whatta week

Let's just say that I am glad this week is finally over. I should have guessed it after our ordeal on Tuesday. It was picture day for Samuel. There is a reason why we have not had his picture taken since 13 months... He HATES it, he usually cries, screams and clings on to me so our pictures never have a good smile, he is usually blotchy and off center. It is pretty stressful for both of us. I bring in reinforcements (his Ma) hoping that this would help to see a friendly face next to the photographer (it doesn't by the way) I bring in my props and away we go. The photographer takes some pictures, but Sam has decided he needs to explore the place. He doesn't scream and cry, but he let us all know when he was done. We leave and wait for the proofs to be developed. When I arrive back the photographer shares the bad news, he did not have something plugged into the camera therefore, no pictures were actually taken. UGH! he wants to repeat the poses (like Samuel wants to stand or sit on the red dot again!) we try, but it was a quick session. There were a couple of ok pictures, but none were that great, and no smiles. Oh well.

WED:

My mom and I went to get our nails done to celebrate... My birthday and the fact that she has not bitten a nail in over 2 months!! woohoo! this is a HUGE accomplishment. she has been a nail biter all of her life. We arrive for our 1 pm appointment, Samuel was down for a nap and pa was watching him. We are on a time limit as Sam will wake up in about 1 1/2 hours. Apparently the other nail people went out, the one left did not know when they would be back and she was busy with another person. We waited 40 minutes for the crew to come back! How frustrating. Isn't that why you make an appointment?

Thurs.

Kirk and I have a "date" for dinner to celebrate my birthday. I am looking forward to it, so as I am getting ready and curling my hair the blond tornado goes into my closet and is unusually quiet. I look and see him in my jewelry box, he sees me knows he is in trouble and starts to take off. I grab what I can (which happens to be his arm.) He runs, jerks and rolls away (what we call his "gator roll")and starts to cry. (not unusual for him since he cries when he knows he is in trouble) only he doesn't stop and he is holding his right arm with his left. I pick him up, he holds on to me tightly and won't let me go. He is crying, I touch his arm and he goes into a hard, strong cry. Nothing is swollen or bruised. I try to get his mind off of it, but can't. I even try a popsicle which doesn't go over that well and he continues to cry. This is how I know that he really is hurt. This goes on for about 45 mins, Kirk is now home and since Sam is not using his arm and still crying off and on we decide to go to the childrens urgent care. I tell the story to several people and worry that they are looking at me like I'm a child abuser (did I mention that earlier in the day he tripped and fell on his lego and bruised his eye lid?) The doctor diagnosis is "nursemaid's elbow" and tried to pop it back into place. (OUCH!!!!) She wasn't sure if she felt the pop or not so she said that if he wasn't better in the morning I should contact his pedi. Samuel seemed ok, not as sensitive, but was still favoring the arm. He kept it down to his side like a broken wing on a duckling. (he is such a tough little man) he got his ibuprofen and off to beddy bye.

FRIDAY

Sam woke up pretty early SCREAMING. I ran upstairs and got him. He would not move his arm at all, it just hung to his side. How horrible for him, it is breaking my heart. After a nice dose of ibuprofen and a bottle I call his Pedi office. We get an appointment and off we go. I explain the whole ordeal again, she tries to get him to grab things with his right arm, but he out smarts her and does everything he can to get it (only using his left arm) She is concerned that it could be broken (great, just what I want to hear... I broke my child's arm) so over to radiology we go. (and wait and wait and wait.) finally we go in for the xrays. Samuel did NOT handle this well AT ALL! He is not a fan of laying down, let alone being held down and having someone grab his sore arm. It takes 3 of us to hold him down and even that was a challenge. Everyone was surprised at how strong (and loud) he was. Then finally we got the 6 pictures taken. When it was all over, my poor baby held on to me so tightly and whimpered all the way back to the parking garage. I just felt awful. Poor Samuel. He was so glad to be in his car seat! Since it was now lunch time, Kirk meets me down the street for lunch. Samuel lifted his arm a couple of times, but still wouldn't "use" it. He was exhausted so I took him home for a nap. Several hours passed and I decide to call the Pedi to find out if they have the results of the xrays yet. No, they don't. Then ,I got a call from the radiology department. Guess what... they need another film. You have got to be kidding me! I can't put that little boy thru that again! Apparently the radiologist was having a hard time reading one of the films and wanted to see another before he actually diagnosed it. I told the guy on the phone how traumatic it was for Sam and he said he knew, when I asked if he was the guy that was in there to help hold him down he said "no, I was down the hall at the desk and heard him screaming." What else can I do? We need to know what is wrong in order to treat Samuel so I told him that we would be there once Sam woke up. Kirk came home, Samuel woke up from his nap and we were preparing to leave again. Sam started to move his arm a little bit so we try to get him to use it by playing ball, but he kept it to his side. Sam started using his arm a little on the trip back to the hospital. Thankfully they were ready for us when we got ther. They took several xrays and the radiologist was right there to read them. Sure enough, his arm was not broken, it truly was out of alignment, so off to the ER we go. We are there for what seemed like forever before a PA came to see us. By this time Sam was using his arm regularly and not whining. He was just upset because we won't let him down to run around. The PA looked at it and decidesdthat it was obviously back in place now since Sam faught him with it and used it so well. He said he would be right back and was gone for another hour. We were there for 3 hours, diagnosis: fixed maidservants elbow. UGH!!! How frustrating and trying. I am just glad that my little man is feeling better and not hurting any longer. I just wish it could have been fixed on Thurs night instead of Fri night.