6 month old fell off bed

LONG POST, beware. But please read 🙏

I will begin by saying this was 100% completely my fault and I should’ve been more cautious.

But I usually put my 6 month old to sleep right in the center of our bed (queen size and is pretty tall, about 3.5 ft..). I know I should know better. Today he was taking a nap, and I let him sleep a little longer than normal. I heard him start to make some noise while I was in the living room so I knew he was waking up, so I got up to start making his bottle. All of a sudden I heard this loud scream and I just knew he must have fallen off the bed. I ran in there immediately and sure enough he was on his back on the ground screaming and crying. I picked him up and tried to console him by patting his back and shushing him. Our room is almost pitch black because of our blackout curtains btw.. so I walked out into the living room with him and I noticed he wasn’t acting his normal self, he was still crying but it sounded like a weak cry or some sort. He was squinting his eyes and seemed very dazed. Wasn’t holding himself up straight like normal and was slightly slouching. I knew something wasn’t right and started to panic. I called my husband and then my mom and both of them told me I should take him into the doctors. I tried feeding him his bottle to see if he’d take it and he ended up drinking about 3oz of it but the entire time he seemed dazed and out of it. I got dressed real quick and put him in his car seat and sped to the hospital nearby which luckily is only about 10 minutes away. The entire time I was driving I was watching him in his car mirror and he was falling asleep!!! After having a 2 hour nap!! I started thinking he could have a concussion so I kept yelling at him to wake up trying to get his attention, reaching back patting his cheek while I was driving and shaking his car seat but he was just so out of it.

I finally got to the ER and checked him in. He started looking more aware and had his eyes fully opened. They examined him for any possible head injuries or signs of a concussion and didn’t seem to see anything. They wanted to keep us there to monitor him and see if anything changed. So I sat with him on the bed holding him and talking to him and he started to seem more like himself but still not completely normal. At one point he started acting uncomfortable and fussy so I put him over my shoulder and he just vomited all over the bed. It was mostly milk from his bottle before we left but I know it wasn’t spit up because of the amount of it and how forcefully it came out. I called a nurse in right away, they looked concerned but said if it keeps happening it’s a red flag, but to just keep a close eye on him. So I continued sitting in there with him. He never threw up again thankfully. But then as I was holding him he started getting real sleepy and kept trying to fall asleep so I stood up and called for help again and asked if its okay that he goes to sleep because in my mind I thought with a possible head injury it was dangerous to let them sleep too soon. But the doctor said to let him sleep and that he’s probably tired because it was a traumatic experience for him. So I let him fall asleep for a little while and luckily little noises kept making him jolt so I knew he wasn’t too out of it. All of a sudden one noise made him wake up completely so I sat him up and started talking to him and he just seemed like a brand new baby! He was acting exactly like his normal self. He was making noises. Reaching for things. Smiling. He only continued to seem better so after a while they discharged us and sent us home.

He’s been doing most of his normal things at home but I’ve noticed he’s just extra sleepy. I’ve been letting him relax and fall asleep because I know he had a stressful day.

This entire experience was horrible and I feel like an absolute terrible mother now. It could have been so much worse, he could have broken an arm or his neck or something. I can’t stop thinking about it. And now I can’t go back into the room because I can’t stop reliving that moment and thinking about how scary and painful that must have been for him. Even though the doctors said he was fine there’s still a part of me that thinks he might have had like a slight concussion or something. He just didn’t seem right after I picked him up from falling. He was completely dazed and weak! His cry even sounded different 😔 I feel so terrible and I’m still worried.

Has anyone had a similar experience? I’ll be watching him like a hawk for the next 24 hours. But I just hope I didn’t permanently damage my sweet baby somehow.

Someone please tell me you can relate 😔❤️‍🩹