At the gym the kids go to there is an upstairs balcony that looks down over the whole gym. I always sit up there and watch them/work/chat with other moms. Every time they have class they have to go to the bathroom in the middle of it. There is a single bathroom inside the gym that we all can see but there is a larger bathroom that has a couple of stalls in it in a back hallway. I don't know why but they always seem to leave the gym and go to the one in the back hallway. So today I saw Madison leave the gym so I was keeping an eye to see if she came back. It had been too long so I went downstairs and leisurely looked around for her. There were a couple of coaches behind the desk and a bunch of parents watching kids from that room (directly below where the balcony is). As I'm standing there looking out in the gym to see if she made it back out there while I was making my way down the stairs I hear screaming. I hear it again and this time I realize it's really really bad. I realize it's coming from the back hallway and then recognize Madison's blood curdling scream. I said out loud in a panic "What is that?" as I ran past parents who could clearly hear the screaming yet just stood there. I have to admit I 100% expected to find Madison in the bathroom with her leotard stuck and just screaming because she needed help (which would have been sad enough). I burst through the heavy door to find her behind it holding out her hand to me. As I looked down I seriously almost passed out at the sight of the tip of her thumb as flat as it could be and white. I was desperately trying to get her to tell me what happened but all I could get was that it was stuck in the door some how. I whisked her up and out of the bathroom (where still no one had followed me to see what was going on), back past the parents who asked if she was ok. I said "she crushed her thumb". I went back around the front of the desk with a screaming child and no one that was behind the desk even looked at us! I went around another corner to go to an office where I know someone usually is but saw it was closed up so I came back to the desk and finally had to say the words, and not in a nice way "I NEED HELP!" That finally got peoples' attention. One of the moms came right over and started talking to Madison. She had me put her up on the counter and she took over. I was nauseous and weak and since someone else was taking control of the situation (and doing a great job) I just had my arms around her with my face buried in her chest. The lady was so good with her...telling her she was so brave (ugh, makes me cry just to write it), asking her to move it, etc. Jackson's coach was with us too. I think he had been off getting ice for her. Then I remember Jackson coming over to me and saying "Mommy, can I have a cupcake?" I said, definitely no and he actually whined for it. He's lucky I didn't go off on him.
Madison eventually stopped crying and I brought her down to a table with me where I sat in a chair with her wrapped around me just hugging her. I was really trying to hold back the tears. Jackson's coach sat down with us and as he put a bandaid on Madison's thumb told me a story about how when he was a toddler his mother left him in his crib to go to sleep. She was making him cry it out but it was taking too long so she went in to find him dangling on the outside of the crib because his arm was stuck! He was trying to make my mommy guilt feel better.
I felt so horrible that I hadn't gone down sooner. I still don't know how long she was stuck there unable to move. Ugh, the things my nightmares are made of...
Eventually I brought her back to the bathroom to see if I could get a better understanding of how she got stuck. She walked me through it all...She was in a stall. When she was done she needed to pull up her leotard but didn't have room in the stall so she went out in the main part of the bathroom. The big heavy door to the bathroom was propped all the way open with a door stopper. Since it was open she wanted to not be visible to the hallway so she went BEHIND the door. While she was in there she was leaning on the moulding of the door with her thumb in the small opening at the hinge of the door. She inadvertently kicked the door stopper out and the door shut crushing her poor, teeny, adorable thumb.
When we went back out to gather our things a lady said "I hope she feels better!" I realized it was the lady who had been helping us. I said "Were YOU the one helping us? I had no idea who it was! Thank you so much!" She said "I know what it's like, you're knees turn to jello!" I thanked her again and we all left.
I really hadn't looked at it and figured I should take a peek before she went to bed. It certainly wasn't flat anymore! It didn't look too bad but when I compared it to her other thumb you could really see the difference. I gave her some tylenol before she went to bed so hopefully the swelling will go down.
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