Family Pictures and the *Almost* Broken Nose

Every November we go in and take our family picture.  For several years, it seemed like we had a new baby each time we went.  It's fun to look through all of them and see how much the kids have changed from year to year.  Saturday we were scheduled to go in for our pictures.  It's never a lot of fun.  And we never expect to get all of the kids smiling at the same time.  We just want them all looking at the camera.  That's good enough.  A picture without one of them crying -- even better!

But, 45 minutes before we were supposed to be out the door we had an accident.  Not a car accident or anything major.  But it felt major to me.  I had just gotten Sam out of bed.  He was so excited that Chris was still home (he usually leaves for work before Sam gets up).  Chris was about to get into the shower.  So I wanted to rush Sam in to see his Dad.  Major mistake.  I grabbed him and ran through the house.  I started to fall. 

But as any mom knows, if you're tripping or falling while holding a child, you protect the child first.  That leaves nothing to stop your own fall.  So, as I fell, my face slammed into the side of the couch.  Graceful I know.  That caused my back to snap backwards.  Nice.  We landed and I just yelled for Chris to come help Sam.  I thought he could be hurt and luckily he was fine.  I, on the other hand, was not.  My glasses were broken and my nose began bleeding at an alarming rate.  I dragged myself over to the linoleum floor and just laid there.  I was in a ridiculous amount of pain.  And 2 1/2 hours later, my nose finally stopped bleeding.  Seriously.

We dropped the kids off at their grandparents and Chris drove me to immediate care.  I thought my nose might have been broken.  Luckily the x-rays showed I was fine, just badly swollen and very sore.  My nose, forehead, teeth, back and arms were killing me.  All from falling in my own house.  Completely embarrassing.  Doped up on pain medicine, I quickly left because I was in charge of the elementary school's parents' night out and 58 kids were eagerly waiting for a night of fun. 

The doctor said by Monday I should start to feel better.  Here's hoping she was right!  We never made it to the portrait studio so I'm going to have to reschedule those family pictures.  Maybe after I pick up my new glasses.    It's never dull around here!