Natalie visits the Emergency Room

Monday evening Lexi, Natalie and I walked over to the local Thai restaurant for dinner with Auntie Michelle. On the way back, Natalie did not want to hold my hand when we crossed the street. I had a fairly good grip on her wrist when she yanked away from (I didn't let go) and I heard two pops like when someone cracks their knuckles.  We get to the other side of the street and I sense that something is wrong though it is hard to know for sure.  She was crying - but was that because she was mad that I wouldn't let her walk without holding hands or was she hurt?  Her right arm was limp when I picked up her hand and there was no resistance there.  I carried her home and when we got there, Natalie still wasn't moving her right arm at all.  I felt but didn't feel anything poking out so I assumed nothing was broken. My guess was that she had maybe dislocated her shoulder.

Natalie had mostly stopped crying but as we couldn't get her to use her arm at all, I decided we would get it checked out at the emergency room. Lexi grabbed some books while I put the leftovers in the refridgerator and then we were off to the Children's Hospital ER which is just a 5 minute drive from our house.  No one was ahead of us in line so we were checked in immediately and were seen by a nurse practioner probably within 10 minutes.  I explained why we were there (I probably explained what happened at least 6 times) and the nurse felt Natalie's arm, shoulders, etc.  Natalie still wasn't using the arm and was kind of cradling it against her body; still no major crying.  She was diagnosed as having nursemaid's elbow which is common I was told in the under 3 set.  The elbow pops out of joint and just needs to be put back in. 

So that is what the nurse did - by moving Natalie's arm down and then up.  She cried then.  We were told that usually in around 10 minutes, the child will be ready to move the arm again.  Stubborn Natalie didn't. They tried to tempt her with stickers, a frozen ice pop and hospital staff badges. They tried with a clementine orange - she grabbed it with her other hand.  They did give her some pain medicine and two others felt her arm, but thought it was back in place. They scheduled us to go get it x-rayed. Lexi had to go to the bathroom so all three of us went; Natalie did lift her arms in the bathroom slightly when I asked her if she wanted to wash her hands, but she still wasn't really moving it.  Off to the x-ray room we went where I had to hold her arm down in different positions on the table she was laying on.  When we got back to the room where Lexi was waiting, Natalie slowly started moving her arm. Soon she and Lexi were wrestling around on the floor with Natalie using her right arm unhesitently.  I was ready to go home but since we had the x-rays done, they had to be looked at. Roughly 3 hours after we arrived, we finally made it home - and all went straight to bed.

Natalie hasn't been bothered by her arm at all since then though I am a bit nervous about holding her hand. They told me it was more likely to slip out of place again now since it had already done it once.

Stephen is in New Mexico for work so he missed all of the excitement.