What kind of elbow??
So, as we are closing in on Adeline's 3rd birthday (I can't even believe I am typing that!), I realized that I haven't shared with you our Thanksgiving weekend experience. I learned a lot that weekend and you never know, those of you with little ones might be in my shoes sometime down the road as well. So, this is the story...
We spent Thanksgiving afternoon with some friends, and got home around 5pm that evening. Adeline hadn't had a nap all day and if you know her, you know she is a sleeper and NEEDS those naps! So, I was about to make us something light for dinner and I put in her Care Bears Excercise DVD. It's just a little 10 minute excercise routine that the Care Bears do, and she loves joining them in their workout. Jeff walks in the room and Adeline asks if he will dance with her (there is a little dance routine at the end). So, they are spinning around the room, dancing and I hear Adeline fall down. Now, again, if you know anything about Adeline, you know that she isn't the most coordinated little girl and she falls ALL THE TIME. She didn't fall particularly hard and Jeff was holding her arms as she landed, so we didn't think anything about it until she started crying... and didn't stop.
She cried and cried for almost an hour as we asked her where it hurt, put some ice on it, offered her anything she wanted to see if she would stop crying (***See the bottom of this post for a funny story***). Finally, she fell asleep in my lap (which she never, ever does) as she was so exhausted from the long day. Well, we put her to bed, but about 3 hours later, she woke up crying and holding her arm. We knew that something was really wrong and debated taking her to Urgent Care or the Emergency Room. I decided Urgent Care, a b-a-d decision. We took her (and sweet Lylah, she just hung out in her car seat all evening) to a nearby Pediatric Urgent Care and walked right in to see the doctor, there were no other patients. The nurse took Adeline's stats and when we explained to her what happened, the first thing she said was Nursemaid's Elbow. We had never heard this term before, but we just continued on, talking with the doctor (who barely spoke English), getting some excruciating x-rays taken and waiting... The doctor came in and told us that there was possibly a hairline fracture in her forearm so they were going to splint it and give us the x-rays to take to our pediatrician to look over. They splinted her arm twice (the doctor really couldn't decide what was wrong, it was very obvious) and we were finally on our way home...
She cried and cried for almost an hour as we asked her where it hurt, put some ice on it, offered her anything she wanted to see if she would stop crying (***See the bottom of this post for a funny story***). Finally, she fell asleep in my lap (which she never, ever does) as she was so exhausted from the long day. Well, we put her to bed, but about 3 hours later, she woke up crying and holding her arm. We knew that something was really wrong and debated taking her to Urgent Care or the Emergency Room. I decided Urgent Care, a b-a-d decision. We took her (and sweet Lylah, she just hung out in her car seat all evening) to a nearby Pediatric Urgent Care and walked right in to see the doctor, there were no other patients. The nurse took Adeline's stats and when we explained to her what happened, the first thing she said was Nursemaid's Elbow. We had never heard this term before, but we just continued on, talking with the doctor (who barely spoke English), getting some excruciating x-rays taken and waiting... The doctor came in and told us that there was possibly a hairline fracture in her forearm so they were going to splint it and give us the x-rays to take to our pediatrician to look over. They splinted her arm twice (the doctor really couldn't decide what was wrong, it was very obvious) and we were finally on our way home...
Such a big, strong girl!Adeline was such a trooper and the next day she was definitely in pain, but as long as her arm was in a sling she seemed okay. But, every time we moved her arm at all, she cringed and we could tell she was not faking it. We looked up Nursemaid's Elbow online (what in the world did we do before the internet?) and it seemed to us, this is exactly what had happened to Adeline. When she fell, Jeff held onto her arm to "cushion" her fall (wouldn't any parent do the same?) and it dislocated her elbow joint. We decided to take her to a pediatric emergency room (remember, it's Thanksgiving weekend, the pediatrician's office was closed until Monday). Lesson #1 - NEVER, EVER go to Urgent Care again, go straight to the Emergency Room!
We went right in, and the doctor agreed that it was probably Nursemaid's Elbow but needed to take x-rays just to double check that it wasn't, in fact, fractured. Poor Adeline had to endure more x-rays and when they came back the doctor took her arm and "popped" the elbow back in place. (It was never fractured!) It literally took one second and within one minute she was completely fine, like nothing had ever happened.
Oh, the guilt!!!
I couldn't believe that my little girl had endured this pain for more than 24 hours and that was all we needed to do - pop it back in place. I don't know how to fix it myself, but I plan on learning so we will be prepared (just in case). Lesson #2 - be very careful of the girls' arms, especially between the ages of 1 and 4.
I know we have all done it, walking along, dad holding one arm, mom holding the other and... "1...2...3...weeeeeee" swing our little one alongside of us. DON'T DO IT! I know it's fun, but apparently, this pretty commonly results in Nursemaid's Elbow. I have seen parents doing this since then, but I restrain myself from saying something. What a party pooper I would sound like to some stranger!
I joke that poor Adeline, the first child, has to endure all of our first-time parenting mistakes. Hopefully Lylah will have it a little easier!
We went right in, and the doctor agreed that it was probably Nursemaid's Elbow but needed to take x-rays just to double check that it wasn't, in fact, fractured. Poor Adeline had to endure more x-rays and when they came back the doctor took her arm and "popped" the elbow back in place. (It was never fractured!) It literally took one second and within one minute she was completely fine, like nothing had ever happened.
Oh, the guilt!!!
I couldn't believe that my little girl had endured this pain for more than 24 hours and that was all we needed to do - pop it back in place. I don't know how to fix it myself, but I plan on learning so we will be prepared (just in case). Lesson #2 - be very careful of the girls' arms, especially between the ages of 1 and 4.
I know we have all done it, walking along, dad holding one arm, mom holding the other and... "1...2...3...weeeeeee" swing our little one alongside of us. DON'T DO IT! I know it's fun, but apparently, this pretty commonly results in Nursemaid's Elbow. I have seen parents doing this since then, but I restrain myself from saying something. What a party pooper I would sound like to some stranger!
I joke that poor Adeline, the first child, has to endure all of our first-time parenting mistakes. Hopefully Lylah will have it a little easier!
We took Adeline out on Saturday morning for a special breakfast of Dunkin' Donuts! She definitely deserved a treat for a rough two days.
Orange frosting and sprinkles - yummy!***This is the best part of the story... As we were trying to console Adeline we were offering her milk, crackers, even candy to see if it would make her feel better. At one point, Jeff said "Adeline, would you like some chocolate? That might make your arm feel better." Adeline stopped crying for a few seconds, looked at Jeff with a very confused expression and said "Baba, why would I want to put chocolate on my arm? That wouldn't make it feel better. That would be very, very, very messy!" You are right, sweet girl! What a silly thing to say!***
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on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 2:32 PM.
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20/1/09 5:28 PMOh, poor Adeline! And I can't believe this! Why doesn't EVERYONE know this?! Wow, thanks for sharing. One day down the road, I'll say to Greg, "Oh honey, we shouldn't do that. I can't remember why, but I know it's not good." And btw, I think chocolate about fixes everything too. ;)
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