave.

All in all Brynn is fine with minimal headaches which she takes Tylenol for. She continues to be the best little baby (especially in comparison to her crazy brothers). As a family, we appreciate all of your prayers and concerns. I'm pretty sure I could feel the prayers pouring into our hospital room. We are hoping for a great natural recovery and will keep everyone posted when an update is available.