Mrs. Lavin, With the Bookcase, In the Living Room

Don't you love online tutorials?  I've learned how to do so many great things on the Internet.  

Here is a simple tutorial of how to break your 14 month old's arm.  Ready?  

1.) Don't go to the bathroom during your husband's basketball game, so that you're ready to pee your pants when you get home.

2.) While letting your bladder control your thoughts, hastily set your child on the couch on your way to the bathroom.  

3.)  Make sure that your couch is right next to your bookcase, so that there are all sorts of fun books to pull off said bookcase.

4.) Rush out of the bathroom to check on your wee one, only to see him reach too far, and fall onto the ground.

See how easy that was?

Sigh.

I was like two feet from him when it happened.  Just far enough away to watch it all, but not close enough to catch him.

I figured something was wrong, because he had THAT cry.  He cried and cried and wouldn't let me put him down.  But, he stopped after a little while, ate, and even went down for a nap without a problem.

But, after he woke up, he couldn't crawl.  He would go to put weight on his left arm, and just crumple into a sad heap.  Which, we also thought was odd since he flipped in the air (should we put him in gymnastics?) and landed flat on his back.  So, we kept thinking that he couldn't have hurt him arm since he didn't land on it.  (Geniuses, really.)

We looked it up online (because who needs a doctor when you have webmd.com??) and figured it was a sprain, because he would eat with that hand, lift his arm, bend his elbow all without any problems.  There was no swelling or bruising.

But, by Monday when he still wouldn't crawl I thought I had better take him to the Dr.  Even she said she was pretty sure it was a sprain because he was pushing her away with that arm!  She said if it was broken he wouldn't be using it at all. (Super baby!)

We went to the hospital and sure enough it was a buckled fracture on his left arm.  The radiologist said there were two breaks, one on each bone in his left arm.

However, when I went back to the Dr. she could only see one and put a splint on it.  Because the bone was literally bent (hence the buckled fracture) she didn't dare cast it and sent us to an orthopedic specialist.

The orthopedic agreed he could only see the one break.  He felt that putting a cast on was too traumatic for children and that the splint would be good enough.  He feels 3 weeks should be all it will take to heal and he wants to see him in two weeks to x-ray it and make sure it's healing OK.

I felt terrible.  Terrible for the original break.  Terrible for making him wait to go to the Dr.  And, terrible for all of the Dr.'s appointments.  That was four doctor's appointments in one day--and they scare him so bad.  Don't even get me started on having to hold him down, while screaming, so they could x-ray him.

The Dr. assured me that she would have sent me away if I had come on Saturday.  And, that she was super surprised it was broken.  I still feel guilty though.  I feel ESPECIALLY guilty because I sheepishly admit to having the thought "I shouldn't set him there," right as I foolishly did it anyways.  But, whether you call it the Spirit, Holy Ghost, mother's intuition, or just plain common sense, I ignored it.  I am so bad at following it sometimes.  I really wish it wouldn't just be a whisper, or a quick, seemingly random thought in my head.  I wish it'd hit me over the head with a baseball bat.  Because, I often think to myself, "Self, that's probably just you being paranoid," and don't heed it.  I'd love to say lesson learned, but I just don't trust myself and know how to distinguish the difference.  How do you tell the difference?  I feel like if I gave into every mommy-thought that popped into my head I would check on Carter 20 times during the night, never take him outside, and never be sane.  So, how do you draw the line between true intuition and downright paranoia?  I obviously need to fine tune my skills.  Unfortunately, this came at Carter's expense.  How does one get entered into the Worst-Mother-of-the-Year-Award competition, do I need to write an essay? 

And, the worst part is still in front of us!

Try telling an active 14 month old, whose only mode of transportation is crawling that he can't crawl.  He is bawking and screeching all of the time when he can't reach a toy.  You can tell he HATES sitting around.  I have put every toy in front of him and carry him around a TON but he is just not a happy camper.  It's only been two days, and I've given in and let him play/probably break my CD player and DVDs just to help him not be so bored.  Pretty sure our house will be in shambles by the end of the three weeks.  And, I've checked out some new Signing Time DVDs for him to watch, but they only work so long.

Plus, he rolls around like a dog with fleas while he sleeps, so it's the saddest when he rolls on his arm and wakes himself up.

We also can't bath him, which is one of his favorite things--just sponge baths.  

It seems he just can't catch a break with his health.  Well, I guess he can literally catch a break--but he doesn't seem to have any luck health wise.

I've yet to hear from the GI specialist, but I'm hoping this won't put off his scope that he has scheduled for Monday.  What a rough week he's going to have.  Hopefully he's young enough he won't remember (must delete this post in a few years and destroy all evidence!).

I of course gave him some chocolate, hoping to bribe his love and affection back.  Chocolate always makes me feel better, anyways.

So, if you were wondering why I put up pictures on my Facebook of an adorable little boy, with a splint on his arm you could conjecture: "It was Mrs. Lavin, with the bookcase, in the living room," and you would be correct.

Too bad we're not playing Clue, and that this is real and the pain and sadness will continue on for at least three weeks.

Here's to hoping these next three weeks go by fast.

If you have any fun game, toy, or distraction ideas I'm all ears!

So we don't leave off on too terrible of a note, here's a picture were he is actually smiling.  Such a trooper.