The Day We Let You Down – Literally

Early in the morning of the 9th May 2017, both parents were super tired from sleepless night, Cora was coughing and couldn’t sleep peacefully.Me and my wife woke up tired, she managed to break a mug first thing in the morning, she then cleaned it up and took the garbage down immediately. We live in a split level apartment and we have the child safety gate on the upper part of the staircase. When she came back and forgot to properly lock the gate. You should now be able to predict where this story is going.

Cora was playing near the gate and she often pushes her back against the wall to be cheeky or whatever. She just likes to lean on stuff including her parents legs. Unfortunately, she pushed her back against an unlocked door and took a stumble down the staircase. I was rushing down to catch her and I can see her rolling down but slowed down halfway. Mom was hysterical and I can hear her screaming behind my ear, I never hear her scream like that before. I picked Cora up, she was crying which is always a good sign in an accident like this. I try not to think the worst!

We brought her up and I immediately stripped her to inspect for any major or minor injuries. I noticed there’s injury on the top of her head, nothing major but I can see blood under the skin. Her forehead seems to have brushed some part of the staircase, I can see some redness but not bruises. I then proceeded to check her limbs, ribs and everything else and thankfully, they are all ok.

I have developed a habit to check all doors and gates (from very young age, thanks dad) before I switch off for the night. But, this morning, we both have learnt the hard way to always keep the gate closed and locked properly, AT ALL TIMES!

Right now, Cora is fine and we are monitoring her closely with our hands not too far away from a phone.

That short clip of Cora rolling down the stair, forever recorded in my memory. It has been playing on repeat