Annual December ER Visit

If you followed my blog last year, you may have read about our first trip with Jackson to the ER. We went in for a swallowed steak pick and got nursemaid elbow in the waiting room. We had a similar situation happen this December...almost one year to the date.

I hadn't taken Allison to the pediatrician. The midwives saw her at 3 days, 12 days and 8 weeks old. All was well at those visits. I didn't see a big need to take her to the pediatrician since we've decided not to vaccinate our children. I will admit that because I don't take my children to the doctor unless absolutely necessary, I do have this fear that I might not take them in when they really need to go. I guess I feel this way because I grew up going to the doctor and because taking your children to the doctor is just what you're "supposed to do".

I weighed and measured Allison at home at 3 months and then again at 4 months. I didn't see a change in her weight. Of course, I know that my scale isn't super accurate for weights that low, but as many breastfeeding moms are known to do, I began to worry if something was wrong with my milk supply or quality. It was a clear lapse of reasoning ability. After all, Allison was very content. She rarely cried and was clearly thriving. Why I allowed those thoughts to enter my brain I will never know.

Well, to add to my weight gain concern, Allison had been having this phlegmy chest breathing for about 6 weeks. I wasn't too concerned about it. It wasn't affecting her attitude or behavior. But other people seemed concerned. I decided that I should take her in for a 4 month well check.

4 December was the date. Jackson was playing with Allison on my bed while I was in the bathroom (6 steps away) flat ironing my hair. I could hear my babies laughing, talking and giggling. Then, there was silence and then, there was a painful cry. Jackson had fallen off the bed. I went to scoop him up and kiss the hurt. He cried for a while, but it was more of a whine than a serious cry. He said that his arm hurt. He didn't want to move it so I didn't force him. I have learned that he'll move the hurt whenever it stops hurting.

I called the doctor's office and asked if they would be willing to look at his arm since I was coming in anyway. They agreed and we were on our way. Both kids cried the entire way there. Allison screamed and Jackson moaned. I felt terrible for both of them. I hate it when my babies cry. I called Jason and told him that I didn't think it was too serious. I usually don't freak out whenever they get hurt. I'm the type of person that stresses over not folding laundry the minute the dryer stops; but, when it's serious, I miraculously keep my cool and am at peace (thanks be to God!)

We got to the hospital and of course, my baby boy wanted to be held. It was AWFUL not being able to hold him. I couldn't hold Allison, the bag, and him. And Alli was screaming because she wanted to nurse. (I didn't get to nurse her before we left because I was tending to Jackson.) I put Jackson in the stroller so that he wouldn't have to walk.

The wait wasn't long. The doctor saw us very soon after we got there. Allison was perfect. If I remember correctly, she weighed 12 pounds 14 ounces and was 24 inches (that seemed like a short measurement to me) and the doctor said her phlegmy breathing was of no concern. He examined Jackson and sent us for x-rays. The x-rays came back showing no break. Great news! The doctor treated him for nursemaid elbow. With Jackson in his stroller (and not in my lap where he should have been), he attempted to realign his arm. Now, the last time Jackson had nursemaid elbow, the doctor at OU Children's fixed it very quickly and Jackson immediately exclaimed, "It's fixed!" This did not happen this time. He cried and kept holding his right arm with his left. He didn't want to straighten it. The doctor looked at me and gave me the look. You know, "It moved, He's fine. This is just 3-year-old drama." That look. So I behaved as if all was well and tried to act like nothing had happened.

We left the doctor and went to Mardel to meet my neighbor and her twin girls who are 2 months older than Jackson. I thought it would take his mind off of his arm and he'd be good as new in no time at all. We got there and he didn't want to play. He wanted to go home. That is so unlike Jackson. He is always wanting to play with them. I obliged him and we went home. He cried most of the way. When we got home, I made lunch. He ate a little, but then asked if he could take a nap. What?! That's never happened. At this point, I began to wonder if something was wrong. I thought that maybe the doctor didn't get his arm back in place. I put him down for his nap and called Jason. He felt that Jackson's behavior was unusual and that something more could be wrong. After all, the last time he had nursemaid elbow he was fine 20 seconds later.

I decided that I would reevaluate the situation after he finished napping. During his nap, I heard him whimpering. I lay down beside him and stroked his hair. He cried a little and then went back to sleep. A little while later, he was moaning and whimpering again and moving his legs up and down. It was clear that he was in pain. He woke up crying and hurting.

I called the doctor and explained his behavior. They assured me that his x-rays were fine and that I should just give him Motrin. If he was still in pain in the morning, then I could bring him back in. Well, that was not a good answer. I know my child and when he's truly in pain. (He wasn't even sucking his thumb.) I'm also not one to numb the symptom when there is obviously a greater problem that needs discovering. I called Jason. He told me to call them back. I felt uncomfortable doing that because I thought they were already thinking I was an over-reactive mom. Not that I care what they think. Well, I guess maybe I do since I didn't want to call them back for them to tell me to go ahead and bring him in. Actually, I didn't want to take him back. I figured that if he had nursemaid elbow, I didn't want to give the doctor another chance to not fix it.

We decided that we should take him right back to where we'd been a year ago. So I loaded them up and headed downtown to OU Children's Hospital. On the way, I told Jackson that we were going to call my dad because he's great at praying. My dad didn't answer. Jackson asked me to call Grammie. I called her at work, told her what was going on, and asked her to pray. Whenever we hung up, I told Jackson, "Grammie said that she hopes you feel better and that she and PaPa will be praying for your arm." His reply, "Is she good at it?" It took me a second to get what he was saying. He was asking if she was good at praying! It was then that I realized what I'd said. I had to explain that God loves to hear all of our prayers and that He thinks they are wonderful. I told him that PaPa just likes to pray a lot and that's what I meant whenever I said he's good at praying. It was a precious few minutes.

Jason met us there to help me with Allison so that I could give Jackson my attention. He very much wants Momma whenever he's hurt. We took him in and waited. And waited. And waited. It's to be expected. When they called our name, the nurse took all of the info and then had the doctor take a peek at his arm before decided to x-ray. Whenever we got his shirt off, which wasn't fun, the doctor saw his elbow and said, "Yep. Let's x-ray. It looks broken."

You can imagine what was going through my mind. "Broken. And the pediatrician treated him for nursemaid elbow?! That must have been so painful for him. And I was trying to act like all was well whenever he was really in a lot of pain. I'm an insensitive mother. He's going to remember this. He's going to think I don't nurture him whenever he's hurt." I felt TERRIBLE!

They gave him a very small amount of morphine orally...to reduce the pain of taking the x-rays because they were going to need to move his arm in painful positions. We went back to a bed and I lay on the bed and held him until we got the x-rays. The x-rays weren't too bad. We got lots of stickers! While we waited for the results, we talked with a few nurses and doctors. Let me just say, they were amazing. They were wonderful to us and to him.

The results were in, the humerus was fractured right at the elbow. Yuck! No fun for a right-handed toddler to have his right arm in a cast over the Christmas holiday. And we definitely weren't skiing in Utah or Colorado. Oh well.

They wrapped his arm and put it in a sling. We'd have to come back in about a week to get his hard cast. He was amazing while they wrapped his arm. Jackson is always amazing when receiving services - dentist, doctor, hair dresser, etc. He's honestly a very rare toddler when it comes to these things. We left the hospital after being there for over four hours. We got him dinner that the Pita Pit and dessert at Lushberries (live culture yogurt with every topping he wanted).

That night he didn't feel great, but he woke up the next morning feeling great. Jason took him to a train show all day and I stayed home with Allison. That girl needed her bed. She doesn't do well without it. The Wednesday following, I took him to get his cast. Again, he was amazing.

He discovered that the technician and the doctor drove motorcycles. Of course, he had to know the make and model and if they parked them in a garage and if they drove them to work. When the doctor asked what color cast he wanted, it took him half a millisecond to answer, "Red." While they casted him, he sat as still as could be. Have you seen someone get a cast on recently? It is the coolest thing ever. It looks like an Ace bandage. They wet it, wrap the arm, and then it hardens as hard as a rock in about 5 minutes. Incredible.

Here are a few cast pictures that I took of him. He only had to wear it for two weeks. He got it off the Wednesday before Christmas. Thank You, Lord, that is was nothing major.

At the train show the next day:

Jason said the Lego train was a huge hit:

Putting a candy cane on the tree:

This photo makes me laugh. I was asking him to show me his cast. He looks like a mannequin!

Having a cast didn't slow him down: