Hi everyone! So, I wanted to tell you about what happened to Olivia in gymnastics today. It’s kind of hard to explain, but basically she was holding on to my hands and I lifted her up to move her out of the way from another child and then I felt a pop. She was clearly in pain and I thought maybe it was her wrist. It looked swollen and different than her other wrist but it was hard to tell. So, long story short – they called 911 to get an ambulance over to us. The Paramedics came and said that she looked like she had a compound fracture in her wrist and that they would have to put her arm in a sling and she would have to get X-Rays when we got to the hospital. Not what I wanted to hear of course. The owner of the gymnastics place (JumpStart Gymnasium), Courtney, was AMAZING and helped me so much. She went and got Olivia’s car seat out of my car for me because they had to transport her in it….which was a sight to see! Courtney also drove my car to the hospital and stayed with me until we were all done. I mean…. what? I love this woman.
The ride to the hospital was fine, Olivia watched Elmo on an iPad and was calm the entire way. She was fine as long as you didn’t touch her arm. She kept it by her side and didn’t move it at all.
When we got to the ER (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta), we were put into a room and seen right away by a doctor. He took one look at Olivia’s arm and said her elbow was out of the socket, and basically just popped it back in. He said to give her 30 minutes and if she was still in pain, then he would check something else. Literally, within 3 minutes she was grabbing the iPad and drinking her tea (Iced Unsweet Passion Tea from Starbucks, TYSM) like it was no big deal. What?!? They gave her Motrin just in case she needed it and said to give it to her every 6 hours if I felt it was necessary.
What a relief that it was such a quick fix and that my baby felt better so fast!! The doc told us that now that it’s happened once, it’s more likely to happen again so we have to be extra careful.
So this is why I’m writing a blog about this. I might be late to the game with this, but I had to idea this even had a name and I’m sure some new mommies out there don’t know either. What she had was called a Nursemaid’s Elbow, which is apparently common in children under the age of 5 because their bones and ligaments are still growing strong and tight! Oh, and PS…. apparently girls are more likely to have it than boys. Really?
Nursemaid’s Elbow may happen if you :
- Swing your child by their hands or arms
- Pull your child’s hands through a jacket sleeve too hard
- Lift your child up by their hands or wrists
And any other movement that would involve pulling your child by the arm or hands…. Sounds like common sense right? Well it happened to Olivia today and it was from something small and seemingly insignificant. I wanted to share it with my momma friends out there!
Today I learned how much more I love my daughter today than I did yesterday, how lucky we are to have health in our lives and how honored I am to be a mother.
Thanks for stopping by!
