Squirrel Toes: A sunny walk and our first ER visit

First of all, how beautiful was the weather on Saturday? We took advantage of it and went for a walk. It was perfect, not too warm, not too cold, and not too windy! I am so tired of this wind.

They were both getting dressed (Adam got a phone call), so I thought it was a cute opportunity to get some topless pics. Renee found his belly button and had to see what was down there!What's in there mommy?

All 4 of us

(yes, I know, my 'natural' highlights are showing, I need to call Hilary)

Echo was really excited! It's been a while since she's been on a walk...poor dog.

Our first trip to the ER.

So, about a week ago (Sunday) we were getting ready to leave Adam's parents' house. I had Renee by the hand and was pulling her through the kitchen (not hard, just leading her) toward the door. Well, as most 2 yr olds do when they 'don't wanna' go', she buckled her legs and dropped her weight. I kept pulling her and she all of a sudden started crying. I could tell it was a real cry and it actually scared me. She kept telling me her arm hurt, and she was actually shaking, I knew exactly what had happened. She was pointing to her forearm right at her elbow and said it hurt and she couldn't lift it. I moved it around and she kinda' calmed down, so I figured I'd fixed it. I remember my brother Joey's arm dislocating all the time. I knew that's what had happened, but I guess I fixed it. Well, this Sunday we were getting ready (it was after the topless pics) to go and she was playing around trying to get away from me. I wasn't yanking on her or anything, I just had a hold of her arm. Then she started crying, telling me her arm hurt again, and she was shaking just like last time. Her left arm was just kinda' hanging at her side. I tried moving it around, pushing it in at the elbow, and trying to calm her. Adam came in and tried to get her to squeeze his hand, and raise her arm, but she just cried out in pain when she tried. I knew it was just dislocated but we couldn't fix it. So, off to the ER we went. Our insurance is limited so we had to drive all the way to Prov. Portland! Argh! On the drive there I kept asking her to squeeze my hand, or try to raise her arm, but she couldn't. I just knew it would pop back in before we saw a doctor. It was really hard getting her in and out of the car, she was so scared to move, but Adam was really great helping her to keep her arm still. She was actually fine on the drive there because she wasn't moving, but she really cried when we had to get out (and Renee doesn't really cry). So, we got all registered and checked in, waited for a bit in the room, and then a guy came in to do x-rays. Adam went in with her, I was down the hall and could hear her crying.....talk about breaking a mama's heart! They had her sit on Adam's lap, and he had to move her arm this way and that way to get the x-rays. By the time they came back into the room she was fine, they gave her a couple of stickers to make her feel better. After a few minutes I asked her if she could squeeze my hand and lift her arm. I was holding the stickers up in the air and telling her to get them....she did. She wasn't wincing or anything. The resident came in, took a look and went to check out the x-rays. Then the doctor came in with the resident, told us it wasn't broken, and figured it was dislocated. As he was showing the resident how to put it back in, he held the bones at the elbow and rotated her arm up (with her palm up), then turned her palm out and rotated her arm down. As he was doing this he told the resident, 'Usually the child would be screaming right now'. He said it must have popped back in on it's own, so he said to wait a few minutes to see how she's doing. By the time they walked out of the room she was out of her stroller and swinging both arms around patting the bed, grabbing her stickers, and squeezing our hands. She was fine. We figured that Adam had popped it back in when he was moving it during the x-ray. At least we know how to do it now. It totally shot our day, and wasted the ER fee. I just can't wait to get that bill! Anyway, we're really careful with her arms, I push her now instead of pulling. ;-) Just kidding!

Calmed down, after crying, on the way to the hospital. Adam put his furry Russian hat under her arm to hold it still.

I took this pic with my cell phone and sent it to Juli telling her what was happening. She totally freaked out! I realized why later that evening. Look at the way her jacket is crumpled on her left arm! We didn't put her arm in the jacket because we didn't want to move it. Too funny!