Trip to ER

Late Saturday afternoon, Emma and I were home doing some potty training exercises while Andrew was at the FD. We were practicing walking back and forth to the potty from the family room. Emma wasn't exactly a willing participant so I was leading her by the hand. She did the "my legs won't work anymore" thing and collapsed to the ground, and I pulled her up by the hand to get her to stand up again. We then went to the potty and to get her off I pulled her by the arm again. Nothing aggressive, just the way I normally pull her off the potty with only one hand. There was a lot of crying going on but I didn't think it was because she was hurt, until I realized she wasn't moving her left arm. I tried to get her to hold my hand but she couldn't. I asked her to reach for something and her arm wouldn't budge. Then I started to get worried. What did I do to her? Did I dislocate her arm? break her arm? I felt around her arm to see if it felt like anything was out of place, everything was ok there. Her arm didn't look disfigured or anything, but she still wouldn't move it.

By this time she was calm again (as long as the arm didn't move) and was requesting to watch Barney. We took a couch break and a "what the heck am I going to do" break and then I decided to call Andrew. How do you tell your husband you just hurt our child? So I called him and said "I hurt Emma". Of course probably not the best thing to say, and then I started balling (not the best thing either). I didn't want him to think that I killed her or anything and I wanted him to know it wasn't intentional either. He was so supportive and just listened to me, which is what I really needed. Then he told me to pull it together, since I was scaring Emma, which I really needed too. But I felt like I couldn't cry until I talked to him. Crying to just Emma would have meant that I wasn't being the parent that she needed me to be. I think that goes back to the whole working in an emergency job, but anyway. We decided to head up to the FD to have him look at the arm.

We got there and the arm was the same. Still couldn't move it but everything else looked fine. Andrew suggested that instead of going to the ER we go to urgent care. Great idea! Except we got there 15 minutes too late and they were already closed! Grrr! So then we had no choice but to go to the ER. We waited about 30 minutes and were called back. The nurse asked what happened, and I started to explain the whole situation. The minute I told her that Emma collapsed to the ground while I was holding her hand the nurse said "oh, she's got nursemaid elbow". I later came to find out that nursemaid elbow is a nice term for dislocation. So, I dislocated her elbow! Great! I guess that puts me out of the running for the mother of the year award!

The doctor came in right away and said that it wasn't any big deal and that she is fine. I'm like this is great but she still can't move her arm. So the doctor took Emma's elbow in one hand and her hand in the other and said she would cry and then moved her hand back and forth. Immediately after she was done Emma moved her arm around like nothing ever happened and stopped crying. It was AMAZING! We then got a popsicle and some motrin and were on our merry way. So far DCFS hasn't called (phew) and Emma doesn't appear to be traumatized by the whole situation.

Mother's Day....a little late

Andrew and Emma planned a very nice surprise Mother's Day for me. They let me sleep in (my favorite thing to do), then we went and looked at some bedroom furniture. We LOVE it but it's out of our price range so we're back to the drawing board. Then we headed down to the Brookfield Zoo. Once we got there (it was PACKED) we had a nice picnic lunch outside of the zoo. We weren't sure if you're allowed to bring in food so we just ate outside. On a side note, Emma had to go potty while we were eating lunch so I had her squat in the grass and go. I was so proud of her for going somewhere that wasn't a potty, since there's not always a potty with in running distance. We walked around the zoo for about 4 hours. I think Emma liked seeing all the animals, and I liked it too. Then we went to Red Robin for dinner, one of my favorite easy restaurants and finally ended up back at home just in time for bedtime for all three of us!

Thunderstorms

When I was little my mom used to take me and my brother out onto our front porch to watch thunderstorms roll in. I remember being huddled in the corner of the porch, all 3 of us, with this pink outside blanket we used to have. So, I love thunderstorms and I want Emma to be as excited, and not scared of them, as I am (unless I'm working). A few weeks ago we had our first thunderstorm of the season roll in and unfortunately it came in more from the north so we had to sit at the back of the house to watch it, but it was still the same. I think Emma really liked watching the storm and I know Andrew and I did too.

Happy Birthday (a month later)

Andrew's 29th birthday was April 20th. It was an ok day weather wise. It wasn't like last year when it was 70 and beautiful, but Andrew still wanted to take the boat out. The river was pretty high and there weren't a lot of people down there so that was nice. We started the morning off with opening presents. Andrew got new duty boots (his old ones were wayyyyyyy over the hill) and a Cubs shirt from Emma. The day was pretty laid back and chill. Oh Emma and I also met Andrew for lunch on the Friday before his birthday. He had a lot of fun showing her off around the office and she had tons of fun running around being silly. We even got to eat lunch outside at Portillo's...yummy!

The handmade birthday card

The Birthday-Boy and Emma

Family birthday shot

Opening presents (I love Emma's face)

The new boots!

Strangers

Several months ago I stumbled upon this blog for a little girl who was born 3 months early and weighed in at 1lb 1oz. There's not really much I can say about her that would do her justice. Her parents tell the story much better than I ever could.

I know I don't know these people and I never will, but I can send positive energy their way because I do know that no parent or child should ever have to go through this. If you're interested in reading their story and keeping them in your thoughts I encourage you to visit their blog at http://kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/