we had our fist ER visit over the weekend. luckily, it wasn't something that was critical, causing us to rush around and get stressed out about. on friday evening, h was being swung by her arms in total fun, but it didn't end up being completely all fun and games. she started to cry, saying her arm hurt. h wasn't moving it at all. now, this has happened before where she says her arm hurts, but it was usually better the next day. this time it was different. she wouldn't even walk and was scared to move it. she went to bed that night in tears and passed out pretty quickly. we gave her tylenol for the pain and 99 fever. it was an all around long day for her. her daddy hung out with her earlier that day, took her to the zoo and had lots of fun. unfortunately, she got a little sick at one point and threw up in the car. we think it was a combination of her not having much in her stomach, hot outside and a windy road. she was ok after her nap and 1 and 1/2 sunbutter and jelly sandwich. at dinner, she was acting a little fussy and even turned down pizza! right after dinner, she hurt her arm.
the next morning, she woke up to say her arm hurt and she wanted to go to the doctor. amy and i really didn't know what to do. she definitely wasn't using it, but would it get better in a day like before? what if it was a hairline fracture? i took an old sling that i had and let her wear it. it made it feel better to be able to isolate it close to her body. but when we moved it, it was painful. she was happy otherwise, watching curious george on the tv, sitting on the couch. jean and kris came over and noticed that there was something not right, especially since h was flinching when they looked at it. so we called our friend kate, who is a pediatrician. she was out of town but said that we needed to take her in to get it looked at. she thought it was something called nursemaids arm, which is fixed by manipulation of the arm. told us that she would have been right over to help out if she could. amy looked it up on the google box and pretty much diagnosed it before the call. it was very nice of her to give us advice. around 11:30 am we headed over to Dell's children hospital. kate also works in the ER there and highly recommended it if H ever needed care. they knew how to handle kids, especially those in pain. it was a good dry run for us to see where the hospital was located, how to check in, etc. everyone was calm and it wasn't a true emergency. the staff were friendly and super helpful. we waited in the waiting room for about 5 mins tops. they took us back and everyone seemed to agree it was nursemaids arm from what we were describing and how H was acting. the doctor looked at us and said that she wasn't going to like what she was about to do, but if it works, it will be instant relief. they asked one of us to have her in our lap. i, the wimpy one commented that i gave birth and my job is done. amy is usually the stronger one when it comes to h getting shots, giving blood or in this case, having to twist her arm. the doctor pulled and twisted her arm and immediately felt the pop. harper cried for maybe 10 seconds and then was ok. if she wasn't better within mins, we would have to do xrays and more work up on what was going on. the doctor then said that we needed to trick her into moving her arm just to make sure. she asked if harper would give her mommy a high five. sure enough, she lifted her arm and did it. it was a miracle! it was nursemaids arm for sure. she was quite happy. it could have been because the pain was gone...or maybe it was the rainbow popsicle they gave her afterwards.
we went home and she took a nice long nap. no problems with her arm at all. it was a good learning experience for us. not only will we or anyone else swing her by her arms, but now we are familiar with the Dell children's hospital.
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