This is a painful story shared by a mom about what happened to her 3-year-old as a result of a counter-top microwave.
Sometimes everyday life feels like our kids are surrounded by danger. There are things we know about and can prepare for, like dangers at the pool. There are also things that are more terrifying than anything parents today had to deal with as children, like school shootings. (Read Active Shooter Drills: What Child Psychologists Want All Parents to Know.) But, sometimes, something slips by us because it is so much a part of our lives that we miss it.
Injured By a Microwave
The mom behind a site called Macaroni Kid shared a story a few days ago that all parents should know about. It started when she went upstairs to grab a pair of socks for her son. In that short time, there was a crash that she described as “…the loudest thing I’ve ever heard.”
By the time she ran downstairs, she heard her little boy, only 3, screaming at the top of his lungs. She knew that scream. All moms know the difference between the sound of a “my brother hit me on the head” scream and the kind of scream that signals something terrible has happened.
“He was completely covered in blood,” she said. When she got him to answer what happened, he said “microwave.”
I look over, and realize that he must have climbed on the counter, and the microwave, a huge beast of a thing, had fallen on him. Apparently, he’d started to slip, so [he] grabbed the microwave to steady himself.
It crashed down on him along with all the “stuff” she said she puts on top of the microwave to keep it away from him.
There was a handheld vacuum, a cast-iron paper towel holder and even a glass mason jar that landed on her little boy.
All the blood signaled this was a very bad injury.
Mom snatched him up, wrapped him a soft sweatshirt on the way out the door and rushed to the ER. “I said prayers the whole way to the hospital. I know the microwave hit his eye and face, it’s all cut up around it, but please, please let him be ok.”
ER nurses and doctors checked to see what the real damage to his little body was. They were all shocked (and profoundly grateful) to find the injuries weren’t nearly as bad as they looked.
“A dozen tiny little cuts. Some rough bruises,” she said. “But not even the broken nose they were sure he had. Somehow, he left with some small cuts and a probable concussion. His guardian angel was watching, and she worked hard tonight. The doctor and nurses couldn’t believe it. Neither could I. A miracle.”
We’re all told about our TV’s and other furniture. But how heavy is a microwave?
This poor mom never, ever thought about the possibility that her little man would pull the microwave over on himself. We all look for things in our homes that could potentially harm our kids. Parents try so hard to be careful. Even so, things sneak under the radar. It happens to all of us. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees.
One way you can fix the problem.
She also didn’t know (and I’ll admit I didn’t either) that there are straps that can attach to the countertop microwaves for this exact reason. (You can find straps on Amazon.)
Her message to moms and dads everywhere is this. “We could have come home with an empty car seat very easily tonight. Maybe this happened so that somebody else doesn’t have to.”
I know you’ll join me in feeling grateful for how it turned out for her kiddo and for her willingness to share it publicly. Here’s her Facebook post so that you can read it yourself.
Liz is a just a mom trying to keep it real about how little she sleeps, how often she gets puked on and how much she loves them. You can find her here every day writing about real-mom moments.
Love of a mother for their children is truly incomparable.