Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Stuff That Really Makes You Feel Like a Parent

Sody got hurt last week. Not at all seriously, but it was out of the ordinary enough to warrant an emergency room trip at four a.m. FUN!! What she had was something called nursemaid's elbow, which I had never heard of before that night but is apparently pretty common in kids under five. Basically a little bone in the elbow gets dislocated and it hurts and the kid stops using his/her arm. (Side note: Don't yank on your kids' hands! Don't swing them around by the hands! Don't pull their little arms hard through sleeves! All of these can cause nursemaid's elbow. It's real!) Joe had been getting Sody ready for bed and held her hands to pull her up from the changing table. She usually pushes herself up onto her feet but this time resisted and Joe heard a little pop. And that was all it took: busted baby arm.

So she cried for a bit and while there was something obviously wrong with her arm (she just kept holding it at a ninety degree angle and close to her body), she wasn't in constant pain or anything. We gave her some baby Tylenol, tucked her in as usual, and spent a few hours wondering if we did the right thing. What we should have done. Stressing about how much an ER visit would cost. Looking up "nursemaid's elbow" on the internet. Feeling like crappy parents because we didn't take her straight to the doctor when everything on the internet about nursemaid's elbow says to take the kid straight to the doctor. Etc. It was an odd, confusing night. One where you realize this parenting stuff is so not clear cut at all.

She eventually woke up around 3:30, not able to sleep, still not able to use her arm. Seeing that little bent baby arm stuck in that position where she couldn't move it was just too sad - and that was when it finally got through to our thick heads to take her in and get her fixed up. Nothing else really mattered at that point. And it definitely ended up being the right move: the ER was dead at that time in the morning, our triage nurse was Swedish (!), and the fix for Sody's arm took about ten seconds - all the doctor did was a little rotating and flexing move and that elbow popped back in. It seemed to really hurt as the doctor was doing it, but literally seconds later Sody was fine and moving her arm and totally happy. It was an amazingly quick transformation. Plus she got a juice box, so her world totally rocked at that point. I was completely flooded with relief when I saw her high fiving with that arm again. And I am pretty sure Sody saw the whole thing as a total adventure - being up in the middle of the night, driving around in her pajamas, getting juice at the doctor's. We were so stinkin' happy it was a simple thing and that our kid was back to normal...so much so that we got donuts and hot chocolate on the way home and let her feast on sugar and cartoons at six in the morning for being such a good sport. I am pretty sure she is going to have a very positive attitude toward going to the doctor from here on out. Or expect treats every time. Oops.


before: ouchie arm


after: working arm (and juice)


way after: donuts at home

1 comment:

  1. Oh my gosh- this seriously made us so worried. I am so happy it all ended ok- almost makes me want to get hurt too (last time I had doughnuts at 6 am was...long time ago). You guys are great parents and thanks for sharing this. Good lesson! xo

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