Nursemaid's Elbow

Tweet
It wasn't even a week after the stitches that we were back in the ER. Ah but this is not a place this mommy loves. I know that with the little boy I am sure to be there much more than I would like.


My little nephew is much more accident prone and really just a lot more brave than Clayton is and still it's my little man that seems to always end up in the hospital. Anyways....


Hubby, Potato, and I decided that we would go to Best Buy and use the gift certificates we got for Christmas. Everything with Potato was fine.....until we get to the check out line. He was very sleepy and generally was DONE with shopping. I held his hand and he did the normal two-year-old thing and leaned away from me while we were waiting in line. I just kept holding on to his hand. We finally made it to the cashier and Clayton got very upset....so much so that Matthew picked him up and held him until we could get to the car. He fell asleep while walking to the car and all the way home.


When we got home we put him to bed and everything seemed very normal. A few hours later Clayton woke up and was whining a little. I went upstairs to get him so that we could change and head out to my moms. When I picked him up he WAILED. I had never heard him scream like that and I instantly had the stomach flips and knew something was very wrong. I ran him down stairs and got Matthew's attention. I told him that Clayton's shoulder felt like it had popped out of joint.



No time was wasted as we flew to the hospital. I did not even put Clayton in his car seat since every time his arm was moved he would wail in pain. We made it to the hospital and unfortunately the line was longer than last time. We had to wait entirely to long which was probably 10 minutes! Thank goodness that we had a nurse friend that worked there and she hussled to check out Clayton. She said that it did not look like a should displacement but leaned more towards whats called a "Nursemaid's Elbow."



The ER doctor confirmed that it was nurses elbow and after THREE felled attempts at putting it back in place the on call pediactric orthopedist. Thank God for him! He pinned a very frightened Tater against the wall, rotated his arm and it was almost instant that Clayton was fine.



He told us that it is very common for this age group and it very easily done. It could have happened while Clayton was napping. Crazy right?!?! Well Matthew and I figured it could have been when he was leaning away from me while we were at Best Buy. Can't tell you how horrible of a mother I felt just thinking that I may have helped the injury occur. I am still broken hearted.



Clayton has not had this happen again and lets just say we will be doing everything in our power to make sure he does not hyperextend his arm again.