Nursemaid's Elbow

I'm a reader by nature. If I'm going to do anything, I'm going to read about it first. When I was visiting my sister after she had my neice, I thought, "Oh how cute, maybe someday I'll have a baby too." So I brought home with me her copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting. You know, just in case. Well, just in case, or not, I wanted to really know what to expect, before I got myself into that situation.

The thought of being pregnant had always given me the creeps. Maybe it's because I was the youngest child, and no one close to us had been pregnant. Who knows. Anyway, I read it. I can't imagine how anyone can get through being pregnant and having kids without reading at least one book. Oh wait, let me um, rephrase. I'm a control freak. So I can't imagine going through pregnancy and childbirth without reading everything there is out there about what could possibly happen, so I know what the "range" of normal is. That being said, I'm also a closet hypochondriac. You know, the "get a headache and it's got to be a brain tumor", kind of hypochondriac, not the "go to the dr. every week with a new symptom" kind.

Anyway, I'm tired so I'm rambling a little bit. I'm a reader, it's what I do. Of course I had read the book What to Expect the First Year, and yes, the Toddler Years too, all before I had Hunter. (Now, I'm not that crazy, I read them while I was pregnant). I've still got them and I will refer to them on occasion when a situation comes up and I really don't know what to do. If I still don't know what to do after I consult the book, I call my sister.

Yeah, it may sound weird, I call my sister before I call my mom. Two reasons-

1) My sister has a 7 year old, and a 2 1/2 year old, she's fresh. My mom on the other hand has a 33, 31, and 29 year old, so it's been a while (not that she doesn't remember, but things change), plus half the time she tells me to call Erin anyway.

2) My sister works in a pediatrics office with about 10 pediatricians, plus nurse practitioners, and assistants, so if she doesn't know the answer, I bet she knows someone who does.

I read all about nursemaid's elbow. It was in at least 2 of the books I've read.

We were on vacation. I didn't have my books handy.

I was giving the kids a bath one night, I got Rylie out, wrapped her in a towel, and set her down on the rug so I could get Hunter out. She leaned forward a little and fell over, I assumed because she was wrapped in the towel. I thought she bumped her head on the floor, she was crying, but not more than usual. I went to put her pajamas on and she was really fussing when I went to put her shirt on. Like all out pain crying. The only thing I could think of was that she had fallen when she got out of the tub, and maybe she had hit her shoulder and dislocated it. I didn't think she hit it that hard, but you never know. Since I was at my parent's house I took her to my mom. Neither of us could tell anything, except she only seemed bothered when she had to move her left arm. She wouldn't even bend her arm to hold her cup. Maybe that should have told me something. We called Dr. Erin (yeah, my mom even said it that way).

She said we should watch her, and since it wasn't like unbearable pain, let her sleep and see how she acts in the morning. She slept good. In the morning it was the same thing, fine except holding her cup. So I made a few phone calls, there was an appt. available at the dr's office. My insurance would cover it even. So we took her in. We got there and went in to Erin's "office" (more like closet) and waited. I'll have to admit, closet or no, I felt important. I didn't even have to wait in the waiting room like the commoners. "Dr" Erin said she was diagnosing her as having nursemaid's elbow. I knew I'd heard of that before. Then we got to the exam room, and the dr came in. He asked a couple of questions, looked at Rylie, turned her hand palm up, put his thumb and finger around her elbow, and bent her arm (like he was trying to make her touch her shoulder). She cried so hard. Poor girl, I felt really bad for her, but he said he heard it pop back in when he bent it, and lo and behold, two minutes later she was just fine, grabbing her cup, and everything. Then he told me how to pop it back in, just in case. I hope I never have to do it, I get the creeps just thinking about it.

She either hurt her elbow when she fell after the bath, before that, when Seth picked her up wrong, or even before that when she took a tumble down 2 steps. We don't really know, but the most common way it happens is if you pick them up by their arms.