Bailey's pretty pink arm

On Monday, the 13th, Bailey and Gretchen were outside after dinner playing in the backyard.  Bailey comes crying through the deck door, holding her arm.  Before going outside, Bailey had put on sunscreen because she burned her shoulders the previous weekend and didn't want a repeat injury.  She is a master at the monkey bars, but didn't take into consideration her slippery hands and slipped off.  She must have landed on her hand/wrist.

I tried comforting her on the couch for a few minutes, but she kept saying how much her wrist hurt.  I put on my Dr. Mom hat and started going through the routine of figuring out whether she was hurt or injured.  She could move her fingers, but not bend the wrist.  It was starting to swell, so we grabbed some ice.  I poked around on her arm and couldn't feel anything that caused her a lot of pain.

After being unable to console her for 15 - 20 min, I decided it was time to head to the doctor to have it x-rayed.  The whole way there, she kept crying "I can't hold it any more!" 

We got in to the pediatrician after-hours, who poked around the swelling and confirmed that Bailey most likely had broken her arm.  She put on a temporary cast, secured with ace bandages and sent us over the hospital for x-rays.  We dragged ourselves home at 9:30 and spent a rough night comforting and medicating Bailey so she could sleep.  It was amazing how much that temporary stabilization helped, but it still ached.   

The next day, they confirmed she had fractured her arm in two places.  Since this is the first broken bone (except for an undiagnosed finger for Aaron), I was unsure of the next steps.  We waited until Thursday to have her cast put on, I guess to allow the swelling to go down.  She was able to pick her color and of course, chose pink.  She was glad to get rid of the sling.  As soft as it was, it was starting to irritate her neck. 

The first day back to the babysitters, one of the girls had packed a marker just so she could sign Bailey's cast.  We carried around a marker for a few days, to let the friends and family we saw sign it.  (even Dutchie, Emily's dog, signed it!)

She will have it until mid-June.  Yesterday, while we were doing a floor puzzle, she used the cast to hammer the pieces into place.  I'm guessing she's feeling better, right?  :-)

The bump on the top of her arm is where it's broken.  This is before it was temporarily casted.

This is right after the temporary cast and before the x-ray.  She is much happier here.

This is her arm right before they put on the cast.  You can see a light bruise by her wrist.

Here she is with her new pink arm.  Happy kid!