The THUD heard around the world.

As a parent there is no worse sound than a THUD from another room. And, not just any THUD. But a THUD that shakes the house and is followed by - not crying - but whimpering. And not your dog "I need to pee" whimper, but your Benjiboogleheimer I just took a header off your precious new bunk beds making you wonder if you made the right decision in buying them while your children are still so young.

Guess where we ended up?

Can you say, "Pediatric ER at Stony Brook University?"

After the Great THUD of 2012 at 4:50pm today, I rushed into the kids bedroom to find Emma completely frozen on the ladder of the bunk beds staring at Ben who was face down on the floor. He was squirming around in pain, but it looked as though all limbs and neck were in tact so I stood him up and he whimpered, "Hurt head. Benny fall down. Hurt head." I held him close and rubbed his back and then the real tears kicked in (which I am told is a GOOD sign). I picked him up and took him into the living room. Emma followed me and answered questions as best as possible about the fall. (She didn't see how it happened, just saw the aftermath, "He landed on his belly with his arms and legs out to the side!") As I held Benny on my lap I observed his behavior - he was looking a bit drunk but the crying was slowing down and he was babbling a bit about his head. I then did what any self respecting parent would do, I grabbed the phone and called my Mommy.

Now, just to remind you, my Mommy happens to be a nurse so I figured she was better than 911 to call because she actually went to school and the 911 callers just have on the job phone training...

I told her what happened and she said the whole "he looks drunk" indicates he may have a concussion and I should probably bring him to the ER. I agreed and hung up the phone. I grabbed the iPad to play an episode of Peep and the Big Wide World to keep Ben's spirits up while I got the diaper bag together. As I was loading up my wallet and some sippy cups and snacks, Ben was watching his show and laughing at his usual spots and starting to look like his normal self, so I paused in my rush to get him to the hospital and thought, "Okay, let me make some dinner and I'll keep an eye on him and see how it goes."

Well, 20 minutes later he was weaving back and forth in his seat looking as though he was going to pass out and drooling. My heart squeezed tight in a slight panic attack. I again picked up the phone this time calling my good fireman friend whose 4 year old son is recovering from a concussion. I told him what happened and he said, "Take him to Stony Brook Pediatric ER. They are the best. You'll be in and out in an hour."

Never one to disobey a man in uniform, I got shoes and coats on the kids and them into the minivan in about two minutes flat and we were off to the hospital about a 12 minute drive away. Ben was lethargic and sleepy the whole drive. I reached back at every red light to give him a good shake awake. Emma was an absolute super star, behaving like a perfect angel - obviously worried about her baby brother.

We made it to the ER in good time, valet parked the car (how freakin' awesome is free valet parking for ER patients??), scooped a now comatose Ben out of his seat, and went into the Pediatric ER. We were in with the triage nurse within 5 minutes and it was next to impossible for her to get any vitals out of the kid because he was so flopsy. She then printed out a hospital bracelet with Ben's info on it and proceeded to wrap it around the kid's left wrist.

I don't know what kind of ink they use to print those bracelets or maybe it is the plastic of the bracelet itself, but IT HEALED BEN. I swear!! The nurse finished attaching the bracelet and the kid snapped out of whatever alternate universe he was in, woke up and drunkenly said, "No! Take it off. Put it in trash! Put it in trash." The nurse led us to a triage room, and there we waited for about 5 minutes before the ER doctor came in. In that five minutes, Benjamin went from drunken frat boy to his normal technophile boy, "Mommy, play Moody Monster on Ben's iPad?" (Of course I packed the iPad!! I wasn't sure how long I was going to have to entertain the 4 year old!)

The doctor came in, Ben totally let her check him out, she explained to me that he is a textbook example of a kid with a head injury that is not serious - no concussion presented - he was simply "stunned" for an hour and is now over it and back to himself. The "spot" on his forehead that took the brunt of the fall didn't even swell into a goose egg, just kind of looks like rug burn... He left the hospital running and jumping and singing the Peep theme song, his usual happy go lucky self.

So, WOOHOO! for hospital bracelets. And little boys who recover quickly. And Mommy's who are nurses. And friends who are fireman. And Pediatric ERs who get families in and out in less than an hour... And Trader Joe's Dark chocolate. I certainly needed a lot of the latter after the kids went to bed tonight...

We have so much to be grateful for this evening.