As I was frantically typing along, I could hear Arden reading a story to her baby doll. Then, she was really quiet for a while, and I assumed she had dropped off to sleep. Next thing I know, there is a "THUD! Waaaaah!!" coming over the baby monitor. I ran upstairs, found Arden on the floor, and scooped her up. She cried a little bit longer than is usual for her (probably almost 2 minutes instead of her usual 30 seconds). But, I got her favorite blankie and plugged in her binkie and we sat down in the rocker in her room and she was soon quiet. I rocked her for a while, and then I laid her back down to sleep. I didn't think too much of it, and she took her usual nap.
However, she woke up from her nap crying. When I picked her up, she told me her arm hurt. I tried kissing it better, but that didn't seem to work. We had been planning on taking her to my parent's house while Preston and I went out to dinner, so I asked her if she wanted to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house and have Grandma kiss it better. She LOVES Grandma and Grandpa's house. LOVES. But she said "Nooooo!" Uh-oh, I thought. We might be in trouble here. So, I sat down and tried to figure out exactly what the arm situation was. Her arm looked pretty normal to me, but she didn't really like me to move it around too much. I tried asking her which part of her arm hurt, but here is how that conversation went:
Me: Does your shoulder hurt, sweetie?
Arden: Uh-huh!
Me: Does your hand hurt?
Arden: Uh-huh!
Me: Does your elbow hurt?
Arden: Uh-huh!
Me: Does your nose hurt?
Arden: Uh-huh!
Me: Does your flibberdeegibbet hurt?
Arden: Uh-huh!
So, after a few more meaningful Q&A sessions between me and Arden, I told Preston that I wanted to take her to the Instacare. So, we got all packed up and into the car. We checked in at the Instacare around 5:30, and were told Arden couldn't be seen until 7:30 (why do they call it "Instacare?" Shouldn't it be called "In-a-couple-of-hourscare?"). We weren't too worried, since Arden was happily playing with the toys in the waiting room and didn't want to leave. She hadn't been crying since we strapped her into the car seat. So, we loaded back into the car to go grab dinner while we waited for our turn to see the doctor.
Arden was fine all through dinner, and ate all of her Wendy's chicken nuggets! But, she still wasn't moving her arm much. She happily played with some toys while we passed the time, and hadn't complained about her arm at all. But, to be on the safe side, we headed back to the Instacare when 7:30 rolled around. They decided to take an x-ray of her shoulder, which Arden HATED! But, she got a sticker, so it was all worth it to her in the end. The x-ray and it came back negative. The doctor told us to get a sling for her arm and was just about to send us home, but he decided at the last minute to check her elbow too. So, back we went to the x-ray room. Needless to say, Arden was less than thrilled to be back. She cried quite a bit as they tried to get her elbow into different positions for the x-ray, so I started to get worried. We went back to the exam room, second sticker in hand, to await the results of the elbow x-ray. Arden happily stuck her sticker on her shirt and smiled for this picture:
The doctor came back in and said her elbow was broken! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh! He said a bunch of other stuff after that, but I didn't hear any of it. Luckily Preston was there! All I could hear in my head was lots of voices asking How could this HAPPEN? Why oh why oh why didn't I switch her to a toddler bed last week? It is ALL my fault! I have broken my sweet baby! I am a BAAAAAAD mom!! She is BROKEN! The tears welled up in my eyes and I just tried to concentrate on not crying in front of the doctors and nurses, not to mention Arden. The nurses put Arden's little arm in a little pink cast (Arden happy as a clam through it all. Me on the other hand, barely reigning in hysterics). When they were done, they gave her a sucker and ANOTHER sticker, and she was on cloud nine.
After that, we made our escape and got out to the car where I could cry like the big wussie that I truly am. I asked Preston for the recap of what the doctor had said, and here it is: There is little to no displacement of any of the bones. This means that she will probably just need to keep the cast on for 3 weeks or so, and no surgery or anything will be needed. However, we are supposed to call and get an appointment set up with an orthopaedics specialist for next week to give her another checkup and make sure things are still looking good. Luckily, Preston knows an orthopaedist in our stake, so we are calling tomorrow to get an appointment. Unluckily, Preston is going out of town again next week, so I will have to go by myself!
We got home around 9:00 p.m., and I gave Arden a guilt cookie and some Tylenol and put her down to sleep. She went right to sleep and is still sleeping peacefully now. Maybe I will go to sleep and wake up tomorrow and this will all have been one bad dream!
9 comments:
Poor Arden! And poor Chrystie! I'm so glad we haven't had to do the broken bone thing... yet. :) I hope she gets better quick. On the bright side, a pink cast is pretty cool. They didn't do colors when I was a kid.
I am soooo sorry! We had our first stitches this past summer and it was way more tramatic for me than Abigail. Sounds like Arden was a trooper though which makes it tons easier.
She'll have a cool story to tell when she gets older... I've never had a cool pink cast!
We're so sorry for little Arden.
Christina says at least the pink cast is cute.
We have these friends who have a 5 year old boy who broke his arm twice in less than 6 months.
Not that that's comforting, but it could be worse ;-)
Chrystie, you are not a bad mom, it happens to the best of us and no need to feel guilty. Dr. Dan said that her break is the most common in kids and not to worry, she will recover in no time. Besides, we all love our cast stories, mine was in 2nd grade from a fall off the bike. Looks like you guys will now get to enter the "big girl bed" phase of parenthood...not fun! Those cribs are just so confining, a good thing.
Oh man! I am so sorry!!!!! Just some advice. Mckay broke his arm last April. We had an orthopedic surgeon set it in the Cottonwood Hospital Emergency room. Long and short of it is that he now may need to have it rebroken as it is affecting is movement. We took him to Shriners and they told us that for any broken bones with kids, always see a pediatric specialist (preferably at Primary's) Hope that is helpful and that she is doing ok. PS you are an awesome mom!!
awe poor Arden! Im so sorry Chrystie. I remember being in your same boat last valentines day, when Hailey broke her arm. She had just jumped off her bed to get a balloon string. The whole ER thing is a blur...at least once they finaly got the IV in, they put stuff in it that Hailey cant remember....now to give the moms some too!! You are a FANTASTIC mother, try not to feel too bad..but i understand the guilt. Good luck on the smell of it in a few weeks! Hopefully it will only be 3!! Give Arden kisses from us!
Oh Chrystie...I am so sad for you and Arden. Is the cast in the way for her to play or is it getting better? How long does she have to have it on? Hope things get better!
Thanks for your concern everyone! Arden is doing much better and (much less importantly) I am doing much better too. I will give you all an update after the dr. appt tomorrow.
Sorry for your tramatic night Chrys. Thanks for taking the time to bring Stu over. We showed up and Mom told us what happened and I felt bad that you still made the trip. But we appreciated it.
We will bring Stu back sometime soon. Hopefully things are going well and the doctor has nothing but good news.
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