Nursemaid Elbow

Ok, I REALLY thought this was something Don had made up to poke fun at my freakish scared-of-the-boys-getting-hurt nature. It turns out it's something real and it's what happened to Brett today.

Just in case things couldn't get a little more exciting and crazy around here, Brett had to go and get hurt today. He's already hurt his right clavicle once. While walking down the stairs today with Daddy holding his hand, Brett decided he really didn't want to go downstairs after all. When Brett doesn't want to do something, he has this uncanny way of making his whole body go limp and throwing himself to the ground at the same time. He did this act while Don continued to hold onto his hand. When they got downstairs, Brett screamed while holding his elbow. I asked Don if he had fallen off the bed while they were upstairs while horsing around: he hadn't. Then Don explained what did happen. "Oh crap", I thought, "he's dislocated something or broke something in his arm again." I tried to calm him down. It would work until I'd try to move his arm and he would scream again. I told Don he needed to go to urgent care...now! We found Brett's old sling from his fractured clavicle and wearing this made him feel better. Don rushed him to the doctor and they x-rayed his arm. Everything turned out perfectly normal. Thank you God!!! What happened was his arm probably DID become dislocated, but not all the way. Somewhere between our house and the doctor's office, Brett moved his arm in a way that the bone slid back to where it was supposed to be. Can anyone please tell my boys that a stressed out Momma doesn't really need this excitement in her life? As it turns out, it's even really not painful. The doctor said it just feels weird and the kids aren't quite sure what to do with it. It can happen when snagging your kid when they try to run out in the parking lot, while pulling their arms through sleeves, and swinging them by their arms. So, if you ever do any of these things and your kid screams and grabs their elbow, give 'em a few minutes, it's probably that darned nursemaid elbow!