The Hospital Visits Must End....

As many of you know our children each had their 1st trips to the ER in the past month. I thought to myself that it was just dumb luck that both of them would get their ER initiations out of the way so close to each other, but I am starting to think that we may have a medical curse on us. I racked my brain to think if there were any patients of mine that I may have poked one too many times that were capable of voodoo but no one came immediately to mind. But after spending this weekend at 2 different hospitals I am convinced that someone has put a nasty curse on us.
It started innocently enough early Saturday morning. Out of our desperate need for money with Baby #3 on the way I had agreed to pick up an extra shift at work and was running late as usual. I had my arms full of snacks, lunch, more snacks (I am eating for 2 you know) and was heading quickly out the door when next thing I knew I was flat on my back on our porch. I had ever so gracefully slipped on our frost covered porch and unable to brace myself with my hands full of sustenance I landed flat on my back hitting my head and tail bone. Brandon had heard me moaning in pain from inside and came out, stifling his laughter, to help me up (I felt like a turtle stuck on the back of my shell). I tried unsuccessfully to walk it off and ended up having to call into work and then to my OB. My OB instructed me to go to the OB Triage unit of our hospital and get evaluated to make sure my placenta didn't rip away when I fell. So Brandon and I got Jan to come down and watch the kids while I got hooked up to the monitor to make sure the baby was okay and that I wasn't having contractions. After and hour or two at the hospital I got the okay to go home, rest and take some ibuprofen for the pain. Thank God for Advil! I was able to catch a nap for an hour that afternoon until I heard Adeline screaming and that is when the next saga begins.
As I descend down the stairs from my first nap in what seems like years I hear my adorable daughter screaming bloody murder. I asked Brandon what might be wrong with our precious baby girl and he explained to me that ever since he held her left arm to pull up her sleeve to wash her hands she had been screaming. I didn't think that he could have done that much damage to her arm so I attributed her screaming to the ear infection she is recovering from. As she moaned and whimpered throughout the night I began to wonder if there was something else bothering her. When she woke up Sunday morning with a limp left arm, refusing to use it to do anything we reevaluated and thought that Brandon may have done more damage than we originally thought.
As Brandon's grappled with the idea of a CPS investigation and possibly jail time he insisted that we take her into the ER. As the logical RN that I am I instead called the Urgent Care Clinic at Children's Hospital and got her an appt at 11:30am (of course early enough so as not to miss a minute of Superbowl). Adeline wattled around the house using one arm to accomplish any task she needed done. And when she came to the realization that she couldn't suck her thumb and rub her ear with one arm she enlisted her big toe to take the place of her left thumb (no I wasn't able to get a picture).
We headed out to Children's Hospital, again enlisting the help of the grandparents to watch Carter. As soon as we arrived Adeline started moving that left arm a little more. She began playing with toys in the waiting room and by the time they called us back to the exam room she was acting like that left arm had never bothered her. The MD came in and told us that Adeline had a Nurse Maid's Elbow Dislocation. They see at least one case a week and it commonly occurs when a parent swings a child around by their wrists or when trying to get coats or sweaters off. Much to Brandon's relief no CPS interviews occurred and the RN and MD made him feel much better about the situation. They taught us how to pop her elbow back in if it occurs again as if it happens once it is much more likely to happen again.
Luckily we made it home in time for kick-off and are convinced this must be the end of our ER/Urgent Care Clinic curse. Thank God for secondary insurance!