"Fractured"

It was just another normal Friday.  Sam came over and decided to head to First Christian Church's indoor playground.  Owen was climbing on a low climber (think 1-2 ft off the ground) so I was helping Ellie climb on something else.  I looked over right as he fell...mind you onto a padded floor.  He of course cried, but I thought he was just scared.  We went over to the tables for a snack and to calm down.  I noticed he wasn't using his left arm very much.  He was moving it, but was holding the middle of his arm.  We packed up and when he couldn't get into his car seat like normal, I made the decision to stop at Convenient Care instead of going home.  All three kids were troopers through a VERY long appointment!

I wasn't able to to in the x-ray room with him because of being pregnant, but he was so brave and the nurses gave him lots of stickers to help.

The x-ray was a little inconclusive and the doctor (since he wasn't an orthopedic specialist) didn't want to make the official call. They were worried about this little bump towards his elbow:

They thought it could possibly be a stress fracture.  Or it could just be the way his bone was shaped.  So they decided to treat it like a fracture and send the x-rays to an orthopedic specialist.  So our little man had to get a wrap.  While it wasn't a full cast, it was hard and couldn't get  it wet. He was supposed to keep it in a sling but that only lasted about 2 days.

All in all, he did awesome for the almost 2 weeks that he had to wear it. He had sponge baths mixed with a few baths where we wrapped his arm good.  It made me very thankful it wasn't summer and swimming season!  His biggest complaint was that it was itchy!  On bad nights, a little Benadryl was helpful.

On Monday, December 2, we met with the orthopedic doctor.  It was a pretty confusing appointment.  The nurse came in and took the cast off.  But she was clear to not scratch too bad in case they needed to put another cast back on.  While we waited, I used the sink to give his arm a little "bath" and he did good just rubbing his arm gently and trying not to scratch.  It was really red!

When the doctor came in, he wasn't very clear about if it was ever fractured or not.  But the good news was he got to keep the wrap/cast off! 

    

We went and celebrated with an ice cream cone and then went home for a good long bath! :)

ouch

Last week, we had another first.  A trip to convenient care for potential stitches.  William had just left after eating lunch at home with us.  Owen was sprinting ahead of Ellie and I as we climbed the stairs for nap.  He ran into my room, tripped and I heard a thud (he hit right on a corner of the wall). I was about to sound like my mom and say "that's what you get for goofing around." Until I saw his head.  It swelled immediately and starting bleeding.  I called William and yelled at him to turn around and come home.  Then I called his doctor and then my 2 nurse friends.  We decided better be safe than sorry.  So William took him in while I put Ellie to sleep.  The minute they left I started crying and wished I would have taken him.  He needed his momma with him.  

But they both survived and he didn't need stitches or even glue.  We kept telling him the story of when my little brother, Casey fell off my parents bed and had to get stitches on his forehead.  Casey is his new hero.   It's already starting to look a lot better and we'll just be sure to keep it good and sunscreened this summer.