Baby Bertha

Our neighbors and friends came over for a BBQ Saturday night.  After it got dark the kids went inside and played in the basement while the adults talked politics in the living room.  The babysitter had come over around 9pm as she was spending the night so we could ride bikes in the morning.  She was in the basement with the kids when we heard Big Will start screaming and crying. I got up and asked if everything was fine.  She said he was fine. One of the other kids said he fell down the stairs. He seemed fine after he calmed down.  Saturday night he cried and moaned all night. It isn't uncommon for him to cry/moan in his sleep when he's excessively tired as he seems to sleep worse on these particular nights.  And since the kids didn't get to bed until 10:30pm it didn't seem too odd.  

Andrew and I got up and went bike riding Sunday morning and when we got home the babysitter told me about how he couldn't walk when he got up.  He was hobbling a lot or refusing to walk or crawling. Andrew took him to Loyola Immediate Care.  The X-Rays showed there was no break but the dr explained to Andrew that the bones in a kids foot aren't like the bones in an adult foot.  A child's foot can absorb more impact b/c their bones aren't as compact to leave room for growth.  

He still wasn't walking Monday or Tuesday.  I called to get an appt with an orthopedic dr Tuesday morning and they got me in for Wednesday.  

My friend gave me a chocolate croissant as a "this could be really rough" gift.  I ate it and loved every morsel. 

 Wednesday comes around. He walks/limps to our bedroom but I think this is an improvement. I consider not taking him to the appointment. I sent a text to Grandma D for the tie breaking vote (b/c Andrew thought I still needed to take him). She said take him.  So I took him...and Cate. Mistake. Big Mistake.  Two of them trapped in a drs office for an hour about did us all in.  There was lots of screaming and yelling by all of us.  The nurses eventually brought the kids highlighters, stickers, and papers. Cate ended up taking a nice bite out of the tip of the highlighter..that was awesome.

The resident came in. Will screamed at him. Told him his whole foot hurt when the resident pushed on it but it clearly didn't hurt him b/c he didn't flinch at all.  And he answered yes before the question was asked.  I was thrilled b/c we'd waited 45 minutes for him to get to our room. I was sure we were going to be walking out very soon. He had to go talk to his boss (the actual dr) and when they came back she told us the exact same things that the dr Sunday told Andrew about the bones in a kids foot.

The doctor said that over 50% of all broken bone cases with kids show no broken bones until 10 days after the break.  They casted it as a precaution (I guess) and we have another appointment for next Tuesday. On Tuesday we will go back (without Cate) and get the cast taken off, X-Rayed again and determine if it's actually broken.

He sat still and watched cautiously the entire time.  The doctor told me that he was probably that serious and cautious as a child. I guess we should continue to fund his college fund. 

He picked a blue cast.  No one is surprised by this.  After they put the cast on they got us a baby walking boot so he can walk, run and jump.  They said he should be moving around in no time.  He's struggling with it right now. He just keeps screaming at me and telling me he wants it off now.  I keep telling him I can't take it off.  It could be an interesting week.  For everyone.