Ashlyn's First Trip to the ER

Thursday, November 22, 2007....As new parents Dennis and I are finding out that you can never predict where you will be spending your holidays when you have kids. On Wednesday night, the day before Thanksgiving I picked up Ashlyn from the babysitters as usual and drove home. I noticed Ashlyn was more whiny than usual but the babysitter mentioned that she did not have a good nap, so I just thought she was tired. When we got home we played, watched Elmo and had a little bite to eat before I took her a bath. My plan was to get he to bed early since we were planning on going to church in the morning with Grandma and Grandpa at St. Matthews in Corona, CA. She took her bath and everything seemed normal until I got her out and got her dressed, she whined when I tried to put her arm in her shirt, which I thought was odd. But it still didn't hit me that she had hurt her elbow. Then I went down stairs and Dennis had just got home and that's when we realized she was not using her left arm at all. We really did not know what to do, so we decided to observe it and take her into Urgent Care in the AM. We went to Urgent Care and waiting in the waiting room with a bunch of sick kids only to find out that the Dr. would refer us to the hospital for x-rays. All I could think of was the dreadful waiting time in the ER. So off we drove to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. We got admitted within 15 minutes and actually got placed in a private room where we waited for the Dr. to arrive. Once the Dr. got there he felt her arm, popped it back into place and within a couple minutes she was using her arm again. It was like magic, I was so happy and Daddy was so worried he actually had to leave the room), I think she may have even forgot she hurt it because she was so excited to use it again. On the way out, Ashlyn was so happy she gave the nurse a goodbye kiss. It was so adorable. And that was our Thanksgiving in the ER, a very scary adventure for us all. Luckily, my mom had planned to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday, so we were still able to have a very enjoyable Thanksgiving celebration with family after all and Thankfully Ashlyn was as good as new. Two Co-pays later she didn't even need an X-Ray. :)

Nursemaid's Elbow
Nursemaid's elbow is a common injury that is seen most often in children between the ages of 1-3 years . It is more common in girls than boys and more often on the left side. Child will not use the arm and holds the arm slightly flexed and pronated. Usually the child has had an incident in which the extended arm was pulled. Most commonly it occurs when a child is falling and the individual holding the hand doesn't let go. Another common mechanism is when the child is swinging while being held by the hands. Occasionally, the injury occurs after a fall and has a relatively high incidence of recurrence.

Lots to be thankful for!
Nicole