Anchor Your Furniture!
I know you have heard it one million times, well, make this one million and one, Anchor Your Furniture! If you haven't done it, then go do it now, like right now, stop reading, get up, and get it done, I will wait .........................................................................................................................................
Ok, do we all have anchored furniture now? Good! Now to my post.
We have all heard the horror stories, toddler climbs the dresser, dresser falls over and crushes toddler beneath it, parents are left grieving, exclaiming, "But the dresser was so heavy, I never thought she could knock it over, how did she knock it over?" All the while they desperately wish they could go back in time and anchor that piece of furniture that they were certain was too big, too heavy, off limits, etc. We sit here and think, "Oh, but my furniture REALLY is too big, my furniture REALLY is off limits, that can't happen to my child, but I will still anchor my furniture...when I can get around to it." That was me, the idea of my furniture falling over on my child haunted me, but it still wasn't anchored, I hadn't gotten around to it, I kept forgetting, it wasn't going to happen to my child...well, it did happen to my child, but I got lucky and my beautiful little girl is sitting here in front of me playing with just a cut on her leg.
Gia was having an exceptionally fussy afternoon, I barely had the chance to scarf down dinner let alone clean up the kitchen. I finally got her settled enough that I was able to pass her off to Dex and I went to clean up the kitchen. Sage was back in her room playing as usual, or so I thought. As I was putting dishes in the dishwasher I heard a giant crash and my heart instantly sank, I instinctively knew what had happened. I dashed to the bedroom and Sage wailed, I had a picture of Sage pinned underneath the dresser flashing through my head and I just kept thinking, "She's screaming, that means she is alive!" It was really only a few steps to the bedroom, but it felt like miles. As soon as I got to the bedroom I realized Sage was not in her bedroom, she was in my bedroom, Thank You God! The dressers in my bedroom are not nearly as heavy as hers. I got into the room and I saw the dresser, Dex's chest of drawers, laying over and propped up by the bed...the dresser did not fall on my child, I have never been so relieved in all my life!! I scooped Sage up, I'm not even sure how I got to her, she was in a space between the bed, the dresser, and the wall, I must have went over the bed, but I honestly don't remember. I squeezed Sage so tight that I'm surprised she could breathe, my baby was alive!!
Once I had stopped shaking I realized there was blood on my hands, and I immediately screamed for Dex who was in our room trying to clean up the mess (he had been there through it all, he says he was right behind me as I entered the room, and I'm sure he was, but I was a racehorse with blinders on, I saw nothing, but my baby). Dex gets to us and I tell him there's blood and I don't know where it is coming from, Sage is still clinging to me too tight for me to even look. He finds a gash on her leg covered in blood, a lot of blood. I get Sage to the bathroom and start cleaning off the blood and calling my sister who is a pediatric ER nurse, did my baby need stitches, did we need to go to the ER, what do I do? I was a complete mess, but thankfully Sage had calmed down at this point and just kept telling me, "Sage has a boo boo." After laying Sage down with her leg elevated, I finally got her leg to stop bleeding and got her cleaned up. Dex and I determined that Sage did not need stitches, we would put some butterfly strips on it to keep it closed and she would heal up ok.
My toddler tipped the dresser over and is walking away from this with nothing more than maybe a small scar on her leg, it could have been so much worse, so so much worse. Just five days ago, I rearranged our bedroom so that we could put Gia's crib up in the room. In order to fit the crib in our room, I had to move that dresser. If Sage had tipped that dresser over just five days earlier, there would have been nothing to stop it from falling on her...five days...all I can say is someone was looking out for us, there was a guardian angel in our house. Needless to say, Sage went to sleep without a dresser in her room last night and I went to bed thanking God over and over for saving my baby, for giving us another chance to do what we should have already done. All the tall furniture in my house will be anchored today and, if you still haven't done it, I hope you will do it today as well after reading our story. It CAN happen to you!
Ok, do we all have anchored furniture now? Good! Now to my post.
We have all heard the horror stories, toddler climbs the dresser, dresser falls over and crushes toddler beneath it, parents are left grieving, exclaiming, "But the dresser was so heavy, I never thought she could knock it over, how did she knock it over?" All the while they desperately wish they could go back in time and anchor that piece of furniture that they were certain was too big, too heavy, off limits, etc. We sit here and think, "Oh, but my furniture REALLY is too big, my furniture REALLY is off limits, that can't happen to my child, but I will still anchor my furniture...when I can get around to it." That was me, the idea of my furniture falling over on my child haunted me, but it still wasn't anchored, I hadn't gotten around to it, I kept forgetting, it wasn't going to happen to my child...well, it did happen to my child, but I got lucky and my beautiful little girl is sitting here in front of me playing with just a cut on her leg.
Gia was having an exceptionally fussy afternoon, I barely had the chance to scarf down dinner let alone clean up the kitchen. I finally got her settled enough that I was able to pass her off to Dex and I went to clean up the kitchen. Sage was back in her room playing as usual, or so I thought. As I was putting dishes in the dishwasher I heard a giant crash and my heart instantly sank, I instinctively knew what had happened. I dashed to the bedroom and Sage wailed, I had a picture of Sage pinned underneath the dresser flashing through my head and I just kept thinking, "She's screaming, that means she is alive!" It was really only a few steps to the bedroom, but it felt like miles. As soon as I got to the bedroom I realized Sage was not in her bedroom, she was in my bedroom, Thank You God! The dressers in my bedroom are not nearly as heavy as hers. I got into the room and I saw the dresser, Dex's chest of drawers, laying over and propped up by the bed...the dresser did not fall on my child, I have never been so relieved in all my life!! I scooped Sage up, I'm not even sure how I got to her, she was in a space between the bed, the dresser, and the wall, I must have went over the bed, but I honestly don't remember. I squeezed Sage so tight that I'm surprised she could breathe, my baby was alive!!
Once I had stopped shaking I realized there was blood on my hands, and I immediately screamed for Dex who was in our room trying to clean up the mess (he had been there through it all, he says he was right behind me as I entered the room, and I'm sure he was, but I was a racehorse with blinders on, I saw nothing, but my baby). Dex gets to us and I tell him there's blood and I don't know where it is coming from, Sage is still clinging to me too tight for me to even look. He finds a gash on her leg covered in blood, a lot of blood. I get Sage to the bathroom and start cleaning off the blood and calling my sister who is a pediatric ER nurse, did my baby need stitches, did we need to go to the ER, what do I do? I was a complete mess, but thankfully Sage had calmed down at this point and just kept telling me, "Sage has a boo boo." After laying Sage down with her leg elevated, I finally got her leg to stop bleeding and got her cleaned up. Dex and I determined that Sage did not need stitches, we would put some butterfly strips on it to keep it closed and she would heal up ok.
My toddler tipped the dresser over and is walking away from this with nothing more than maybe a small scar on her leg, it could have been so much worse, so so much worse. Just five days ago, I rearranged our bedroom so that we could put Gia's crib up in the room. In order to fit the crib in our room, I had to move that dresser. If Sage had tipped that dresser over just five days earlier, there would have been nothing to stop it from falling on her...five days...all I can say is someone was looking out for us, there was a guardian angel in our house. Needless to say, Sage went to sleep without a dresser in her room last night and I went to bed thanking God over and over for saving my baby, for giving us another chance to do what we should have already done. All the tall furniture in my house will be anchored today and, if you still haven't done it, I hope you will do it today as well after reading our story. It CAN happen to you!
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