This has not been the best week. I’m starting to think that, as a mother, I’m accident prone. Maybe I should invest in a rubber apartment.
On Tuesday, I dropped my husband off at the airport for his 8-day trip to Europe for work at 7:30 AM. He was on his way to Atlanta for a several-hour layover. The morning was going really well. I stopped and bought breakfast for myself, Fynn went down for a nap really easily, but I cancelled plans to go out to Oconomowoc because Fynn’s nap schedule was pretty messed up. At about 10 AM, I decided it would be fun to go to the Zoo. My parents were (are) in town and I could do a lunch-time zoo run and still get Fynn down for an early afternoon nap.
I left at 10:40 to pick up my parents, and I got to Wisconsin Avenue when I realized I left my cell phone in my apartment. I thought about just going down to the marina (they stay in McKinley Marina on their boat when they’re in town), but then realized that if I couldn’t call them, I’d have to walk down to get them. So I decided I was 5 minutes away from my apartment and I might as well just go back up to the apartment and get it. I grabbed Fynn out of the car because we live 6 stories up and can’t just leave him in the car and run in. I got up to the apartment and for a split second I remembered that I hadn’t taken the baby gates down when I left. Then I spotted my phone on the desk and stepped over the gate holding Fynn with both arms in front. I was wearing tennis shoes and my toe of my shoe caught on the gate and I fell forward. Because of the way I was holding Fynn, I couldn’t grab the door frame When I realized we were going down I used my left arm to cushion Fynn’s head. His head hit the floor and I quickly assessed him and saw that he bit his tongue, but his head wasn’t bleeding and he didn’t lose consciousness. I called my pediatrician and they said that as long as he stops crying and his pupils aren’t dialated he’d probably be fine. He was still crying intermitently but he was quieting down, and I figured he’d stop once we were on the road and he’d be okay.
I didn’t see anything wrong with his leg. It takes about 5-8 minutes to get down to the marina. Fynn had stopped crying by the time I’d pulled out of the driveway and I figured we were in the clear. As I pulled on to Lagoon Drive, Fynn had started whimpering in the backseat. I knew something was wrong. When I parked in the marina lot, I turned around and he was white as a sheet. Even his lips were white. Now that I look back, I think he was probably going into shock. I jumped out of the car and went to grab him out of the carseat when I saw his leg. There was a baseball-sized black and blue lump growing out of the side of his left shin. I knew it was broken, but I was hoping it wasn’t. I called my pediatrician and said we’d be there right away. My parents got in the car and we headed out. My dad was icing Fynn’s leg and comforting him in the backseat and he was just sobbing and sobbing. It was the worst sound I had ever heard.
I drove out to Tosa and we saw the doctor. He thought it might just be a terrible bruise, but also a hairline fracture was a possibility, so he sent me to get X-rays. Poor Fynn was sobbing and clutching me and my dad the entire time. It was terrible. One funny moment at the doctor’s office was when the doctor asked if I was hurt. It hadn’t even occured to me to think about it. But I realized my right arm had started to hurt pretty badly and I was quickly losing mobility.
After we got the X-rays (which were really fun because they had to put sand bags on his arms to hold him down…he loved that…), we found out that Fynn’s leg was not only broken, but he had broken both bones. The doctor sent us to Childrens’ Hospital with the films. By this point, Fynn had stopped crying and he just looked uncomfortable. We got right in at Children’s and they said that because the initial diagnosis was already done and that we already had the films that they would just have to determine if they would have to sedate and set the leg or maybe have surgery if there was any additional damage to the surrounding joints.
By this point I had called Nate who was in Atlanta still waiting for his flight to Germany. We decided (with his boss’s help) that he was going to try to catch a flight back to Milwaukee. I also could barely move my right arm at this point in the day. I thought it was either really badly sprained or there was a broken bone in there, too. Nate was able to get on a flight that got back to MKE at 6 PM that night.
We found out that Fynn’s bones were not out of alignment and that there was no additional damage to the rest of the leg, so the orthopedic surgeon said that the doctor could just put Fynn’s leg in a splint. I was so relieved. Unfortunately, we found out that Fynn could not put ANY weight on the leg at all for the next 4-5 weeks. Oh, man… They put the splint on (but they had to do it a second time because they didn’t give it enough bend), and we were out the door. Fynn didn’t even cry when they put the splint on for the second time (although he was pretty high on the pain medication they had sprayed up his nose).
We go to the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday the 27th to get more X-rays and get Fynn’s cast.
Fynn has been doing as well as can be expected. He’s hurting, but he seems to be getting back to his regular happy self. He’s just pretty frustrated that he can’t run around the house. Nate and I have been taking turns (with my parents’ help) sitting next to him on the floor and playing with him. We don’t normally let Fynn watch a lot of television, which has come in handy in the last couple days because there are SO many kids movies the kid has not seen. When he starts getting super frustrated we’ve been popping in a movie for him and he cuddle him until he calms down. They also sent us home with some pretty strong pain medicine for him. The good news there is that he only uses it at night now and he gets Tylenol throughout the day.
We haven’t gotten a lot of sleep in the past few days, and I’ve been pretty emotional about the entire thing. I’m happy Nate and my parents are here. They have been awesome. I haven’t been to the doctor about my arm. I can’t bring myself to leave the little guy to go. As you can see I can type. I’m slowly getting mobility back, so I think it’s just a terrible bruise. I know it is for sure bruised because there is a black and blue ring around my elbow that runs down the underside of my arm. Ouch…
Well, say a little prayer for us for the next couple weeks. We both will feel a lot better once his cast is on. Then it’s a waiting game until it comes off. We got him out of the house today to go to Target. He seemed to like getting out and about, so we’re making plans for the weekend.
That’s all for now. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
Oh, Erin! *big big hug*