Oh, the complacency of a second time mother, that is, second time my first time child broke her arm. This accident happened about two weeks ago and I am just now getting around to posting about it. So the story goes like this: Ryan came home from work and as usual in our home started chasing Marielle around the house. She was running with one sock and one sandal and then on transition from living room to kitchen tripped and fell hard. She threw her hands out in front of her and collided with the fridge. She cried a good bit, but didn't seem too shaken up about the ordeal. After dinner, I checked her arm and thought it might be swelling a bit. Then I performed "the test." When Marielle broke her arm last March she couldn't push herself up from sitting on the ground. So, flash forward to Oct, I sat her down on the kitchen floor and said "Come here to Mom, Marielle!" To my dismay, she tried to get up, but failed and burst into tears. Since it was the same arm, we figured we'd better get it checked out. The Dr recommended we wait till morning to get her arm X-rayed since Marielle didn't seem to be in too much pain and could avoid an emergency room wait. The next morning I took her in first thing for x-rays, and was told the Ped. would call me in about two hours. I kept my phone with me all day, with the ringer on the loudest setting, and vibrate so I wouldn't miss the call. By 3:30 I'd heard nothing, so I called again to make sure they had the right number. I taught piano that afternoon so by the time I was finished the office was closed and still no word. The next morning I skipped the phone and just walked into the Pediatrician's office and asked if someone could just tell me if the arm was broken. By now I assumed it wasn't, since Marielle was using her arm and not acting like she was in any pain. The nurse comes out after about ten minutes and confirmed it was in fact broken. Sheesh, you think you'd want to get that message back to the parent. Anyhow, we saw our Orthopedic Dr. and he said the break wasn't as bad as last time, and she would only need her cast for three weeks.
Ryan got to field lost of questions about her arm at church on Sunday. His standard reply to the "AGAIN?" questions was, "Well, I broke five bones growing up, and Mary Karlee trips all the time, so Marielle doesn't really have a chance." Good luck Marielle! Here's to many nights on the couch, because if it's broken today, it'll still be broken tomorrow.
