Nursemaid's Elbow

Nursemaid's Elbow (Radial head subluxation): This is a common injury of the small child's elbow. Tiny ligaments normally help hold the elbow together. One of them slipped between NICHOLAS's upper and lower arm bones as they were pulled slightly apart. As the bones come back together, this ligament got stuck. This ingury happens if you pull your child's hand with the arm in just the right position.

In other words, I dislocated my child's elbow.

I can not begin to tell you how awful I felt about this when the doctor told me - just as she popped the elbow back into place with her bare hands, and Nicky screamed and cried as I held him on my lap.

I am still not sure how it happened. I am NOT the type of person who dislocates her 2 year-old's elbow! That isn't ME! I don't even believe in spanking my kids, for crying out loud! And in this case, I wasn't even angry. I was only the slightest bit frustrated. I had Nate in one arm and was trying to get Nick upstairs for a nap, but he felt this was highly unjust as his dad wasn't coming upstairs to nap WITH him, and protested by collapsing to the floor in a dead weight. I was trying to pull him upright so I could pick him up and get him up the stairs. And suddenly I realized he was clutching his arm...

At the hospital I kept expecting someone to yell at me, or a social worker to appear and question me furiously. At home, Steve kept expecting the police to show up and question HIM. But no one did. All the doctors and tech people were very helpful and understanding. Although some of them seemed to think that if the spoke in "baby talk" that Nicholas would somehow understand them. ("Do yoo have a booboo? Can you show nursie whea bobo huts? See these litew man faces? See how he's reawy sad cause it huwts? See how he's happy cause he doesn't huwt? Can you point wif yoa fingew and show nursie how yoo fiew now?")

They did an X-ray, too, and ruled out any fracture of the bone or the wrist. By the time we left the hospital Nick was using his arm again and by the time we were home he was his hyper self, jumping off furniture and crying because we wouldn't let him eat his crayons. As far as he's concerned, it's ancient history. But I think I'll remember this one for a long while.