Trip to the Emergency Room

What a day!  We ended up in the emergency room this morning with Ainsley.  Lisa called around 9 this morning and I could hear a kid in the background crying.  Lisa said it was Ainsley and she didn't know what was wrong with her arm, but Jace had fallen off of the couch and landed on Ainsley and after he landed on her she immediately started screaming and crying.  Lisa was in the kitchen when it happened, so she didn't see exactly what happened, but said Ainsley wasn't calming down and wouldn't move her left arm. 

I threw on some socks and shoes and ran out the door.  I called Joel on my way out of the driveway, and luckily he was at Arends-Awe picking up the combine, so he was able to meet me at Lisa's.  He actually beat me to Lisa's and was holding Ainsley, who had thankfully calmed down by that point, when I got there.  She wouldn't let us touch her arm and would scream if she moved it. 

We headed out the door and into Passavant.  She fell asleep on the way into town, so that helped.  It was so hard to listen to her cry knowing she was in pain.  You could see the pain on her face, and it was killing me.  We were so worried that she had broke it, even though nothing seemed to be swollen and no bones were sticking out anywhere.

I felt like a bad parent going into the ER, because it was in the 30's and we didn't have a coat on our child, but there was no putting a coat on her.  We wrapped her coat around her the best we could and hurried in.  Once we got into the ER waiting room, she didn't want to get down and run around or anything else she usually likes to do.  She sat on Joel's lap holding her Daisy duck and not moving her left arm.  She didn't even want to drink her milk. 

We finally got called back and assigned to a room, and Ainsley was still holding up pretty good at this point playing with my phone and reading books.  Luckily, Joel's Aunt Wendy was working, and she came right in to check on us.  We tried taking her shirt off, but there was no way we could get it over her head without her screaming in pain because her left arm was moving.  We ended up cutting her shirt off of her.

Waiting to get called back for xrays

When we finally got her shirt off, she was pretty upset.  Wendy looked at her and thought she had a broken collarbone.  As soon as she said that, I started crying.  My baby couldn't have a broken collarbone or any broken bone for that matter!  After Ainsley calmed down, Wendy came back in and looked at her again and said then that she didn't think she had a broken collarbone, and that it just looked like it earlier because she was sobbing and upset.  Thank goodness!!!  That calmed me down a little.

We'd find out soon enough with the x-rays if anything was actually broke.  We went back for the x-ray, and thankfully Joel was able to go with me, because I couldn't stay in the room while they did the x-ray since I'm pregnant.  Ainsley fought, screamed, cried, and fought, screamed, and cried some more while they tried to get her x-rays done.  It was not pretty to watch, especially not being able to be by her side while they did it.  Joel said it was awful trying to hold her down.  He just wanted to hold her! 

She was getting really upset on the bed while they did the x-rays and I knew it was coming.  She ended up throwing up a little while they tried to finish them up.  Ainsley was not a happy camper, and Joel said he's never seen her give so many scowls as she did to the 4 or 5 women that were holding her down while they got the x-ray they needed. 

As soon as they were done with the x-rays, Joel picked her up and I noticed that she was moving her left arm!  I mean, she was really moving it and not crying at all in pain!  They said then that they couldn't see anything broken on the x-rays and she must have dislocated something and while she was fighting them while they were trying to get the x-rays done, she popped whatever it was back into place.  I was so happy that nothing was broke, and we wouldn't be going home with a cast! 

She got lots of princess stickers from the x-ray girls and we headed back to our room in the ER to wait for the doctor to read the x-rays.  Mom was waiting for us in our room when we got back and Ainsley was happy to see her.  Ainsley was acting like nothing ever happened at this point and you would never have known she was in pain just fifteen minutes earlier. 

Playing like normal after xrays

Glad to see Grandma Shelly

The doctor came in and told us Ainsley had nursemaid's elbow.  The paperwork they gave me described it as:  "an injury when one of the elbow bones slips out of its normal place.  A pulled elbow happens when the radius slips out of place.  The ligament that supports it slides over and becomes trapped inside the joint."

After researching it a little more once we got home, a child is more prone to have this again.  No more doing "Superman" with Ainsley while walking into stores, or picking her up by her hands and swinging her around in the air.  I don't ever want to see my baby in that much pain again! 

Snoring in her crib after a long, eventful morning

I still can't believe it wasn't one of her own daredevil stunts that landed her in the ER.  Check out the one she pulled last night where she climbed in her chair and stood on the arm and back of the chair to flip the light switch!  It took an accident to land her in the ER, instead of her being a daredevil.

Joel and I are both so glad we're home safe and sound with our little girl tonight.  We're both pretty drained, and may be spoiling our Ainsleybug a little more than usual tonight.  She got a Happy meal for lunch and strawberries, apples, and raspberries for supper.  I'm pretty sure Daddy would give her anything she would ask for tonight.

I experienced the one thing I was dreading about parenting today, which was my child in pain and hurt.  It is one of the hardest things I've had to do was watch her face grimace in pain with the slightest movement of her arm.  I don't know how I would handle a broken bone, or anything similar.  I'm so glad I had both Joel and Mom there today!