And the First Broken Bone Goes To . . .

Noah. Two weeks ago he was learning to jump, and he was really excited about it. All day long he'd say, "I jumping mommy, I jumping!" That evening he was jumping on the couch, and unfortunately off the couch as well, because suddenly I heard him land on the ground and start crying, and when I looked up his right foot was awkwardly off to the side. Because he was beside himself every time we moved him, Gary took him to the urgent care that night. The x-ray didn't show a break, but they put a splint on him to stabilize the injury and told us to follow up with our doctor. Even though he was still upset about his "owies," when I pulled out the camera he was willing to cheese it up. Here are two pictures of him in his baby splint.

The doctor told us if he wasn't walking in a week, to come back, and in the mean time to take off the splint and see if he'd start moving on his own. She thought that would be the right thing to do because she could twist his ankle all around and it didn't really bother him. So, a week later he still wasn't walking - he still found lots of ways to get into everything, but not by walking. Gary took him in again, and the x-ray once again showed nothing. The doctor said he was "perplexing" and ordered an x-ray of his hip, and said that if he wasn't walking in another week, we'd have to go to a specialist at Primary Children's. Great . . .

We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving, and during that time he awkwardly fell on the foot twice, and was a basket case each time. So sad, because he was really trying to be brave, but would whimper, "Foot, my foot, owies," every time he'd try to put weight on in. My heart nearly broke this morning when he hurt it again and was trying so hard to let me rock him to sleep, but couldn't. He looked up at me with his big brown eyes and sniffled, "Owie, mommy, owie," like he really wanted me to take away the pain.

So, my mom called my dad (who is a doctor), who happened to be at the hospital, and said the x-ray tech was there and if we ran up there quickly we could get another x-ray. We figured it was worth a try, so we went. Poor kid was so used to the x-ray equipment he was happy to be there. (The first time he screamed and fought.) Turns out, his leg (tibia) is broken, about an inch above his ankle. No wonder he's okay when you mess with his foot but not okay if you grab his ankles to change his diaper! My dad said that he can see why it didn't show up a few days ago. I guess fractures like that don't show up until they start to heal. So, he got this sweet blue cast (Dad was thinking "Go Cougars" when he picked it). Noah wanted the cast off when it first got finished, but he was happy when it was being put on, and it supposedly makes it feel a whole lot better. We got him all casted up just in time to go to church for his first day of nursery, which he loved regardless of his cast.

Of course no one ever wants their child to break a bone, but Gary and I were so relieved to find out what's wrong and that there is an easy solution, that we were happy about the cast. Poor, poor baby . . . two weeks with a broken leg before the cast. We did our best, though, and now there's only 3 weeks until he's good as new! On the way home in the car Noah kept saying, "I jumping couch, owie. Jumping couch, fall down, owie," over and over again . . . seems like the whole thing has made an impression, so probably we'll have a really calm household after this.

Yeah, ha, ha, but that's okay. Yes, we have two kids that don't walk now, and yes, one of them is very heavy, but hey, nothing too bad, we can't complain. Although as a post note it is funny to think that the day Noah broke his leg was my most on the ball day since Andrew was born. I had the house decently clean, dinner ready the second Gary got home, and family home evening all planned out. I was getting back in to the swing of things, but then FHE turned into urgent care for Noah and Gary, while Josh and I drank hot chocolate and watched Star Wars. Had to make up for the fact Noah got to go somewhere and he didn't. Then with Noah injured, things went back to nuts. That's okay, though, I may have been in danger of getting bored, and it isn't about me, it about Noah, and his big accomplishment as the first one to break a bone. He might think that makes him cool much later in life.