Paige Ferguson and Blake Linton were visiting a friends house when their six-month-old son, Colton, fell asleep.
Putting the baby in the middle of their friends queen-sized bed to sleep, they surrounded him with pillows.
All seemed to be going well, until they heard a thump and a cry.
“We heard him hit the floor, and immediately start to cry,” Paige recalled while speaking to Babble. “Blake dropped everything and flew into the room to get him.”
The baby had a bump on his head, but apart from that he seemed to be fine.
“He was crying, which meant that he was alert, and after we calmed him down and he smiled at us, I really felt relieved,” says Paige.
Remembering the old wives tale of "If the bump sticks out it's fine", they initially assumed the baby was fine.
Paige's mum's intuition kicked in, however, and they took Colton to the hospital.
Once in the hospital, Colton began to vomit.
"I vividly remember holding Colton up to vomit, while kneeling on the floor trying to calm him down, and the doctor walked in,” Paige remembers.
“He told us that Colton did have a fracture, and there was some blood on his brain. And it’s crazy because even in that moment, I thought he would be okay. I thought ‘OK, they can fix this. It’s going to be okay. He’s tough. He’s got this.’”
Colton was airlifted to a bigger hospital in Memphis, by the time the parents arrived there were already 20 doctors and nurses working to save him.
“I knew something was wrong when I kept asking if he was going to be OK and everyone kept replying with ‘We will do what we can,’” explains Paige. “No one would simply say yes.”
Wracked with guilt, Paige tried not to think of the 'what-ifs'.
“I kept thinking of what his little body was going through and that this was my fault. I should have stayed home, I should have brought his Rock ‘N Play, I should have let him sleep in my arms. I was crying, hugging Blake, and pleading with him to forgive me. He kept telling me it wasn't my fault, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. Such a small fall and he’s hurting so bad.”
Paige issued a plea on Facebook, to remind parents to be mindful of where they let their babies sleep.
“I was in complete shock of the damage that could be done from such a seemingly common and minor incident, and felt sure that it could happen to someone else."
Doctors told the parents that Colton might not survive, his little body was fighting so hard and suffered a heart attack as a result of the lack of oxygen in his brain.
After a month of careful monitoring, Colton again opened his eyes. He is now fed through a tube and is on seizure medication.
Being so young, doctors have warned the family the his brain might never fully heal.
"Colton is our world; our life,” says Paige. “We wouldn't in a million years have done anything that we thought could harm our child. But I am finally letting go of some of the guilt about the accident, and even though I know people will judge me, I’ll take it all, if by sharing Colton’s story, we can save even one life.”
She hopes the her story and Colton's uncertain future, will serve as a warning to other parents.
“Please do not leave your baby on a bed unattended, no matter how safe you feel they are; not even for a split second,” says Paige. “And if your child sustains a bump to the head, be safe and get them evaluated. Demand a CT.
"Don’t listen to old wives’ tales that tell you if they will be fine or not; let the doctors do that. Colton cried, and even smiled, but he wasn't fine.”
