Happy Birthday, Baby Daniel!

We are very excited to welcome Mika and Allison's cousin, Daniel Parker Gallagher, to the world. Baby Daniel, Mommy Beth, and Daddy Mike are all doing well.

Jason took the day off work on Friday so that he could rush to the hospital as soon as Daniel was born. We loaded up the girls and took them to Babies R Us and Toys R Us to pick out gifts for Daniel. They settled on a blue plush monkey rattle and a BIG stuffed dog a la Uncle Brian.

Mika really knows how to shop. Her arms were full with toys for Daniel and herself, then she started to pile me up with stuff. Fortunately, she was agreeable to putting most of it back. Allison found a play-doh kitchen set and said "ple-ease" in the most adorable voice that I just couldn't refuse.

We finally got the call we'd been waiting for at 7:30 pm and Jason rushed out the door to greet Baby Daniel.

I put the girls to bed, grabbed a basket of laundry, and headed down to the basement. I was putting clothes in the washer when I hurd a thud from above. I didn't need to wait for the screams before I knew what had happened. I ran up the two sets of stairs to find Allison at her bedroom door, screaming and crying.

"I FALL! I FALL ON THE RUG! I FALL ON MY HEEAADDD!!!"

Although the girls have been jumping in their cribs and leaning on the railings for a while, this was the first fall. Allison calmed down after a few minutes in the rocking chair. Her head had only a small lump so I put her back in her crib and said good night. Both girls laid right down with no interest in jumping.

I made a couple quick calls to Jason and my Dad, both of whom felt I should keep Allison awake in case of consussion. So into the room I went again, about 10 minutes later. Mika looked at me as I took Allison out of the room but put her head right back down and went to sleep. It was 9:00 by now, an hour past bedtime. The poor kids were so tired.

I think putting Allison down for 10 minutes then coming back was the best route I could have taken. Had I taken Allison out of the room immediately, Mika would have screamed bloody murder until she got to come downstairs too. Giving her time to settle down and start to fall asleep worked like a charm. We'll just pretend that was my intention all along.

So Allison got some late evening alone time with Mommy. I can't say that I really minded. It's so rare that I get to spend time with either of them one-on-one. We cuddled on the couch and watched an episode of Word World.

I hopped online and found out that the no-sleep-for-a-concussion thing is a myth. Turns out that it all stems from the fact that you need to monitor the patient and make sure that they're alert, responsive, and easy to wake. But like most other ailments, sleep really is good medicine. I guess somewhere along the telephone game of medical myths, "make sure the patient is easy to wake" got turned into "don't let the patient sleep." If you do fall asleep with a concussion, chances are very slim that you'd fall into a coma, and definitely not a permanent coma. So now we all know. Let's stop spreading this falsehood, eh?

I checked Allison's eyes for signs of uneven dilation and kept her talking about our day, the fall, all kinds of stuff, to check for lapses in memory and slurred speech (all signs of a concussion). She was perfectly alert and happy the whole time. Except she refused to keep the ice on her head. She hates that stuff. Nothing unusual there.

When I put her down for the third time, I told her that I'd check on her later. She was happy to see her crib and laid right down. I did go in around 3:00 am and wake her. She was slow to wake, but who isn't at that time? She seemed fine and we both went back to sleep, finally.

--Kaylee