Claire's First Thanksgiving

Claire had her first Thanksgiving this past week. The hubby's parents went out of town to visit his sister in Florida for Thanksgiving, so we spent the holiday with my family. We had a really great meal and lots of socializing. Our family friend Lazarus was in town visiting and celebrated with us. He is a really amazing man that has a ministry in India (I am pretty sure you will be able to tell who he is from the pictures.) It was a pretty great day...until Claire's elbow dislocated.

My sister (whom I do not blame in any way and still love very much--because this could have just as easily been me) was helping her toddle around the room (Claire's new favorite activity). Claire was doing so well, that my sis decided to try and help her up some steps. There was a little too much tension on Claire's arm and her elbow joint popped right out of socket. I didn't even know this was a thing, but apparently it is called nursemaid's elbow and is somewhat common in children under the age of five. Claire has had a runny nose for all of about two days of her existence and that is the extent of her illnesses and injuries, so to say her daddy and I were panicking is putting things lightly.

Fortunately we are part of this program at Claire's pediatric clinic that gives us access to a 24-hour on call nurse. So we dialed up the number and talked to one of the very sweet, program nurses. She told us about nursemaid's elbow and a little maneuver to try and fix it. She also said that if we had to we could go to the ER, but she recommended trying to wait until we could come in to the office. Sometimes the ER docs aren't specialized in pediatric care and cannot do the special arm maneuver. At any rate. she managed to calm us down and talk us off the ledge. We gave Claire some ibuprofen and tried to get some sleep.

I was up until about midnight praying for and fretting over my poor angel. When I did finally get to sleep Claire started waking up every hour on the hour fussing and fidgeting. Let's just say we have had better nights of sleep. We did make it through the night and called our nurse again in the morning. She set up an appointment for us first thing and an hour later we were seeing one of our amazing pediatricians. He fixed Claire's arm right up.

We could tell Claire was feeling better before we went to the doctor, but after we left the pediatrician's office Claire was her bubbly, playful self and she was using her arm normally. I cannot describe the relief her daddy and I felt wash over us when we realized Claire was going to be okay. It is not a good feeling to have a baby that doesn't feel well--especially when you know it was a preventable injury.

I know Claire is going to have bumps and bruises. She is going to fall down and she is going to get hurt, but knowing that does not make it easier to bear when it happens. I am such a thankful momma for a happy, healthy, and back to good as new baby girl.

Four generations of women: