it's all fun and games until...

While the hay-bale maze was set up next to the pumpkin patch in October, the boys loved to play in and on it. Whenever customers weren't around, it was Jonah & Micah's favorite waiting game: to climb up and run around on the hay-bales.

The second weekend that the pumpkin patch was open, uncle Malachi came and visited from college and he brought some friends with him. One afternoon, they all got running around and playing on top of the hay-bales, too.

The last weekend we were open, Josh started playing tag with them on top of the hay bales, too, and they just loved that he played with them! After we were finally done with all the sales on the final day, we piled up and covered the pumpkins, took down all the signs, and then the boys begged for Josh to please play tag on the bales with them. He was hesitant because we needed to take down and remove all the pumpkin patch activities. I told Josh to go play with the boys and I would take down what I could while he had some enjoyment time with the boys. They had all worked so hard, and they deserved to have a fun break! Josh told the boys yes, he would play with them, and they all responded with glee for play time.

I walked out to the road and started removing the decorations along the fence, when suddenly I heard a cry. Jonah yelled "Micah fell". Sometimes when the boys are running around on top of the bales, they lose their balance and slide off. I heard Josh respond "that's okay, he'll get back up". The next thing I heard was a horrible scream. My heart fell out of my chest. I knew that scream--it was the scream of fear and pain. It was a blood-curdling scream, the ones that mothers know and dread. I saw Micah running out of the hay-bale maze. His face was red. Red with blood. I yelled "He's BLEEDING!" and started running up the driveway, in the gate, and over to him. I couldn't get there fast enough. I grabbed him and carried him over to the bench. I laid him down on my lap. By now, Josh had heard the same continual scream from Micah, and realized that it meant something serious. All the boys got off the bales and hurried over. Josh and the boys helped get napkins from the nearby table, and I started applying pressure and wiping away the blood to see how bad the injury was. He had a really good gash in his forehead. It was deep, and I knew he needed stitches. I had Josh take the boys up to the house, and I started dipping napkins in the ice cold water cooler to clean away his face, head, and hands. When Josh came back without the boys, he drove me and Micah to the hospital. I held Micah in my lap, and looked at him: Micah stayed very calm from this point on, and I was amazed at his quiet anxieties. I looked at myself: my clothes and body were covered in blood, and I felt so sick to my stomach, and I suddenly didn't feel so composed anymore. I don't handle cuts and blood well at all. When we arrived at the E.R., Josh carried him in and I filled out the paperwork. We were given a small room, the nurse cleaned up his wound, and the E.R. doctor was kind and good to Micah. He received 3 stitches in his forehead.

When they were playing on the hay-bales, Micah tripped, and slid off head first. Unfortunately for him, his head landed on a rock. This is the reason why we don't let other kids play on top of the bales: because we can't prevent injury and we don't want to be liable for others' injuries on our property. Lots of kids attempt to climb on top of the hay-bales while going through the maze, and some of their attempts are successful, but I always tell them to get down because of this risk. We are so grateful that Micah's injuries were minimal.

Now there's another visible difference between identical twins Jonah and Micah--Micah has a scar under his nose from being kicked by a horse when he was 3, and now he has a visible scar on his forehead, too. Even though his head is scarred, he wasn't emotionally scarred too much from it, because within a week, he was back to playing on top of the haybales again!!! As for me, I keep hearing that scream of his in my head and it terrifies me. I don't like the sound of fear and pain coming from my children! It's taken a lot longer for me emotionally to get past the trauma I felt that day!