Monday, October 5, 2009

Climber

Natalie has been climbing a bit more. And with that comes a bit more anxiety for me.

Just yesterday I walked into her room after her nap to find her stark naked and hanging from the side of her crib. Umm... seriously? I'm going to have to start duct taping her diapers. Fortunately there wasn't anything disgusting in the diaper this time to smear around the crib. It did still warrant a wash of all of the bed clothes though.

And then last night she was climbing on the couch and apparently lost her footing - because we had to make a trip to the E.R. I suppose I thought my first trip with the kids wouldn't be until they had enrolled in team sports, but, hey, who can predict these things?

I'd been having a nice quiet evening at home with the kids. I was trying a new recipe (chicken enchiladas) and Natalie was sitting comfortably on the couch watching Ni Hao Kai-lan (one of her favorites). Liam was swinging away in his travel swing just about ready for dinner. All of the sudden (as I'm cooking) I heard a big thump and then a cry. I rushed in to check on her and she was on her side on the wooden floor. Mind you there's a big area rug in front of the couch (we're talking 8x10), but she must have been climbing on the side of the couch because she managed to miss it. I checked her over (apparently not very well) and she seemed fine. We cuddled for a minute and she was still "crying" but there were no tears. I coaxed her to stop crying and headed back for the kitchen.

It's only when she followed me a minute or so later and I tried to divert her whines with milk that I realized something might be wrong. Poor kid couldn't even lift her milk cup with her dominant hand (her left). Ugg...

Our neighbor (a doctor) recommended we take her in for an xray and fortunately took Liam for me (Kevin was at a wedding). So off we went.

I tell ya, Emergency Rooms are not very urgent. Maybe if you come in on an ambulance. But when I drove up to the drop off door there were several emergency vehicles (with their lights off) blocking the one-way drive. I sat for about 10 minutes waiting for them to clear. I can't imagine what I would have done if she was having trouble breathing or something more serious. Fortunately the hospital we went to had a pediatric ER so at least we were segregated from the rest of the ER patients and (I think) had a shorter wait time.

After an x-ray and a look by the doctor, it was determined Natalie had Nursemaids Elbow (or a dislocated elbow). They popped it back in place and hopefully any bruising will heal in the next couple days.

Meanwhile she's not really using it much. So maybe that means I'll have a few days of naptime peace with no duct tape required. We'll see...

1 comment:

Miriam said...

Oh my!!! Hoping for you that there have been no injuries or poop or pee today and for many days - sounds like you could use a few incident free days!