Baby's first ER visit

[mamagotcha]

Right off the bat I'll tell you that everything was fine and he's doing great right now, as if nothing had happened at all...

We have the very old windows... thick and heavy, and hung with weights. Some of the ropes have deteriorated (almost 100 years old!) and so the windows don't stay open on their own any more... you have to prop them with something.

The one on the landing of the stairs has been propped with a piece of 1x2, about a foot long. I'd been worried that a kitty might knock the wood, but so far they haven't. However, it turns out Lincoln is just tall enough to reach it,ere and did so yesterday a few minutes before 6 pm.

Wham! Scream! It landed right across the knuckles of his right hand, and when Julia got the window open, I could see a crease across his hand that looked bad. I tried to calm him and get him to nurse while Julia got some ice (the bag of frozen corn). He was waving the hand around, trying to avoid the ice, but not moving his fingers. I watched him for a minute, and made the decision to go to the ER to get it x-rayed. It just looked bad to me...

Now, I'm not one to run to the ER for every case of sniffles, but I was second-guessing myself on this trip. Fortunately, I was indeed overreacting and his little paw was just fine, but it just seemed the right thing to do.

We (Julia came along too, thankfully... the extra hands were a huge help) went to Research Medical Center, and breezed right in. Everyone treated us nicely, and I think they were a little bored... we didn't see a single other soul in the place (other than medical folks). They offered us some kid's Tylanol, which Linc didn't want. At this point, he wanted to nurse, and would leave his hand lying still for a moment, then start waving it around again.

The doc came in and palpated (none too gently, but I understand they have to do that. Linc wasn't very happy about it though) and said he thought it was fine but he'd order x-rays to be sure. At that point I almost said we'd go ahead and go home, but eh, in for a penny, in for a pound. I already had to do a $50 copay just for going to the ER, might as well finish up the job.

Once again, Linc didn't agree with the plan. It took a while, and he hollered like we were trying to pluck out his eyeballs, but we got a few good shots of his hand. Here's the best one:



Obviously fine. And during the x-rays, he was opening and closing his fist, using his hand just fine. Afterwards, he asked for the phone to play a video game. While he favored it for the rest of the night, it's not damaged significantly at all. Just a big bruise and a sore spot. He slept great and this morning is using it perfectly.

Bill comes back tonight, hooray! Linc took a bath and we spent an hour detangling his curly locks this morning. Yay for Biosilk!

Comments

[qarin.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the spoiler at the beginning, I appreciated it!

I really love the picture of his hand (who else's are in there?). I'd pay $50 to have pictures of my kids' baby hands like that! Uh, well. I guess, I mean, well, you know.

Anyway, I'm hoping that will be this year's holiday card picture.

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

that's me, trying to keep a very squirmy and hollering toddler's hand in place for the one second you need for the shot.

the second shot (on flickr) wasn't as good. we tried to do it again, no way was L going for that. i figured if he could fight that hard, he obviously wasn't going into shock or anything.

looks like the window fell right across the first set of knuckles, where the bones are still growing... nothing to smash. if he'd pushed his hand in another inch... brrrr.

yeah, bill's comment was that it was a cute picture! i guess at least we have a nice little party favor... yay for decent cell phone cameras!

[3squares-a-day.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad he's ok! Great x-ray...

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

me too! and thanks... he sure wasn't helping out any!

[lunacow]

Phew! Sounds like completely the right thing to take him to the ER, and nice that you didn't have to wait there at all.

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness! It sounds like a good thing you took him in, just to be sure. Glad he's okay.

[cheesepuppet.livejournal.com]

Always good to get it checked out, even if it turned out to be nothing! If you hadn't done that, and he'd had some small fracture in a phalange, it might have healed funky and he could have ended up with chronic pain, or some other problem.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Oh jeez! Glad he's okay. Poor baby!

[lorraine-inwash.livejournal.com]

glad everything is fine. Have to think of another prop for the sash, although he maybe will not pull out the prop for a while. A whole hour to untangle hair???????? !!!

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

This morning, Link was contemplating the window that fell on his hand, and Mom asked him if he was going to mess around with the window again, and he shook his head seriously. Seems like he's learned his lesson there.

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

yeah, usually it takes two of us to do his hair. but bill had been gone the whole week, and he'd gotten a few real rats in the back (where he rubs his sweaty head against the carseat). and i have to do it while he's nursing, which means i couldn't see what i was doing... so it was detangling by braille. it worked, though, and he's all gorgeous and curly again!

and julia's right... he's definitely learned about not messing with the prop anymore... but we have several other windows with the same problem. i think i'll also put a chunk of 2x4 in there to stop another slam (i'm still worried about a kitty doing the same thing).