A Bit of Excitement

Remember yesterday when I said Thomas had been really fussy and I thought it was because he was overwhelmed and needed some "normal" time? Apparently, that was only part of it.

Yesterday, Thomas was really fussy pretty much all day. He would just lay on the floor crying, unless I was holding him. Even then, he'd tolerate it for a while, then start fussing again. He'd want to be put down, then he would lay down on the floor and cry again. I thought he was just being irritable until I realized that I hadn't seen him walking, or even standing, all day. That's when it hit me that there might actually be something wrong.

I decided to test him a bit. I set him down on his feet, and he would immediately start crying and either hold on to me or the couch, or plop down onto his little bottom. If I held his hand and tried to guide him to walk, he would either stand there or plop down. As I tried these, I noticed that he was favoring his left leg - he would lean heavily to the right when he stood, and he limped heavily if he did manage to take a step or two. Also, when I was holding him, he would play around with his right leg, pulling up on the foot and waving it around, but his left leg would just sit there. That's when it hit me that there might be something really wrong.

I looked carefully at both legs, but couldn't really see or feel anything out of the ordinary. If I moved his left leg just right, he would wince and fuss. I finally decided to call Jeff at work and find out what to do. He suggested taking Thomas in to the ER and having him get looked at there.

It was around 5:00 by this time. I didn't know how long it would take, so I packed a few graham crackers and headed out the door. I dropped Zaylee off at my mom's house, where I knew she would have a much better time. Then I took Thomas to the hospital.

There was a lot of waiting, a lot of nurses and doctors in and out checking things, a couple X-rays, and a lot of fussing on Thomas' part. The crackers helped, but after a couple hours he was really getting hungry! Luckily, Jeff (who works in the lab at the hospital we were at) came down to see how things were doing, and was kind enough to bring us some dinner - smoky barbecued sausage with potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, and a roll. Both Thomas and I felt much better after that!

The verdict? The doctor saw what she believed to be a buckle fracture right near his knee. She said the radiologist wasn't sure there was anything there, but since she was pretty sure she had seen it, she was going to go ahead and treat it like a fracture and put him in a splint. So we held him still and she splinted him up, from the hip to the ankle. She said he's going to get good at crawling one-legged!

Fast forward a bit to this morning - I checked the video I posted of the kids on the trampoline. If you look closely, you can see Thomas' leg buckle a bit when he gets bounced, just before he falls. I'm pretty sure that's when the fracture happened.

Okay, back to last night. By the time this was all done, it was almost time for Jeff's shift to end (8:00) so we headed down to the lab to wait for him. We met a couple of Jeff's coworkers, who all oohed and aahed over the handsome little guy and commiserated his poor, hurt little leg. While we waited, Thomas, who was simply too tired of sitting on my lap to stand it anymore, laid down on the floor and just talked to himself for a while. I finally decided to break out the camera that I happened to have in the diaper bag, and snapped several shots of him. I just kept taking picture after picture, actually, because Thomas seemed to like it and would giggle every time he saw the flash. Hey, the poor little guy had had a rough evening, and deserved all the entertainment he could enjoy! Look at how cheerful he is because I'm taking pictures!






Jeff's shift ended at 8, but he had to finish up a couple tests, and didn't get done until about 8:30. Then we were finally able to go back to Mom's house to pick up Zaylee and let everyone there ooh and aah over the handsome little guy and commiserate his poor, hurt little leg. Then we went back home and put the kids to bed. I'm actually pretty proud of both Zaylee and Thomas - Zaylee because she stayed dry the whole time she was at Grandma's house, and because she voluntarily pooped in the potty just before we left for the hospital; Thomas because he held still for the X-rays, didn't cry the entire time we were in the ER, and slept almost through the night, only waking up once.

Now that all the excitement over this is over, I can think through it a bit. Is there anything I could have done differently - not really, but I'll be more careful about allowing him on the trampoline with other kids. Is this in any way my fault - obviously not, but as a mom, I almost feel obligated to feel like it might be until I can think through it completely and decide that it really isn't. You know, guilty until proven innocent! It was just an accident that happened during a bit of harmless fun and play. Thomas is going to be just fine - in fact, this morning he's as chipper as a bird, and smiling a lot. He does have the distinction of being the first of our children to suffer a fracture, but I'm sure he won't be the last. Kids will be kids! :-)