4 1/2 years we made it in our family with no broken bones... But I guess having 4 kids under the age of 5 is just tempting fate and our luck finally came to a very abrupt 6-foot-fall-from-the-top-bunk kind of end.
[Just as for a little background information, which may seem completely random at the moment, but will be relevant later in the story: I got a yoga DVD for the girls a while back for a good indoor activity (especially for the winter), and one of the poses that is taught on the DVD is a headstand, which the girls will rarely attempt, and when they do, they will only do it against a wall, and with my help.]
It was around 9 pm and all of our kids were asleep (or so we thought), when we heard this big crashbang followed by a very brief moment of silence, and then lots of loud screamingcrying from one of the kids' bedrooms. Kyle and I both ran into the Minnette and Aurelle's room and found poor Minnette laying on the ground near the head of their bunk bed. When we picked her up and asked her what happened, we found out she had been practicing her yoga headstands on her bed (not even against a wall, silly Minnette, but right at the top of her bed in the open!) and she lipped right over the headboard and not only fell, but crashed into a nightstand on her way down.
She was pretty upset and kept mentioning and grabbing at her left elbow. Kyle helped check her arms and legs and bent all of her major joints to see if nay of them hurt, and even after she kept saying that she had hurt her elbow, Kyle bent it and straightened it and it didn't seem to bother her at all. We decided to wait until the morning and see if she had any problems, and if so, w could take her in then.
Within 20 minutes to an hour later(I honestly can't remember), Minnette woke up crying. When I went in to check on her, she was complaining about her left elbow again, but this time, she couldn't even move it without practically screaming from pain. She must have had a lot of adrenaline in her system when we first checked her arm that made it so that she wasn't feeling any pain, but it had definitely worn off by this point. Kyle and I decided that I would take her into the ER and get her arm checked out.
Minnette was so good. For the drive, the wait in the ER, the nurses checking her out (temperature, weight/height, blood pressure), talking to the doctor, x-rays, getting her arm splinted, you name it- unless you had to move her elbow joint to any degree, then she was absolutely miserable- it was pretty sad. After getting everything checked out the doctor told us she had a broken humerus, but that it had stayed perfectly aligned so all she needed was a splint. In and out of the ER with a broken arm in less than an hour, and... No surgery! No cast! Hallelujah!
We went in for weekly x-rays and re-splintings with the orthopedic specialists, and she was able to have her splint removed before we headed down to Phoenix for Raquel's wedding the first week of June. She only had her splint on for a total of about 3 1/2 weeks (and after the first day or two- and a few doses of Tylenol to get her through her first night- she played as if it wasn't even there), and we had to do some light physical therapy at home for about 5 minutes a day total. It was funny because we headed down to Phoenix a few days after her splint was taken off, and it was almost like it had never happened, so when I mentioned it to anyone in my family in passing, they would be super shocked and surprised that Minnette had broken her arm and no one had even known about it! I think for our first broken bone experience with one of our children, we definitely got it pretty light. And we are so grateful.
The nurses at the hospital were so sweet with Minnette and gave her coloring books, snuck her oreos and milk and gave her these stickers puppets. These were very popular at our house for the next few days.
If I had to guess, I would say that this picture was taken sometime before or after nap time the next day. That was not a very happy or comfortable time for Minnette. Her arm was still pretty sore, she was exhausted from being up past 11 pm at the ER the night before, and trying to find a comfortable way to sleep was challenging. Poor sweetheart. :(
A few days later, after she had it re-splinted at the orthopedist. Back to her usual happy, silly, active self, and feeling much better:
Luckily, she didn't have to wear the sling, and she didn't let having a broken arm get in the way of doing any of her usual activities. It's amazing to me just how resilient kids can be.
Here's to a minimum of another 4 1/2 years before our next broken bone experience! (knock on wood)
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