A Visit to the Emergency Room - A First

Of course it would happen on a Monday.




Monday mornings are tough as it is.


Coming down off the weekend, having to wake up early to get out the door for school, work.
This Monday was especially rough - Iris threw a fit when I tried to wake her up - Iris threw a fit during breakfast - Iris threw a fit getting dressed ... it was that last fit, that caused a trip to the Emergency Room.






We had migrated from her room to the living room. She was still naked, refusing to get dressed, I don't even remember why.
I had her on my lap, I was sitting in the rocker.
I had one arm around her front, holding her onto my lap, and one arm trying to wrestle her undies on to her kicking legs.






She managed to buck herself off of my lap, landing on the floor - however, I was still holding her arm as she fell. Iris sat there shocked, then started to cry: "Mom, my arm is stuck!"
I was instantly sick to my stomach, and promptly started bawling. Partly out of fear, and partly out of frustration, I'm sure.






I got some pants on her, gingerly pulled a shirt over her body, keeping her arms underneath - all the while frantically trying to reach Brian and then my mom, on the phone. . . and then headed to good ol' Providence ER. A first for us in this parent/child adventure.






It wasn't dislocated, thank goodness! They call it nursemaids elbow.
Apparently it's fairly common during the "Toddler" age, as their joints and bones continue to grow and form - they can be kinda loosey goosey at times. The jarring of her arm as she fell to the floor, with me holding her arm as she fell, pinched some nerve in her elbow, basically paralyzing her arm from the elbow up (she could still wiggle fingers).






And although it's fairly common, and the nurses at the ER intake desk were all very kind, and Iris was in fairly good spirits through it all - it still did not soften the blow of having to take your maimed child to the ER, or make it any easier to answer questions like, "Is your child the subject of physical abuse in the home, etc." Absolutely horrifying.






The nurses were great, Iris was great, Grammy Lisa showed up to lend support - I was a mess.
The doc came in, held her elbow in place, twisted her wrist - and in seconds she was as good as new!
"It's like magic!" she yelled. I might have actually cracked a smile.

We were home by 10 am. Felt like the two longest hours of my life.  We regrouped - had a snack - she ended up going to school the rest of the day, I went to work... just another day, but this one may have scarred me for life.