We had a few goals today: get James' hair cut (for the 2nd time ever), research (in person) potential minivan options, and get James out of the house for a new adventure.
Cora was excited beyond belief...
Actually, she spent a majority of her day sleeping, in the carseat (no way, right?), both in and out of the car! She was SUCH a good girl today. Dad says it's because she was resting up to "give 'em hell" next week...
We visited just a couple of dealerships, looking at used Odysseys, Caravans, Town & Countrys, and Routans. Not surprisingly, we liked the Routan best. Maybe once we sell the Civic...
Then it was off to the Natural Science Museum. 
James loved it! We didn't bother with the stroller for him - we just let him loose. He had fun checking out a live tortoise, but liked the stuffed coyote and black bears even better. When we tried to move on to the Megalodon exhibit, he just wanted to go back to the bears... 
James loved it! We didn't bother with the stroller for him - we just let him loose. He had fun checking out a live tortoise, but liked the stuffed coyote and black bears even better. When we tried to move on to the Megalodon exhibit, he just wanted to go back to the bears... It's not easy wrangling an excited 1.5-year-old amongst lots of other kids (and adults), while holding a newborn and pushing an empty stroller. And unfortunately, as we grabbed hold of James' hand to lead him onward, he dropped to the ground and twisted away (trying to go HIS way instead), causing something in his left arm to "pop". He started crying immediately, but we thought he was just mad that we had picked him up and moved back toward the sharks. When the crying didn't subside, we got worried. Then when he refused the comfort of his snack trap, we knew something was really wrong. We called the after hours nurse at our pediatrician's office, but the on-call doc wasn't available. So we called the ER, but they couldn't give us any advice without seeing him in person. So we called my mom. She suspected (based on our descriptions) that he might have popped his shoulder out of socket. Since swelling can make things worse, it's best to get it taken care of right away. Thus, rather than drive the hour back to Vicksburg, we took him to the nearest ER. He was so sad, with his left arm just hanging there. He screamed if we touched it. And it was torture having to put him into his carseat. Poor kid just cried himself to sleep in Jay's arms.
They took care of us right away and sent him straight to x-ray. Turns out it wasn't his shoulder, but his elbow that had popped out of socket (called Nursemaid's Elbow). It took the doc all of 2 seconds to fix it. Then they sent him back to x-ray to be sure it was back in place. Within an hour he was feeling a little better (reaching out and touching things), but it was still sore (he couldn't manage to get the snacks out of his snack trap without feeling pain, and that infuriated him). He was such a trooper though...
He ended up sleeping all the way home (he had only had one half-hour nap today anyway, so he was a bit overtired) and was still feeling sore when he woke up on the couch at home. I decided that since ice cream always make ME feel better (no matter what the ailment is), it was worth a shot for James too. And oooh, did it ever work! He was a new man within 15 minutes (AKA half a cup of ice cream). Then the sugar high kicked in and we were all entertained by his antics. Within another 15 minutes he was putting normal pressure on his arm and using it as usual. Thank goodness!
They took care of us right away and sent him straight to x-ray. Turns out it wasn't his shoulder, but his elbow that had popped out of socket (called Nursemaid's Elbow). It took the doc all of 2 seconds to fix it. Then they sent him back to x-ray to be sure it was back in place. Within an hour he was feeling a little better (reaching out and touching things), but it was still sore (he couldn't manage to get the snacks out of his snack trap without feeling pain, and that infuriated him). He was such a trooper though...He ended up sleeping all the way home (he had only had one half-hour nap today anyway, so he was a bit overtired) and was still feeling sore when he woke up on the couch at home. I decided that since ice cream always make ME feel better (no matter what the ailment is), it was worth a shot for James too. And oooh, did it ever work! He was a new man within 15 minutes (AKA half a cup of ice cream). Then the sugar high kicked in and we were all entertained by his antics. Within another 15 minutes he was putting normal pressure on his arm and using it as usual. Thank goodness!And should it happen again (which is likely, now that it happened once), the doc gave us instruction on how to pop it back into place ourselves. I sure hope I never have to do that though...
4 comments:
Poor James! You guys need a break from doctor and hospital visits. At least he had fun at the museum and liked the ice cream! Always a positive somewhere...
Bummer! That is so unfair.
I wouldn't have the stomach to pop his elbow back into place. I don't care how much the ER costs, it'd be worth it!
Oh Denise, I'm just catching up on your blog and saw this post :( My mom was just talking again today about how she gets worried when Adam trips when we're holding his hand because my brother had the exact same thing happen to him as what happened to James :( My parents learned how to pop it back into place themselves as well. How unfair for you guys. Hope it never happens again. Hang in there!
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