Another lovely experience....

Today we had an experience that had me feeling like an awful parent!!! Addie partially dislocated her elbow (called Nursemaid's elbow)! Of course, it seems that all bad things happen on days when Clay is working the Bee's game and can't be with us!

Anyway, as we were leaving church this afternoon, I was holding her hand and she was kind of pulling me around. I had a tight grip because I didn't want her to run off or fall down if she let go.

I turned to go one way and at the same exact time, she went the opposite direction. I felt a funny kind of sensation in her hand/wrist as we pulled and she immediately started crying. I picked her up and told her I was sorry but I felt that motherly gut instinct that something was wrong. She was clearly upset and holding her arm a little bit. I tried to look at it and hold it and everytime I let go, she would start crying harder.

We took her out to the car and she cried as we put her in her seat and a little on the way home. We asked her to do some things and she kept doing them with her right hand. I asked her to use her other hand and she said no and started crying. She was tired but she never acted like this. She was definitely in pain. She kept asking me to kiss it better but that obviously wasn't fixing it like it usually does! It was so sad.

We hurried home, gave her some motrin, looked up an urgent care on the internet, put her back in her carseat (it felt like we were torturing her she was in so much pain) and she and I headed off to the urgent kidscare. Once there, she got down and played with the toys but she didn't move her left arm at all. She was holding it up close to her tummy.

They got us back quickly and the nurse calmed my fears saying they see this kind of thing all the time and it's usually a quick fix. The Dr. came right in, examined her and quickly popped it back into place. Addie cried for a second but once the Dr. pulled out some stickers- she actually started using her arm again!

I am so relieved it wasn't anything more serious but it was still scary. Apparently, they see this a lot from parents swinging their kids by the arms, or lifting them up by one arm (which we are definitely guilty of both). So, those of you with kids 5 and under....please be careful! It's no fun seeing your child in that much pain (especially when it was something you were part of)!