4th Of July Fun- First ER Trip As A Parent

It was bound to happen. In a lot of ways I'm amazed it took 2 years, but we finally hit a milestone in parenting with Frostina,,, a trip to the emergency room.

What is it with my family? Every time I'm in my third trimester, someone decides they aren't getting enough attention and ends up in the ER? If you've been a long time reader you may remember The Hubby and "The heart attack that turned out not to be a heart attack." Well this time Frostina decided it was her turn.


It all started with an innocent trip to the furniture store. The Hubby wants to buy some outdoor furniture so off we went to take advantage of the holiday sales. Frostina has always been easy to shop with. She sticks close to me and never runs away while we're in a store. So I wasn't worried about her behavior at all,,, big mistake on my part.

You see, this very clever toddler can smell that Mommy is too big and tired to give a good chase. She also knows that Daddy is a very soft touch. Combine the two of these things and you have typical 2 year old chaos in the store. My normally well behaved angel was wild. She was dashing around climbing up on every couch and chair she could find and then jumping around on each one.

It was super fun, I know this because you could hear her laughing from across the store. I know this because of course preggo had to pee the moment we walked in and I had no problem finding them once I was done. I tried telling her to stop but she was completely ignoring me. Running around, hiding behind things and generally mocking me. So I told her she had to hold Mommy's hand.

This was fine for about a minute but then she wanted her freedom. She did what I like to call the toddler drop and roll to try and free herself from my grasp. But I was ready for her and didn't let go. I let her lay on the ground for a minute and then scooped her up and announced that we were leaving the store since she couldn't behave.

She started crying loudly which I figured was because she could no longer run around like a wild beast. I carried her to the car feeling quite proud of myself for setting limits and sticking to them. Go me for having discipline and not letting her act up in a store.

Once we got to the car and I tried putting her into her car seat I knew something wasn't right. As I was moving her arms to strap her in she got this really funny look on her face and started whimpering. Then the whimper turned into a cry and she was holding her wrist. I convince myself that I've broken her wrist by holding on too hard and start to feel like the worst Mommy in the world.

We drove home and I gave her some Baby Advil and tried to feed her lunch. She refused to move the hand and would only eat with the other one. We debated what to do but since it was nap time we let her sleep a bit to see if she would feel better afterwards. An hour later she woke up crying and still refusing to move her arm.

So off we went to the children's ER,, on the 4th of July. Hooray!

Luckily the place was almost deserted and we were seen within 5 minutes. I get quizzed on what happened and I am convinced they will listen to my story and notify social services that I've abused my child. I notice she has a few bruises on her forehead and chin and figure it's just a matter of time before the nice smiley lady comes in to take my child away. I try to stay calm and The Hubby does too.

A few minutes later the doctor comes in and says she wants to take a look. She has Frostina sit on The Hubby's lap facing her. We tried this on mine but there's not much room left these days with the huge bump. Next thing I know she is massaging and then pulling on Frostina's arm. I freak out and start crying! Frostina freaks out and starts crying. The Hubby freaks out and starts crying.

Then it's done and the doctor hands Frostina a Popsicle which she reaches for and grabs with the injured hand. The same hand she has refused to move for hours. The doctor says she had nursemaid's elbow which apparently is very common in under 4's. She says it's popped back in now but to hang out for a little while just to make sure. She also hands Frostina a cute white stuffed bear with a T-shirt that has the name of the hospital on it.

Very cute, but hopefully this will be the only one we get.

Frostina is now a happy camper. She's eating her Popsicle and saying, "I love Popsicle." She is also feeding her new bear Popsicle. The transformation was amazing. One minute she's crying hysterically, clinging to me and refusing to move her arm. The next minute she is asking to sit on the hospital bed and, "Sleep pillow."

Needless to say, The Hubby and were still shell shocked. But Frostina was as happy as could be.

We were in and out of there in an hour and 15 minutes which has to be some kind of emergency room record. But it's not exactly how I wanted to spend my first 4th of July back in America.