Nurse Maids and their Elbows

So...yesterday after being alone with the kids for 11 hours (Michael was on a one day business trip) and after a drive to Sacramento, we laid low in the late afternoon. Playing in the house, goofing off, and generally hanging out. During this time, I was helping the girls practice their walking. A bit ambitiously (I now realize in hindsight), I was walking them both around. Elizabeth fell to the ground, but I kept holding her hand. A second later, crying. And more crying. And even more crying. And then, a limp arm. No movement. And more crying. I sat with her for a bit, tried the swing out front, but still...no movement in that arm and lots more crying. So I called the after hours advice nurse. Who called the doctor. Who told me to go to the emergency room. Luckily, Michael had come home by this time. So off we went with one diaper, a blanket, and no money.

We arrived at Children's Hospital to find a semi full waiting room. After a quick triage and unpleasant check in experience, we waiting for about 2 1/2 hours. Elizabeth was a champ. She mosly chatted with the people waiting next to me (with their twin 9 year olds), watched TV, and hung out pleasantly. Considering her bedtime was long past and she still couldn't move her arm, she did great.

After what seems like days, we were called in where we sat for a bit longer. Just as Elizabeth finally fell asleep in my arms, the doctor showed up. Within 2 minutes, he told me what it was (Nurse Maid's Elbow), told me how he would fix it and then fixed it with a quick movement of the arm. Elizabeth cried like you've never heard before, but then within 3 minutes, her arm was perfectly fine. All better. No more tears.

I had to wait a bit longer to be "discharged" and then I had to find an ATM machine since the garage didn't take credit cards. Money in hand, we drove off and arrived home about 9:30.

I'm very pleased I didn't injure her more, very annoyed that Children's hospital was even more lame than Kaiser, and very disappointed that I missed the first mom's night out for my twin group.

On to today's adventures...