It was bound to happen sooner or later - we've ben lucky so far, really. It just seemed an odd coincidence that this happened almost exactly a year after my trip to the ER for a kidney infection. Both incidents happened the day after Mimi and PopPop flew to California to visit with Aunt Ben and Uncle Brooke. This particular incident happened approximately 24 hours after Mimi gave us a hug good bye and said "now try to stay out of the ER this time".
This morning, after breakfast, the girls and I started our lovely spring tree craft and daddy thoughtfully took the boys to the basement to burn off some steam. The girls joined the boys as I started cleaning up the
The initial crying? That was Alex, clotheslining himself and falling backwards on the concrete. He was fine (eventually). The second bit? That was Jack having his elbow dislocated. Tony had scooped up the injured Alex as he ushered everyone upstairs... a few steps up, Jack had decided he wasn't having any of it, and started a little tantrum on the steps. At this point Jack stated to slip and Tony reached down to grab Jack's arm with his only availably hand in an effort to keep the little man from falling. POP, Wail, Scream, end scene.
A few minutes later, after a few experiments trying to get Jack to reach for toys, and trying to slowly move his arm we made the decision to call the doctor. Of course it was a Saturday, and of course the dr. was at the hospital making rounds, so the nurse, feeling pretty confident in what the dr. would tell us, advised we head right over to the ER. I looked quickly back at Jack whose screaming had subsided (as long as his little broken wing was still) and was currently being nestled in Tony's arms, and agreed.
Oh, did I mention Tony was supposed to go to work in two hours?
I figured I should take Jack, even though Tony really wanted to be there with him, because who knew how long an ER trip could last? Tony called his parents as backup should he have to leave for work before I returned. I quickly packed a bag with 2 meals for Jack, a few books, water, diapers, a change of clothes and a blanket. I was prepared, girl scout style!
After Tony got Jack in the car and waved goodbye to us, our patient was pretty happy and called out to each car and truck we passed on the way. At the ER they did a quick check-in and assessment, and within 5 minutes had us back in a room. About 20 minutes later the dr. was in. She was super sweet and talked so kindly to Jack Jack... She asked if she could fix his "boo-boo" arm, took his hand like she was shaking it, extending his arm, (WAIL) placed her other hand on his elbow, rotated his arm about 1/4 turn and then said, "There you go!". Within 1 minute Jacks screams morphed into "Oh! Choo-choo! - Bye-eee!, HI-AH!" it was like it never happened. The Dr. showed me how to fix his arm should it happen again, I signed a paper, and exactly 1.5 hours after Jack's elbow was dislocated we were in the car heading home. A very relieved Daddy made it to work on time, and Jack took an outstanding nap.
PS. This picture is NOT from Jack's injury... we're not quite that intent on capturing our life that we'd have him cry just to have a picture for a post... this is from a random tantrum last month - the ER trip just gave me a reason to use it!!!
Thanks for the PS! I was trying to find a way to tactfully ask if you might be taking the whole recording their childhood a bit too seriously!!!
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