Broken baby

I made it almost 5 years as a mommy with no major injuries to any of my kiddos ... until last week.  We learned a hard lesson about little monkeys jumping on the bed, or in this case jumping off the ottoman, when the 22 month old monkey fell off (or perhaps was pushed by brother monkey) and broke his leg.  His femur. I was on my way back into town when it happened, and when I walked in the door and saw his face and heard him crying in agony, I knew it was bad.  I scooped him up and held him as we rushed to a local clinic for xrays.

And I quickly learned a femur injury is kind of a big deal for a kiddo that young.  It means being rushed straight to Le Bonheur, hearing a doc mention risk of "bleeding out" from broken femur such as that, and ultimately a couple of nights at the hospital and a body cast for many weeks.

It was without a doubt THE most heartbreaking thing I've been through as a mom.  And I fully realize how lucky we are in comparison with what so many others go through.  But watching those xray techs try to pull his leg out straight for an xray and him screaming bloody murder while reaching for my hands and crying "no, mommy, no" so I would not let them hurt him just about made me lose it.  He is a tough kid and not one who cries from being hurt.  I've never seen a kid in pain like that though ... and hope I never do again.

Waiting for a room and calling his peeps between crying spells.

After a late night waiting for more xrays and a room at the hospital and getting his leg in traction, we finally got about 2 hours of sleep before it was time to get him ready for the operating room.  No surgery was needed, but this massive cast requires a lot of manhandling according to the ortho, so they have to put them under general anesthesia. The hour and twenty minutes while he was back there getting his cast on was not fun.  But then I got my baby back ... my very unhappy confused baby.  Poor thing!

Needless to say, Elliot got everything he wanted while there.  You want to play nonstop with mommy and daddy's phones?  Sure.  You want mommy to stand up for hours at a time to lean over your bed to hold your hand while you sleep?  No problem.  I could barely stand to walk away long enough to eat a bite because he cried "mommy, hand!" every time.  He just wanted to hold our hands and know we were right there.  And it seemed the only place he would relax was in our laps.  Fine with me.

We spent another night in the hospital after that learning how to manage his pain and how to care for a child in a "spica cast."  Then we finally got the approval to use one of our carseats and the ok to take him home.

Now we are adjusting to life with this big blue cast at home.  Elliot is hanging in there but is pretty miserable. Sleeping is hard and very uncomfortable, I'm sure.  I am supposed to be changing his position every 1-2 hours during the day and 2-4 hours at night.  Changing his position to what??  I haven't yet figured out what other sleeping positions are even possible.  So I sit with him sideways on my lap in the chair for an hour at different times during the night to at least get him off his poor little back.  He says "hurts" and "I hurting" in this pitiful little voice.  So we try to keep him busy and distracted as much as possible, and we are learning ways to prop him up or hold him to give him some relief.  And diaper changing (a small one tucked inside the cast and a big one over the outside of it ... without getting anything wet or dirty) is getting easier.  We have pillows all over our house to use for propping and have borrowed a giant beanbag for downstairs and a bean bag chair for the playroom.  Have even managed to get him outside on a couple of cool mornings.      

He can still play ball!

Always a "cool dude."

James was so excited to pull him around.

How we spend much of our time ... watching tv with his paci and puppies.

Finding ways to keep his hands and mind busy.

Trying to sit on the couch. Floppy dog makes a good leg prop.  

Propped up for candyland with brother.

And just today, I managed to carry him up the stairs for the first time by myself.  Quite a workout.  So now we are 8 days down, ?? days to go.  Fingers crossed that he heals quickly!  Until then, we will keep up the sponge baths, cooling him off with the hair dryer, and entertaining him every way we can think of.  They say kids usually don't walk for 2-3 weeks after the cast comes off and then are very cautious.  As determined and stubborn as Elliot is, we'll see about that.  I'm just looking forward to getting this kid in the pool (and bathtub) again and then going to the beach in a couple of months!