Noah fractured his arm.
Yes you're right, I felt horrible. At first I didn't know what to do. I ran with my crying baby up the stairs to the kitchen and called my husband. He didn't really know what to do either. I called the pediatrician. Appointment for the afternoon was made and Noah gradually got back into the swing of things, not using his arm like normal, but playing and pulling hair and eating like normal with his other arm.
By the time we got to the pediatricians office I thought for sure she would say that it was probably just sprained and that he should take it easy.
She told me she thought x rays would be a good idea and to go right away and they would call from the imaging office to let the pediatrician know what they saw. I called around for the cheapest x rays and went where it was 10 dollars cheaper per x ray, all the while thinking I didn't want to pay money for it to be nothing.
Noah was doing well for having fell, not eaten very much and not having taken a nap at all that day. He was a good sport and luckily Eric took Grace to work with him so I could give all my attention to Noah, it would have been a whole different day with both kids in tow.
X rays came, pediatrician was called and they spoke to me telling me he did in fact fracture his arm just above his wrist and that if we didn't get into the bone and joint specialist that friday afternoon that he would have to go wait at the hospital and probably pay a lot more money in the long run. Luckily the imaging lab wrote up a very quick sheet and sent it over to the bone specialist. Stupidly, I gave the pediatrician my home phone number when asked for my cell phone number and wondered why they weren't calling when they said they would as soon as they knew where I was to go. duh!
Noah fell asleep on the way to the specialist and was a crazy boy while we waited in the office for the doc. When he finally came, the nurse who was very nice to Noah made it a very easy 2 minute process of holding up Noah's arm in the proper position and wrapping cotton and then the very sticking cast material that hardened as it dried. (my first thought as the cast was finally hard was that I really should have washed his hand before they did that, oh well) It's funny that I recall having a plaster cast that was pretty nasty back when I broke my arm and now they have fabric that hardens to rock consistency and allows for a clean cast that won't come off until the saw takes it, which is another thing that makes me nervous, but we'll leave that for another day. They also told me that a full arm cast was necessary because little ones tend to wiggle out of a half cast and a full cast would ensure that the arm wouldn't move and Noah wouldn't get out of it. makes sense.
We had a few breakdowns when we got home probably due to the fact that he had a huge heavy thing on his arm that he wasn't used to and he didn't really sleep more than 10 full minutes all day.
Everyone has asked me what happened and I tell them as much as I want.
I don't generally add my feelings because I can't really put into words how I felt when it happened. The knowledge that something was wrong and I was the only one who could do something about it. What if it was broken, what if he was in horrible pain, what if he can't move his fingers, what if they ask me if I hurt my own child...what would I say to that. Of course not! How could you ask that? Yes, it was all my fault and I feel like crying all week over the sheer humility I feel. I'm a good mom, I swear...
I think that I'll forgive myself eventually, and Eric is putting spindles on the stairs so that it can't happen again. My sweet husband may have been thinking that I was being irresponsible, but the first thing he said was that he knew he should have installed spindles a long time ago and that he was sorry he didn't.
For now we just live our busy life and hope that Noah's arm doesn't have any lasting damage that will creep up later in life.
He is our little trooper, and a bit of a bruiser.
Yes you're right, I felt horrible. At first I didn't know what to do. I ran with my crying baby up the stairs to the kitchen and called my husband. He didn't really know what to do either. I called the pediatrician. Appointment for the afternoon was made and Noah gradually got back into the swing of things, not using his arm like normal, but playing and pulling hair and eating like normal with his other arm.
By the time we got to the pediatricians office I thought for sure she would say that it was probably just sprained and that he should take it easy.
She told me she thought x rays would be a good idea and to go right away and they would call from the imaging office to let the pediatrician know what they saw. I called around for the cheapest x rays and went where it was 10 dollars cheaper per x ray, all the while thinking I didn't want to pay money for it to be nothing.
Noah was doing well for having fell, not eaten very much and not having taken a nap at all that day. He was a good sport and luckily Eric took Grace to work with him so I could give all my attention to Noah, it would have been a whole different day with both kids in tow.
X rays came, pediatrician was called and they spoke to me telling me he did in fact fracture his arm just above his wrist and that if we didn't get into the bone and joint specialist that friday afternoon that he would have to go wait at the hospital and probably pay a lot more money in the long run. Luckily the imaging lab wrote up a very quick sheet and sent it over to the bone specialist. Stupidly, I gave the pediatrician my home phone number when asked for my cell phone number and wondered why they weren't calling when they said they would as soon as they knew where I was to go. duh!
Noah fell asleep on the way to the specialist and was a crazy boy while we waited in the office for the doc. When he finally came, the nurse who was very nice to Noah made it a very easy 2 minute process of holding up Noah's arm in the proper position and wrapping cotton and then the very sticking cast material that hardened as it dried. (my first thought as the cast was finally hard was that I really should have washed his hand before they did that, oh well) It's funny that I recall having a plaster cast that was pretty nasty back when I broke my arm and now they have fabric that hardens to rock consistency and allows for a clean cast that won't come off until the saw takes it, which is another thing that makes me nervous, but we'll leave that for another day. They also told me that a full arm cast was necessary because little ones tend to wiggle out of a half cast and a full cast would ensure that the arm wouldn't move and Noah wouldn't get out of it. makes sense.
We had a few breakdowns when we got home probably due to the fact that he had a huge heavy thing on his arm that he wasn't used to and he didn't really sleep more than 10 full minutes all day.
Everyone has asked me what happened and I tell them as much as I want.
I don't generally add my feelings because I can't really put into words how I felt when it happened. The knowledge that something was wrong and I was the only one who could do something about it. What if it was broken, what if he was in horrible pain, what if he can't move his fingers, what if they ask me if I hurt my own child...what would I say to that. Of course not! How could you ask that? Yes, it was all my fault and I feel like crying all week over the sheer humility I feel. I'm a good mom, I swear...
I think that I'll forgive myself eventually, and Eric is putting spindles on the stairs so that it can't happen again. My sweet husband may have been thinking that I was being irresponsible, but the first thing he said was that he knew he should have installed spindles a long time ago and that he was sorry he didn't.
For now we just live our busy life and hope that Noah's arm doesn't have any lasting damage that will creep up later in life.
He is our little trooper, and a bit of a bruiser.
Comments