Gimme a Break!

Per usual, Liesel climbed out of her crib and made her way into my room. Ireland had gotten up at 5:30AM but she was finally, finally asleep again. I'd had horrific nightmares and was exhausted to say the least when I heard my door creak open. I decided to lay perfectly still. When Liesel sees we are both asleep she lays next to us until there are signs of life. I'm guessing she actually started to fall asleep and then startled and that's how she fell off the bed. She's fallen off the bed before. She's fallen off higher beds. She's fallen head-first onto hardwood floors and this was carpet. But something was different. She sobbed and sobbed which is unusual for her. Typically if she's injured she can "shake it off" and move on. She doesn't really cry for attention. Something wasn't right. I made her a sippy cup of warm milk. She still cried. I put her in the bath. She was still crying. It had been over an hour since she fell off the bed and she kept asking me to kiss her boo boo. Dad volunteered to stay with Ireland and Mom agreed to drive me to the U of I Hospitals and Clinics. I'm glad I followed my instincts because she had two breaks in her wrist.

They say a coincidence is what happens when God chooses to remain anonymous. However, I felt the hand of the Lord at so many points during the day:

• A few weeks ago I mentioned to Brent that Ireland is overdue for her 6 month check-up. He called around to see which Iowa City hospitals would accept our Massachusetts insurance. Ireland is scheduled to go in on Monday and I happened to have an appointment reminder card. I knew if I went to U of I Hospitals and Clinics we'd be okay and didn't have to waste time. I also had the address of Pediatrics in hand.
  
• This hospital is the largest teaching hospital in the WORLD! It's really a good-sized village. No seriously, it's huge. Ginormous. Even with the address it could have taken us a while to find it but Mom knew exactly where it was so again, no time wasted.
  
• I made an executive decision to take her to Pediatrics and not the ER. Pediatrics is usually much better set up to help children and it was regular business hours. While I was there I realized our ER copay has recently gone up from $50 to $100.
  
• The doctor was already double booked for her first appointments of the day. Because we were there a tad earlier than either scheduled patient, she agreed to see us anyway.
  
• Because Brent had made the appointment for Ireland, we were already in the system. They just had to create a record for Liesel and transfer the same info. Again, time saved.
  
• Before leaving the house, I put Liesel's hair in pigtails and slipped in some of the huge bows I just bought when I was in Utah. Call me crazy, but we got a lot of mileage off of those bows. No matter where we went we didn't have to wait long before being seen. She got lots of extra attention which I think helped to alleviate her fears somewhat.
  
• Ireland was really good for my dad during the 4+ hours they were together. Now that I think of it, when Liesel fell off the bed and bawled Ireland woke up but made no sound. It's like she knew something serious had happened to Liesel.

I felt horrible holding her down for x-rays, especially when I found out it was a broken wrist. I've had a broken wrist in recent years and I remember how painful those were for me. That I was adding to her pain stung me to the core. You can even see part of my hand holding down her fingers in the x-ray picture. Casting was also no fun. Liesel cried big tears while I held her on my lap and a nurse held her arm in the air. Thank goodness I'd thought to bring along my iPod. I played Beyonce's Single Ladies and tried to convince her she was getting kind of the same thing on her arm only in pink! The doctor quietly told me normally they'd cast a child under sedation but since they'd already started... I interrupted him and said I could handle her crying if they could. The cast has to weigh about 5 lbs and it's twice the size of her arm. That night I gave Brent the full run-down on the days events and as soon as I finished telling him I burst into tears. I honestly never felt the urge to cry during it all but in retrospect it finally got to me. Brent told me he'd never had a broken bone. Both my parents also told me they've never experienced a broken bone. Well little Liesel at the tender age of 2 is now a veteran. Poor thing!