this is going to be a very, VERY long post with more words than pictures (your favorite, dave, haha), but i can't help it. i want to record everything before i forget. because i will forget.
sunday evening, at great-grandma lucille's house, hallie fell off a barstool while eating pancakes and broke her arm.
i don't even know how it happened. i think she was trying to hurry and get out of her chair to hide from me. i had been getting after her about eating her pancakes and she was being silly. i think she leapt out of her chair, got her feet tangled and just hit the ground. i could immediately see that something was wrong - i thought her elbow had dislocated. it was so gross. i remember telling lucille - we have to go to the hospital. and lucille was smiling at me because she thought i was teasing hallie. hallie was screaming and screaming and holding her arm.
i finally said - you have to stop screaming! and she stopped. and just whimpered. i scooped her up and ran her out to the car while yelling at lucille - i will call barb, just stay here with henry!
i drove as fast as i could to the hospital, while hallie told me to go faster mommy, faster, please. go as fast as we do on the four-wheeler. it just broke my heart beause you could just tell how much pain she was in. we said a prayer and every once in a while she would cry out about how badly it hurt her. i kept saying - they will pop it back in and it will feel better right away. HA. HA. HA.
we arrived at the hospital and she panicked at the thought of having to get herself out of the car. she kept saying - they will have to come out here and get me, i can't get out, i can't get out. poor thing - i scooped her up and carried her in. i'm sure it was sooooo painful. she said - run, mommy, please run.
they took us straight back and immediately called for morphine and an x-ray. things were a little crazy for a bit, but once they left us alone we could take a deep breath...and then CRY. oh man, that's when i cried. i let myself sob for a few minute while my drugged up little girl leaned against me, sound asleep. it was awful. i was so worried that i had given them the wrong weight for the dose. i wasn't sure - 38 pounds?! i think?! they reassured me that there was a "range," but still. freaked. me. out.
lucille brought me my pump and sat for awhile. and then melissa came too. it was so nice to have company, not to have to go through it alone. i missed dave something terrible at that point.
they ended up transferring us to st. johns in springfield to see a pediatric surgeon.melissa drove with me and kept me occupied while hallie watched a video on her phone and then passed out again. we checked into the er there and they did another xray and took forever to give her more pain medication. my darling daughter was a total trooper through the whole thing, only whimpering and crying out if they had to move it. which they had to do. a lot.
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| on the way to st. johns, springfield. |
melissa left, my dad showed up and after a few hours in the er they took us up to pediatrics. it took us forever to get all settled in. they had to do blood work, vitals, this, that, more, more, JUST LET HER REST. LEAVE HER ALONE. SHE IS IN PAIN, GIVE HER SOMETHING NOW. mama bear was struggling a little bit at this point.
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| rewrapping it in the e.r. at st. johns. not fun. |
and i needed to pump sooooo bad.
they got us settled by 12:30am. my dad (who had already been in town for the weekend - drove home to missouri - found out about hallie and drove straight back) slept in a chair in the family lounge. i made up the "bed" for dave, who would be arriving at some point from tennessee after driving through the night. praise the lord that he was on his way home from all of his trips. i pumped and then slept in the recliner next to hallie. who wanted me to hold her hand. all night. so i did.
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| she slept in the hospital bed the same as if she was at home. |
dave arrived at 1:30am and i have never been so glad to see him in my whole life. i mean, melissa was with me and drove with me to springfield. lucille came to the hospital and brought me my pump, my dad came once we were in springfield, but still. DAVE. yes.
they came in every two hours. they checked her at 2:00am, vitals and such. she stirred, but didn't wake up. but after that she started moaning in her sleep and seemed very restless. so at 2:30am, i asked them to give her more morphine and they did. she slept through the 4:00am vitals check, just waking up to ask if daddy had gotten there. and she was soooo happy that he was. it was so cute and it makes me want to cry to remember that moment. precious.
the er doctor came in at 6am to check in with us and check her fingers. she slept through most of that. we let her sleep until she woke up around 7-ish. i'm so grateful that she slept and seemed in good spirits.
they came in to get her for pre-op stuff around 8:00am and i started getting nervous. they moved her surgery up to 8:30am. we got down there and they gave her some iv fluids and then gave her some medicine that made her veeeeeeery loopy. and sleepy. the poor girl was always so sleepy.
on the way down the hall to the operating room, she kept trying to lift her head. it must have felt funny or something. and then she sort of poked her leg with her finger a few times. it would have been funny if it wasn't MY CHILD ON DRUGS. NOT FUNNY. oh, i hated that so much.
barb showed up and we all waited. it took approximately a million years for the surgery to end and for dave and i to finally see her in recovery. she looked confused for awhile and then passed out, sound asleep.
we were transported back to peds and were told we could go home once she was fully recovered and could eat and drink. it took her awhile, but she finally "woke" up and was in pretty good spirits. i want to remember how when we got her back in bed, i turned on the tv to find some cartoons for her to veg out to. i found sponge bob (dave hates for her to watch this) and it was so funny. she got dave's attention and just pointed at it, like - ha. boo-ya. pretty cute.
she ate and drank, had a popsicle and perked up. time to go home.
note: if you ever break a bone, make sure to do it on halloween. they go ALL OUT. the amount of candy and other treats they brought to her room was amazing. i am not kidding. the recliner was completely covered with bags and buckets. we sorted out enough candy to fill two full pumpkins and a tote bag full of treats. craziness. so don't go feeling all sorry for her that she didn't get to trick-or-treat! she made out in a big way.
we made it home and got her settled in. her arm hurts her, but it's manageable. we get her permanent cast put on tomorrow - glow in the dark - who knew?! she is pretty excited for everyone to sign her cast. we have all signed her temporary cast in the meantime. papa mike supplied every color sharpie known to man, so it's a very colorful cast.
ps - are you wondering where mr. henry was through this ordeal? after i ran out from lucille's as fast as my legs could take me, i called barb. she went picked up henry, bathed, bottled, and put him to bed. she spent the night, got up for the 4am feeding and took him to irma's the next day. then she high-tailed it up to the hospital in time for the surgery.
