Breaking into Fall

The milestone every parent looks forward to... those first few steps... Some start as early as 8 months... others a year... and some others a lot longer. Well for Jaden that day finally came at the end of 14 months and it wasn't until he was around 15 1/2 months old that he actually started gaining enough confidence to take more than 3 or 4 steps on his own. Then finally he started breaking free and venturing out on his own. The first day we moved into our new place he surprised both Mark & I by walking all the way down the hall and rounding the corner into the bedroom and then finally stopping and the rocking chair. Mark & I were estatic! Then 2 days later on Sept. 1st, Labor Day Jaden fractured his leg and now we are once again awaiting the day he will take those first few steps on his own. The worst part that Mark & I feel so horrible about is were not exactly sure how he did it and Mark & I were both home that day. We put him down for his nap and he fussed a little bit going down like he usually does but seemed to go right to sleep. What's even sadder is that I have one of those video monitors but I didn't have the video on only the audio and I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary but than again I left the monitor in the other room a few times while I was working on things about the house figuring I'd just hear him when he woke up. When he did wake up he was a lot more fussy than usual. In fact I began to worry that he might be getting pneumonia again because he was breathing labored and wincing off and on for a little bit after he woke up. I thought I had him calmed down enough so I gave him to Mark so I could go take a shower and when I finished he was crying again. I guess he had gotten wiggly and fussy in Marks lap and Mark thought he wanted down so he put him down and instead of standing he just fell right on the floor and started crying again. We calmed him down and gave him something to eat and he seemed to be playing alright and then he tried to walk again and I noticed he fell right on is bum. He didn't seem to complain about it until I was getting him ready to go for a walk and I tried to put his shoe on and he just started fussing and whining whenever I'd try to get close to his foot. (Now looking back and knowing the type of fracture he has and how I tried to put his shoe on twice makes my stomach cringe that I was causing my baby that much more pain.) After that whenever we'd put him down he would hold his foot up behind him and fuss when he put any weight on it. Mark and I began to think he might have a slight sprain and began racking our brains to think how he may have done it. That night he woke up twice acting a little fussy and then went right back to sleep. The next morning all he wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch cartoons or lay on the floor. Warning flags that something was wrong began to go up even more. This was especially odd for a one year old that can hardly sit still and it made my heart begin to ache. I called the Pediatrician and got him in as soon as possible. The rest of the day he didn't fuss much or complain, he was just a lot more laid back than usual and as we were in waiting rooms for the rest of the day between the doctor visits and x-rays I began thinking I may have over reacted espeacially when he started wanting to get down and even trying to put weight on his leg. Saddly I was very mistaken and I began to realize that when they called us in for a 2nd X-ray and then the doctor wanted us to return to the office. I was very surprised when the doctor told me he had a fracture. I asked him if it was just a small hairline fracture and then he showed me the x-rays and told me it was a pretty bad fracture. In fact it was pretty close to a brake. There was only a small portion of the bone left that wasn't fractured. To make things worse its what's called an "Oblique Fracture" meaning it looks like someone grabbed ahold of his leg with both hands and twisted it in opposite directions. The thing that made me really sick to my stomach is that the doctor had to ask did anyone grab his leg and twist it like that? My immediate and shocked response was "Heaven's NO!" The only thing we could come up with was that he got it caught in between the crib slats and twisted it. The orthepedic doctor pretty much confirmed that's what he believed happened as well with the look of the fracture. The pediatrician splinted it and set us an appointment with the orthepedic doctor to have it casted in two days later so the swelling could go down. It turned out to be one of the longest two days ever! At first it was alright and that night he slept all the way through the night. Then the next day I sat him down on the floor in the bathroom next to me while I was doing my makeup and he grabbed the door and the front of his splint got caught underneath the door and he began twisting his leg to try and get it out before I could make it to him fast enough (I thought I was going to die on the spot and I was sure they were going to send child services after me!) The rest of the day was a challenge because he kept trying to take off the splint and it was so hard to put it back on and I was constantly concerned about hurting him while I was doing it. Then the challenge of keeping him occupied there's only so much TV a toddler can watch and that adds up to about 5 minutes maybe. Thankfully he liked Toy Story 2 and sat through that for quite a while with me. Later I laid down with him to get him to take a nap, he fell asleep but 15 minutes later he tried to turn over onto his stomach and he woke up crying and you could tell he was in pain. He didn't take a nap for the rest of the day and that night turned out to be one of the longest nights of my life and probably his too. Towards his bedtime he started fussing alot and I kept trying to fix the splint but I just couldn't do it on my own and Mark was at class. He would cry for a little while and then relax and then cry and fuss again. Usually Mark comes home around 8:00 and he still wasn't home at 9:00 and I was about ready to go see if one of the neighbors could help me with his splint because I tried to fix it so many times but it just seemed like I'd only cause him more pain. I was never so glad to see anyone as when the gal that stays in our basement a few nights a week walked through the door. She was so wonderful to help me fix the splint and it seemed to help Jaden relax a little bit and he was finally able to sleep. Well it only lasted for a half an hour and he woke up crying again. The whole night every 15 to 30 minutes when he try to turn in his sleep he'd wake up crying. I just made it my mission that night to make him as comfortable as possible. I held him in the rocking chair and laid with him on the bed but nothing seemed to help. The longest stretch he slept for that night was 40 minutes. I finally just put a movie on for him at 5:00 a.m. and sat with him in the rocking chair. The appointment for his cast wasn't until 1:00 p.m. that day and it seemed like an eternity away. He did a lot better during the day and it was so awesome once we got the cast on and came home we both collapsed in bed and he slept for 3 1/2 hours. The splint just wasn't supporting the fracture as much when he turn in his sleep obviously. The hard part was that the orthepedic doctor didn't want him crawling or walking on his leg for a week. WOW! How in the world to you keep a one year old down? Using a lot of creativity. Lets just say he spent alot of time in his high chair and his stroller and in mommy's lap, it was almost like I had a fractured leg with him. Since then his cast has become like his second skin and he hardly even notices it's there except for the fact that it's fun to bang on things. He pushes his little playschool walker everywhere with it... It's funny because we call him old man twinkle toes because he looks like a little old man pushing his walker around. Mark and I once we got past blaming ourselves realized that things just happen no matter what you do. However, I still have one dilemma, he's been sleeping in his portacrib every since and I'm really nervous about putting him back in his real crib. We tried once and in no time he had his feet right through the slats again. Hopefully I can figure out a solution soon because I'm sure the portacrib is not as comfortable as his real crib for sure. I know it's probably a fluke thing to happen but how many things can happen to this kid in a year? He spent a week in the NICU after he was born because he swallowed his own meconeium, had the cord wrapped around his neck, had pneumonia scarring in his lungs, developed an infection and had jaundice. When he was 7 months old he got the flu for a straight 2 weeks. Then when he was 11 months old he developed pneumonia, spent a week in the hospital and 3 months on oxygen and had to go through numerous tests at primary children's. Honestly, I'm not saying whoa is me or asking why. Jaden has been wonderful through it all and such an easy going kid, we couldn't have asked for better and life is great right now and after the first week dealing with the cast it hasn't really been a big deal at all. It's just the crib, it seems like if it can happen to Jaden it will and so I've got to find a solution to this crib dilemma. I'm beginnging to think Jaden's going to be a really strong adult with all that he's had to go through and possibly turn into a doctor after spending so much time with the medical profession before he's even two years old. :) I've got to end this extremely long post. SORRY I'm extremely detailed in my writing but I haven't been writing in my Journal and I've got to record somewhere. So you can just look at the preety pictures and ignore all the words! If you actually read this... Your amazing!