A Trip To Instacare

Sunday, March 2nd I was getting Shelby ready for church. She was laying on the floor while I put her tights on and then to put her dress on I needed her to sit up. I put my hands out for her to grab and help her pull herself up into a sitting position. In the process I heard a popping sound and thought it was from her wrist. She cried, but I didn't think too much of it because my bones pop all the time and sometimes it hurts for a second.

We went to Grant's baby blessing (Shasta and Shelby's cousin) and she cried getting in her car seat. I tried to give her a piece of bread and she wouldn't take it from me which was really strange because she takes any food that's offered to her. She had a piece in her left hand, but wouldn't lift her right hand (the side that popped) to take another piece. I reached for her hand to try to give it to her and she cried. 

She favored that arm all day, but it was hard to tell how she really felt about it because she was held all through church, we held her the whole time we were at Josh and Kaleena's house, and once we got home we put her down for a nap. But she cried any time we touched her arm and she clearly wasn't trying to use it to do anything. She kind of just left it dead to her side. 

After her nap I put her on the floor to see if she would do her usual things. She just started trying to crawl this past week and just this weekend has figured it out. She's still slow and unstable in her crawling, but being new and exciting, she tries to move around constantly. I watched her play on the floor for an hour and she made no effort to crawl and would only reach for things with her left hand. Occasionally she would lean forward to grab something and put some weight on her right hand and would fuss. 

Nick wanted me to wait to take her to the doctor until Monday, but the more I watched her the less I felt good about waiting. We went downstairs and played on the floor a little longer, this time with Nick also observing her, and I kept going back and forth with whether or not I should take her in. She was using it more, but still hesitant and would still fuss from time to time. It seemed like it was getting better, but it still worried me that it was hurting her at all. 

It makes me so sad to say that the reason we hesitated to take her is because our insurance changed at the beginning of the year and what we pay now is ridiculously high so I didn't want to jump the gun and be told there's nothing wrong and still have to pay for the services. Before I would have just paid the copay and not thought twice about it, but now we pay a $75 "down payment" plus we get a bill so it works out to be more than half of what the total chargers were. It's seriously ridiculous and I'm not at all happy with this new insurance that Nick's work switched to.

I finally decided to take her for my own peace of mind. The whole time I thought it was her wrist that popped so that's what I told the doctor. She observed Shelby for a minute while she was sitting in my lap and could see she was being really active with her left arm, but just let her right arm hang to her side and never tried to use it. She said she wanted to take an X-ray before she started manipulating it so we went in and took some of her wrist. And she cried and cried with every movement. We took three different pictures and I had to hold her arm in specific positions and each time she cried so much. It was heart breaking. 

The doctor came back and said she didn't see anything wrong with her wrist so she came over and started feeling Shelby's arm, and she cried and cried. She was completely fine and happy until someone touched her arm and then the tears started. And seconds after she was left alone she stopped crying. As the doctor was manipulating her arm she said, "oh, she has nursemaid's elbow" and popped it back in place so quickly I didn't even realize she did anything. But Shelby certainly did! She cried pretty hard. 

The doctor left for a few minutes and instructed me to try to get Shelby to use her arm. I played with her and kept handing her stuff to hold and she would use her right arm, but she wouldn't hold anything in it. She was definitely making an effort to use that arm, but I could tell it wasn't her full, normal use. The doctor told me its possible that it's not in all the way, it could be sore, or she could just know that using it all day has hurt her so she's being cautious of using it now. She told me that it wasn't a good idea to try to pop it in place again just to make sure it was in all the way so she said to go home and if she doesn't wake up and use it like normal in the morning then come back. 

Sitting in the waiting room. Even with her elbow dislocated she's still happy!

So the next morning I went to school and Nick observed her. When I got home he said he didn't think it was fixed and that I should take her back. It was time for her morning nap so I decided to wait until after. Then when she got up I wanted to observe her a little so I could actually tell the doctor what I saw rather than what Nick told me he saw. I definitely felt the same as him. She wasn't trying to crawl still and any time she put weight on her arm to reach for a toy she fussed. 

We went back and explained to a different doctor everything that happened. She came over and manipulated her arm and once again Shelby started crying. She popped it back in place and said she felt it pop so she knew it was still out from the day before or came out again. 

She left the room so I could try to get Shelby to use her arm and when she came back I told her she's definitely using it more, but it's hard to fully gauge it when she's sitting on an exam table and I have to control her movement so she doesn't fall off. 

Once we got home she went straight down for her afternoon nap, but after she got up she was back to her old self. She wasn't trying to crawl all over, but she was definitely attempting to crawl and wasn't fussing every time she did. And when I would put my hands out for her to hold to pull herself up into a standing position, she would grip with both hands; something she wouldn't do when her arm was dislocated. 

After the 2nd trip to Instacare

Something fun to share while we were at Instacare. When we went Sunday night the desk clerk told me several times how beautiful Shelby is. Then the nurse that took us back kept telling me how cute she is. When the doctor came in she said she wasn't going to get anything done because she just wanted to stare at Shelby the whole time. She asked me if I had other kids so I told her I have an almost three year old. Then she said, "and you're going to have more, right? When they're this cute you have to have more"! And the X-ray tech made a big deal about Shelby being so precious. They totally made my day! 

Then when we went back the next day it was the same girl at the front desk and once again she went on and on about how beautiful Shelby is. And when the doctor came in she said "I heard there's a cute baby in here", then paused to observe and said, "oh yes, she's definitely a cutie". But what I find funny from that is someone informed her of the "cute baby" before she ever came in the room! Makes me laugh. 

I love it when people tell me my kids are cute. I have on rose colored glasses when it comes to my kids, so it's nice when people voice what I think about them!