Ale and I had been back from Amsterdam for 2 weeks when our worst nightmare happened.
We had agreed with Jonatan when I came back to training and playing that Eli would be able to contact him if there was ever an emergency with Jordi. We didn't have our phones on us when we were on the pitch and were pretty much uncontactable for a few hours each day, so when he quickly walked over to me towards the end of our match day minus one session before the el clásico my heart sank in my chest.
I didn't want to answer this call, because I knew what it meant.
Something was wrong with Jordi...
Jonatan immediately handed the phone over to me, a worried look on his face as he briefly explained.
"Eli is on the phone"
The panic really set in once the phone was in my hand.
"Eli what's wrong? What's happened? Is Jordi ok?"
"Isy stay calm ok? Jordi has bumped his head and he's got a bit of a cut, so we are at the hospital"
"Is he ok? Has he been sick? Did he lose consciousness?" I quickly asked, everything that we'd learnt at the baby first aid course that Ale and I had done when I was pregnant came flooding back.
Vomiting is a bad sign. Being unconscious is a really bad sign.
"No he hasn't, he might need a few stitches though" She explained, the emotion clear in her voice as I heard Jordi whinging in the background.
"ALE!!!" I called across the pitch to my wife who was practicing her free kicks, her head immediately turning in my direction.
"We need to go! it's Jordi"
"We'll be right there Eli. We are leaving now" I spoke down the phone, hanging up before she could answer me and running towards the locker room.
"What's happened!? Is he ok?!" Ale called after me as she followed me inside, keeping up with my pace as she sensed the urgency.
"He's had a fall and cut his head. Your mum has taken him to the hospital"
"He's what?"
"H-he's cut his head. She thinks that he needs stitches. I-I don't know. All I know is that we need to get to our baby boy" I explained, starting to hyperventilate at the realization that our little boy was hurt.
"Hey- breath. He's with Mama, and we are going to him now. He's going to be ok" Ale tried to calm me down, placing her hands on my shoulders and looking into my eyes.
"He's hurt Ale and we aren't there"
"What's happened!?" Mapi asked quickly as she arrived in the locker room not far behind us.
"Jordi's hit his head, we need to go" Ale mumbled, not even glancing up at her best friend as she rummaged around in her bag for her car keys.
"Where are the stupid keys!!" She shouted in frustration.
"I'm driving" Mapi said as she collected her car keys from her cubby and walked towards the exit.
"Come on. Neither of you are in a fit state to drive right now" she stopped and held open the door for us.
Mapi dropped us off at the pediatric entrance and we headed straight inside, making our way directly to the reception area to find out where our boy was.
Ale reached the desk first, resting her hands on the surface and breathing heavily with panic.
"Um- we're looking for Jordi Putellas. He's our son. I mean, we're his parents. He hit his head. His abuela brought him in"
"Jordi..." the receptionist said incredibly slowly as she scrolled through her computer screen.
"Ah, here we go. Jordi Putellas. He's in room 5 which is down the hall and on the left" She said as she gestured down the hallway to her right.
"Thank you" Ale breathed out a momentary sigh of relief before heading off in that direction and I quickly followed behind her.
Seeing Jordi laying on the hospital bed made him seem tiny again. He had a bandage wrapped around his head and faint blood stains on his skin. Eli was sat next to him, stroking his back as he sucked on the ear of his lion teddy.
"Hi baby" Ale said quietly as we entered the room, heading straight to the side of his bed and placing a kiss on his flushed cheek.
"Hola my little love, mama and mami are here now. We are so sorry we took so long" I joined Ale by the side of his bed, perching on the edge of the mattress.
Jordi immediately started to become unsettled, sitting up slightly and whinging as he reached out for Ale to take him into her arms, which she did almost instantly. Scooping him up and holding him close to her chest as he rested his head on her shoulder.
"What happened Mama?" Ale asked Eli quietly as she slowly rocked Jordi side to side.
"I left him in the living room for two seconds to go and get his shoes and when I came back he was on the floor with blood on his head. I think he pulled himself up on the sofa and lost his balance, b-but I don't know"
"Why did you leave him?" I asked quietly, stoking the back of Jordi's head as I looked over at her.
"Like it said, I went to get his shoes. We were getting ready to go to the park"
"You know that he's starting to walk... you can't leave him on his own"
"Isy" Ale said, turning toward me slightly and using her free hand to reach for mine in an attempt to calm me down.
"No Ale. Our little boy is in the hospital. He cut his head open because she left him on his own"
"It was only for a second-"
"Look at him! He's only a baby and he's probably going to have a scar on his face for the rest of his life now" I snapped, the fear I was feeling had now turned to anger.
"Isy stop. That's enough" Ale said more firmly this time, stepping between Eli and I with Jordi still in her arms.
"You don't get to talk to her like that, it was a mistake... accidents happen...Jordi is fine"
"I'll go" Eli mumbled once her daughter had finished talking, walking past us both and heading toward the door, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Mamá, you don't need to go" Ale brushed past me and towards Eli.
"I'm really sorry. I'll see soon JJ, I love you so much" she quickly kissed his cheek before leaving the room.
Once Eli had left the room Ale immediately turned towards me with anger written all over her face. She walked over to bed and laid Jordi down, kissing his head before turning her attention onto me.
"What the hell was that Isy?!" She huffed, stepping towards me.
"You know how clumsy he is, he's always falling over at home. It would have happened whether she was in the room or not and now you've just made her feel even worse about it!"
"Look at him Ale!" I pointed to our son.
"He's a kid, kids bump their heads and hurt themselves all the time. Mamá said I was always in and out of hospital getting stitches when I was younger"
"He's not a kid, he's our baby" I said softly.
"I know he is, but he's going to be fine. He's not going anywhere"
The doctor walked into the room and interrupted our conversation, Jordi's file in his hand and a smile on his face.
"Hi, you must be Jordi's parents" He reached and shook both of our hands.
"Hi, yeah. Um- I'm Alexia and this is my wife Isabel. Is he ok?"
"Well, the good news is that his scans came back all clear and we've already glued his cut so he's good to go home"
"He had a scan? Is that normal?" Ale asked, now standing beside Jordi, gently rubbing circles on his back.
"Not usually, but his Abuela was pretty insistent that he needed to have one"
I thought that I couldn't feel any worse than I already did... but I could.
"And why did you use glue? I thought that he needed stitches?" Ale asked again.
"Again, you have his Abuela to thank for that. Using glue just means that he doesn't need to come in to have the stitches taken out and it reduces the chance of any scarring"
"Ok good- that's good" She nodded.
"You'll need to bring him back in tomorrow, just so we can do a few more concussion checks, but he seems fine"
"Thank you" Ale breathed a sigh of relief, sitting in the chair next to Jordis bed.
"You're welcome, if you have any more questions then just give us a call, but try not to worry. Babies are tough little things" He smiled as he left the room, sweetly waving goodbye to Jordi as he did.
"Let's get you home then little man. Shall we go and see Nala? I bet she's missed you so much today"
"Na-Na" He mumbled
We gathered all of Jordis things from the room, put his coat on and carried him down the hall towards the exit to wait for the taxi we had called to take us home.
"How's my godson doing?" A familiar voice sounded from behind us, a small giggle coming from Jordi as he spotted Mapi over the back of Ale's shoulder.
"A-API" he called out, cheering up immeasurably at the sight of his favorite auntie smiling at him.
"What are you still doing here?" Ale asked with a smile, the gesture of her best friend waiting to check on our son cheering us all up as she walked over and embraced her.
"Well, I knew that you'd need a lift and I needed to check on my Jordi boy didn't I?" She explained, gently squeezing his cheek before kissing it.
"That's a lovely gesture Map, but you don't have a car seat for Jordi"
"I do, I bumped into Eli in the car park and she leant me hers" She explained.
"Let's get you home shall we little man?"
Jordi was very clingy when we got back to the house, he was tired and confused and needed to be close to us as much as he could. We tried to put him to bed in his room, but failed miserably, so we all ended up on the sofa under a blanket with his favorite film on.
I felt awful about the way I had spoken to Eli, she had been so amazing since we had Jordi, stepping in and looking after him when we were at training and games, traveling to Australia to help me and just in general being the best Abuela Jordi could ask for.
So once Jordi had eventually settled and had fallen asleep on Ale's chest I slowly got my feet desperate not to disturb him.
"Are you ok with him if I pop out for a bit?" I asked quietly.
"What? Where are you going? He needs us Isy"
"You mums. I need to apologize"
"Leave it until the morning" she spoke softly.
"I can't" I blubbed, immediately bursting into tears.
"I was so awful to her"
"You were scared, she won't take it to heart" Ale reassured me, moving a hand from Jordis back and reaching for mine, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"I would get up and give you a hug if I could"
"I know" I smiled, tears still running down my cheeks.
"I need to go and talk to her Ale"
"Ok" she nodded.
"We'll be fine, but please don't be too long. It's been a long day and we all need some sleep"
It was about 9pm when I arrived at Eli's house, I parked in the driveway and headed towards the front door before knocking on it.
Eli answered the door dressed in her pajamas with a confused look on her face
"Isy. What are you doing here? Is Jordi ok?"
"I'm so sorry Eli" Tears brimmed in my eyes as I looked at my mother in law.
"I should never have spoken to you like that"
"Hey, stop that" she spoke softly, reaching for my hand and gently leading me inside.
"I was horrible to you" I blubbed, turning to face her again.
"You were upset and your baby was hurt"
"I didn't mean anything that I said. You are so good with Jordi, he loves spending the day with you… it's just the first time that he's hurt himself and I couldn't cope with seeing him like that"
"Come and sit down" she gestured towards the stairs, getting me to sit down before joining me on the third step.
"The first time Ale got hurt Jaume and I got into a massive argument. I went out to get the groceries and when I came back she had a huge bump on her head and a grazed knee. She tumbled off the step outside, she was absolutely fine, but she was my baby. I was so upset with him, I couldn't believe that he let our little girl get hurt, but in reality she had tumbled down that step hundreds of times before and been absolutely fine. The emotions just got the better of me" she smiled recalling the story, her arm wrapping around my shoulder and pulling me close to her side.
"You'll get used to the bumps and bruises, after a while it just becomes part of parenthood"
"I don't think I'll ever get used seeing him hurt"
"How's he doing? I take it that you're all back home now?"
"He's ok, tired and I think a bit sore, but he's having cuddles with his Mama on the sofa which always makes him feel better"
"What are you going to do about the game tomorrow?"
"We haven't had that conversation yet, but he needs to go back the hospital for a check up and to be honest I don't think either of us want to leave him"