Be Still My Heart

When Abigail was a baby, we took full advantage of the portable swing and bouncy seat. The swing was the only way she would sleep for the first month and the bouncy seat allowed us to put her down so we could eat dinner. We would make funny faces at her to entertain her (us) if we just wanted to give our arms a rest. One thing we never did was to buckle her. I mean, seriously, where was she going? We were always right there and she didn't even turn over until she was 4 months old. Once she started to get the hang of sitting up, we put her in her high chair and the bouncy seat and swing were put away.

It was nice to dust off the old but good pieces of baby furniture again when Madeline was born. I really was looking forward to having the same fun with Madeline that we did with Abigail. The swing wasn't so much fun for Maddy as it was for Abby. I did get some more sleep at times when Maddy wouldn't go back to sleep or if she was spitting up a lot. But the bouncy seat...she LOVES the bouncy seat. I don't know if it is because of the sitting angle is different, the bounce is a more of an up and down direction versus the swing going back and forth. Whatever the reason, as long as she liked something. I was worried that we would have no arm relief.

As with Abby, we never buckled Madeline into the bouncy seat. We were always just an arm's reach away from her and always made sure that Abigail was very gentle if she wanted to see Madeline in the bouncy seat. Of course Maddy mostly would sleep in the bouncy seat so we had to teach Abby that she couldn't touch her new baby sister if her eyes were closed. Of course now if her eyes are open or closed, we get a status report. Very cute. Minor tangent: It wasn't cute when I went to wake up Madeline one morning and Abby was with me. Abby climbed up to see Maddy in her crib and then announced in a very loud voice "Her eyes are closed!" Poor Maddy jerked awake and her lower lip stuck out before she started screaming. Poor baby.

We continued our routine until friends of ours, with three little girls of their own, mentioned that we should always have the seat belt on the bouncy seat or swing because their middle daughter decided to see how high the swing would go and their baby bounced out of the seat on to the floor. Thank goodness she was alright but they had to make a quick trip to the emergency room. When Josh and I heard this, we both stopped breathing for a moment and we promised that we would always strap her in from now on.

The other night we were having dinner and Madeline was in her bouncy seat on the floor between mine and Abigail's chair. Josh was on the other side of the table and we were having a nice dinner at home. I had Madeline smiling and cooing. Of course Abby wanted to play with her baby and got off her chair to give Maddy a kiss. I asked Abby to get back into her chair and she proceeded to push the back of the bouncy seat all the way to the floor and let go. The seat, and thus Maddy, bounced up. THANK GOODNESS I had put the strap on. Madeline just came up about 4 inches off of the bouncy seat and back down. My heart absolutely stopped. I jumped up and put Abby in time out for playing too hard on the bouncy seat. I know that she didn't know what the consequences were of playing on the bouncy seat like this but I had to do something to scare her from doing it again. As I sat down, the reality of what almost happen suddenly started to sink in. What if she wasn't strapped in...What would she have hit...I was just an arm's reach away and look at what almost happened.

Time out ended and as I just held onto the table still reeling from the event, I asked Abby to come back to the table and tell Maddy she is sorry she pushed the bouncy seat. Josh asked me what happened and I told him. He just said "thank goodness I didn't see that." I wish I hadn't seen that.

And people wonder why I am neurotic!