Life was moving along...not much sleep, as expected...baby blues and a touch of post-partum, same as with my first...ok. Then disaster struck.
We were all coming home from Ethan's 2 year well baby visit. All was fine, and now his shots were all up to date. We got home past bed time, so he was cranky and he hates the doctor and had a shot...so I anticipated a difficult night. He ran into the playroom and proceeded to trip over Lily's playmat. Usually I put the thing away so his dirty little sneakers can't get it all mucked up, but today I forgot. My back was to him as I was putting Lily out of the playroom where he can't reach her.
I heard him fall and turned as he started crying....I thought the amount of crying was odd, but he was so cranky already that I figured it was time for immediate removal to bed. I did my usual injury check, squeezing various parts of him to see if he cried out...no particular response and I assumed he was fine. I had Mr. LIH watch after Lily while I got my son to bed.
He was acting strange...crying out seemingly (at first) randomly, and refusing to be put down. I got him settled to bed but he was still acting weird and was sweating a lot and crying when we moved him. My next thought was, he had a fever and was having pain when we touched him. In went some ibuprofen and we brought him to our bed.
It was now fairly late and he was still upset and not sleeping, so I called the doctor and spoke with a nurse. She assured me that the shot and his teething were the culprits and wanted me to keep an eye on the fever. Now, I'm thinking I'm a crazy, paranoid mom and tried to just comfort him through the night.
The next morning, he didn't seem better and now it was clear that he was screaming out in pain when we moved him and now he was shaking when he cried...then I noticed the swelling on his thigh and knee....
Ok, I'm thinking maybe he tore something or twisted something and I called the doc to make an appointment. I also thought he still had a fever from the shot, so the doc wanted me to come in right away.
In the office, she checked him over and sent me directly for X-rays. Until that moment I still felt like he wasn't injured too badly. Then the X-Ray tech took the first picture and when she looked at me, I knew it was bad. I went to move him for the second picture and she stopped me, saying that we needed to be very careful of his leg.
The doc got the "wet read" and called me immediately....his femur was fractured. I was stunned...how could my healthy toddler, who fell all the time, in all kinds of crazy ways fracture the biggest and strongest bone in his tiny baby body? She sent me to the ER and off I went. I made it to the car before I started crying.
We got to the hospital and the doc met us and looked over the X-rays. It was a total break and a spiral fracture, my son would require a spica cast....just to add more...the doc was required to contact Child Protective Services. She also dropped the little bomb that my son was in excruciating pain....they gave my little man, morphine for the pain. I had been so stupid...my poor child had been suffering like that for so long and I thought it was nothing....
Don't let anyone EVER convince you that you're wrong about what might be going on with your child. We were ready to go to the ER that night, but the on call nurse assured me it was the vaccine and teething...I should have been smarter about his behavior....instead he was left in pain by a mother who obviously sucks at her job.
So....to wrap it up...we were both interviewed by 6 people at 3am, they went to my house directly after that to take pictures and see my daughter, we are still being "investigated", my son is in a cast from his chest to ankle and down the other leg to his knee, and my daughter is 5 weeks old. I go back to work in 4 weeks. The doc feels bad for me because Lily is a rather difficult baby and doesn't really enjoy sleeping...ever.
Everything is so crazed that I don't even know what day of the week it is half the time. Sorry for the long, picture-less post, but I wanted to offer an explanation for the blog silence. I anticipate that it will continue as I struggle to find time to shower and eat, never mind posting. Also crying...there is a plethora of crying....my son, my daughter, and me.
One last thing...to anyone who reads this that has been helping and/or offering to help me...THANK YOU....without my family I would be lost.
