Broken arm: Our count is up to three.....

Yesterday I had a meeting right before church. As I walked down the stairs to the basement, Jake realized I was leaving and got upset. He started screaming and pulling on the gate at the top of the stairs......... The gate opened. :-(

Jake fell about halfway down the carpeted stairs, but it was a pretty hard fall, as he initially began falling head first! We looked him over and thought everything was fine. He was walking, he stopped crying pretty quickly, and he seemed to be moving well. We took him to church for the first hour and then Warren brought him home for a nap. When I got home, and Jake woke up from his nap, he seemed really 'off'. For instance, when he woke up he was just lying in bed, on his belly, crying. Usually he is standing up. Then, when I took him downstairs, he wouldn't stand up from his sitting position, and he couldn't quite manage to pick up the toy he wanted off the floor. I decided to take him in to the Instacare, just to have them look him over. I didn't even know which limb I was concerned about! Was it his arm? His hip? His leg? I couldn't quite tell what was wrong, only that he wasn't moving quite right. The doctor at Instacare was great and we figured out that it was most likely his arm that was bothering him. After some X-rays (where Jake did GREAT, by the way!) we saw the break in his arm - right above his wrist.

I am kicking myself that the gate was up, at all! Jake is very proficient on the stairs, and we have already removed the gate on our upstairs stairway. If there hadn't been a gate on our basement stairway, Jake wouldn't have fallen (ironic, huh!)

When Jake and I got home, the boys were pretty interested (injuries, in a house full of boys are always pretty exciting......) I jokingly said that since Will, Drew, and Jake had all broken their arms, now Nate and Matt were going to have to break their arms, as well. Nate looked at me, very concerned, and said, "Did the doctor say that..........?" I had to laugh!

I called our family orthopedic surgeon (yup, families with all boys need a regular orthopedic surgeon............) and he won't cast Jake until Wednesday. They want to make sure the swelling has had a chance to go down. So, for now, Jake is stuck with this hard splint and sling. I think keeping those on him are the hardest part so far! He seemed much happier with nothing holding his arm stable!

At least the break is not affecting his thumb sucking hand!