Aaron Breaks a Leg

I wish I could say that Aaron was the star of some production, and that I mean "break a leg" in the theater sense, but unfortunately, he really has a broken leg. On Saturday morning, Aaron and I were coming downstairs when I slipped and fell down the stairs. I landed on my butt and slid down about 5 steps. Aaron started screaming immediately. Actually, as it was happening I turned to look at Aaron, who just had a look of shock on his face. When we finally stopped moving, that's when the screaming started. I wasn't sure if he was hurt, or just totally stunned by what had happened, so I took over to the couch and nursed him. When he finally calmed down, I looked at him all over and moved all his limbs and joints.

He didn't start crying again, so I actually thought everything was ok. We were playing on the floor when he reached for my fingers so he could pull himself up. When he did, he started crying again (the awful "I'm in pain" cry), and he wouldn't move his feet. That's when I did another round of investigation. I started touching him all over, and I discovered a tender spot on his right leg, the leg that was behind me when I fell. It only took a could more minutes before I knew something was really wrong, and so I packed him up and went off to the ER. Fortunately, it was a ghost town at 7:45am and we got right in. The doctor was very nice to Aaron, and let me hold him while he did the exam. He checked for any other injuries, and luckily there didn't appear to be any. He agreed with my assessment of Aaron's leg, and sent us off for x-rays.

The x-ray technicians were also extremely nice, and gave me a lead gown so I could stay with him while they took pictures. They had to tape his poor little leg down to the table while they took the films, but Aaron was a brave little boy. The doctor took a look at the images and said there may be a fracture, as he saw something in 1 picture but not the other. He splinted Aaron up and set us up with an appointment with the orthopedic doctor the next day. Aaron seemed to be a little uncomfortable the rest of day, and took really good naps, but he seemed more upset about being immobile than in pain.

On Sunday morning Aaron and I went to see the orthopedic doctor, who said that the leg was most definitely broken. He put a cast on Aaron, who was not so happy about it, and told us it would be on for 3 weeks. Thankfully, the fracture is not near the growth plate, and there should be no long-term effects from this. Aaron can also put weight on his leg while in the cast, so at least he can pull himself up to standing again.

As luck would have it, before this happened, Aaron was so close to crawling. He was starting to "crawl" backwards, as in accidentally pushing himself backwards while trying to reach something in front of him. It looked like a Weatherwax baby was finally going to crawl, and I would have put money on him doing it within a week. Good thing I didn't place that bet...

Mudgie has been pretty oblivious to all the excitement. He was a little upset when Aaron couldn't take a bath with him, but that's it. He continues to be a little comedian. We were all playing in the basement when he invited his daddy into "his office," aka the closet. He comes up with the most creative stories when playing with his toys, and he still loves to cuddle and play with my belly button. In fact, he's apparently teaching Aaron to play with my belly button, because now Aaron seems to like it too! These kids are something else.

We'll just have to wait and see how the next couple weeks go with the cast. Aaron is such a laid-back baby that I think he's going to be fine. I feel so bad for him, not only because I'm the one who broke him, but because there is all this stuff he wants to do (crawl, walk, etc.) that he can't do with the cast on, and he doesn't understand why. I hope he forgives me for this.