I figured this would be easier than re-telling the updates to everyone. For those that don't know, Mason somehow fell out of his crib on Tuesday evening during a nap. It had been 30 minutes since the last time I went in the room and when both boys woke up crying, I gave them a few minutes and then went in to replace pacifiers. That is when I found Mason on the floor. He had carpet indentations on his knees and cheek, like he'd fallen asleep on the floor after he fell out, or was knocked out from hitting his head on the bottom of the crib. You may not recall, but the base of our crib juts out like upside down crown molding. I called Dr. Nguyen (pediatrician) right away and she told me what to watch for on Mason, and to check his collar bone. She also said he is lucky he didn't break his neck. He did fall from counter height, and I know for a fact that he didn't do it gracefully. He doesn't even know how to get off the couch without falling. My theory is that he was pissed when I left the first time and in all his crying, somehow pulled himself onto the rail of the crib using his toes (like climbing a slide barefoot). He got too much of his body leaning forward and out he went. Thankfully, there was no bumps, bruises, or any evidence at all that he hurt himself. After a few minutes of brainstorming and asking me questions about the boys and about the situation, she suggested either toddler beds even though they were too young or just the crib mattress on the floor. In both cases, being only 15 months old, they don't know how to stay in one place. There is definitely a reason that kids don't switch to toddler beds until close to two years old. That would involve completely revamping their room into a hazard free zone. Nothing sharp, no furniture or drawers that can be pulled out or over, no choking hazards, etc. What a mess. We still have a lot of growing to do.
Now, the update...
I called Munire (the company that made the cribs) to find out about the toddler guard rail that replaces the front side of the crib to convert it to a toddler bed. Dr. Nguyen suggested it may be the only option since our mattresses are as low as they can go and our bumpers have been removed (they were being used as a step to help climb out). Dr. Nguyen said that her cribs always went up to the baby's chin when they got to climbing age. Ours hit Owen and Mason at the bottom of their breast bone. No where NEAR the chin. Unfortunately, no toddler guardrail was made for our crib AND there has been a recall on our cribs that we were not informed of back in February when it came out. The min. distance from spring to top of crib is supposed to be 26" and our cribs are only 25". Munire will send a new bracket that will lower the crib by 1" to meet the safety standard minimum of 26". I called JC Penney to find out why I wasn't notified of this situation and they tried to tell me they sent a mailer to everyone. Yeah, right! I adamently told her I never received one and she said, "now, I do apologize, ma'am." I said, "I know it isn't your fault directly, and we are lucky that my son was not seriously injured, but a simple apology for not notifing me isn't good enough. It wouldn't have made his injuries go away if he had gotten any. We are lucky but maybe there needs to be a system put in place to better notify customers of recalls."
The whole situation really has freaked me out because I feel like Aaron and I do so much thinking on the things we buy for the boys. Who knew a reputable brand sold by a well known store like JCP would have this situation? I thought we were safe. Then JCP told me I can take the cribs back to the local store and get a full refund if the credit card used for payment still exists, or I can get store credit. I think Aaron lost the actual debit card used for payment and I really don't want $800 to JCP. I am going to call the bank tomorrow, find out if they can pull up my transactions from Nov. 2006 when the items were purchased, and somehow prove that the card used back then is still linked to the same account as the replacement card we use today. I REALLY don't want those cribs because I feel like in order for them get low enough (the 1" isn't gonna cut it) we would have to jimmy-rig something which could also be unsafe. I want new cribs that go low, low, low. We are so far away from being old enough for toddler beds, and sleeping in pack-n-plays just isn't gonna cut it. Not when we spent money on nice furniture. What I found out was that there are two types of "convertible cribs." The kind that drops the mattress really low and has a guardrail option. This kind is the type where the front comes off and the guardrail goes on (like a 3/4 lenght railing so the kids can't roll out). OR, the other kind of conv. crib called a "toddler daybed" where the mattress doesn't go as low and there is no guardrail. Three sides, thats it. Two ends and a back. I don't know any toddlers that won't roll out of this apparatus. This is apparently what we have. No guardrail ever manufactured and matress that stays too high. I didn't know about all this when I was purchasing. Apparently we picked out the wrong cribs!
I plan to call the bank during busniess hours and see how they can help me. Stay tuned.
