Life After I "Dew"

To say the past 5 days have been hard would be the understatement of the century.

Let's rewind to Friday, early morning. I woke up around 3:45 to the most excruciating ear pain.  It literally felt like someone was stabbing me in the ear with a pencil.  I'm kind of an ear-pain pro though.  I have had ear issues my whole life, decent amount of hearing loss in my right ear, surgeries when I was 14, tubes, tonsils, you name it.  I go to an ENT every 6 months and have a hearing test done once a year.  So at 3:45 I got up, took some Motrin, put some drops and a warm compress on my ear and waited for the ENT to open at 8.  To make a long story short, I have an ear infection.

Friday night we headed over to my in-laws for our weekly bible study.  We had been going back and forth on the day/time and decided on Friday evening.  Just as we were getting situated me, my sister-in-law, KP and James were on the trampoline.  No big deal.  No one was jumping high or hard.  It was just innocent crawling around with two adults supervising.  Until James started screaming.  Neither one of us saw anything happen to him so we didn't think much of it.  I scooped him up and tried to settle him down with some mommy snuggles and when that didn't work I offered him a bottle thinking that would certainly calm him.

Nothing helped until he finally fell asleep in my arms to the sound of ROCKABYE BABY! on Spotify.  While he was asleep we started bending/moving his legs as he wasn't putting any weight on them while he was awake.  Right leg- we could bend the knee and ankle, rotate the hip and he didn't make a peep, slept right through it.  Left let- cried in his sleep when we touched his knee and shin.

So we called the on-call pediatrician, they said to take him in.  This was at 9:10.  We called the Children's Close to Home Center and they said if we brought him in by 10 they had the ability to x-ray and cast, if need be.  So we loaded up faster than we've ever done and took him in.

At this point I had no reason to believe his leg was actually broken.  I mean I was standing RIGHT THERE when "it" happened and I didn't see anything happen that would warrant a broken leg.  I thought IF anything maybe the trampoline was coming up while he was coming down and MAYBE he stunned {??} his legs?  But definitely didn't think it was broken.

Naturally when we told the doctors "he was on a trampoline" we got the evil eye.  Look, I didn't know that this was a thing. Toddlers and trampolines.  I didn't know that this was something people feared.  I didn't know that so many kids who come into the ER/urgent care with broken limbs come from trampolines. I thought, "oh this is a fun, innocent way to kill time till we're ready to do bible study".  It's something we've done numerous times before without any injury except maybe a hurt ego when you can't quite get that trick down.

So, anyway, he had x-rays done and sure enough...broken leg.  Well..a "toddler fracture" is what they really called it.  As if that makes it better.  My baby is in a cast.  I always knew he'd be the first one to send us to the ER and the first one with a broken limb but I didn't not expect it to happen before he turned two, for crying out loud.

Minus the judgement the staff was amazing at the children's urgent care.  We arrived at 9:45, fifteen minutes before closing, and we were checked in, x-ray'd, casted and out the door within an hour.  I was shocked and very happy.  You hear such horror stories of the ER making you wait forever and being full of screaming kids.  Our experience could not have been more opposite.  So, for that, I am
thankful.

Sleep Friday night was spotty.  I would say it resembled newborn days only it was worse.  I think he woke up between 4-6 times and broke my heart every time. I could tell when the Tylenol wore off, that's for sure.  Saturday was spent navigating our new "normal"- at least for the next 3-4 weeks.  I am very thankful for my mother-in-law who came over to help in any way she could.  Because of her I was able to take a shower and put some make up on.  She helped me when my arms got tired from carrying James.  She took us to get ice cream when we got stir crazy.  She ran some errands for Jimmy. And she played with Kendall while I rocked James to sleep.  Without her we wouldn't be able to adjust as easily.

Sunday I woke up feeling like someone had taken a golf club to the bone that runs across my eyebrows.  My nose was full of thick, yellow snot.  My whole face hurt.  I was dizzy when I'd simply move my head.  Bending forward even an inch felt like all the blood in my whole body had rushed to my head and my head was going to explode.  So picking up James was 542,579,317 times harder.

I did what any normal person would do and Googled all of my symptoms and determined that I had a sinus infection.  The first one of my life.  Listen to me when I tell you this- THE WORST PAIN OF MY LIFE.  I've had tubes put in my ears, I've had surgery on my ears twice, I've had my wisdom teeth taken out and two c-section babies this sinus infection was worse than all of them.  Perfect timing.

Thankfully my parents were here to help Jimmy with the kids so I looked up our closest Minute Clinic. It was 20 minutes away, they closed in an hour but you had to be there 15 minutes prior to closing.  I was cutting it close.  As dizzy and light-headed as I felt I probably shouldn't have driven myself but I booked it over to that CVS and made it with 10 minutes to spare.

My experience here was nothing to give a five-star rating but I was in and out {with a prescription} in 30 minutes.  And you better believe I took that ish right away.

Sunday night was quite possibly the worst of my life.  I went to bed with the house a disaster, I never do that.  I felt absolutely terrible, James wouldn't go to sleep, my blood pressure was high, I was so cold yet I was sweating so much I had to change my clothes {gross}, Kendall wanted me to teach her how to read and I literally thought, "this is it, this is how I'm going out".  There were lots of tears, lots, and lots of praying and begging God to "HELP ME!".

I don't know if it was the meds or God but Monday I woke up feeling MUCH better and then Tuesday I felt even better.  Thank God because the "doctor" at CVS told me it was going to take 3 days to start seeing relief.  James started to "get used" to his cast.  He's becoming a little more independent and trying to figure out how to crawl and scoot. I'm really glad I've kept a lot of baby/floor toys because we're pulling them all out again.

It's really been a rough five days.  Probably some of the hardest of my life.  It's funny {not really} because it's almost like having a newborn/infant again.  I'm trying to coax James to crawl and watch him figure out how to stand while holding onto something.  He's back in the highchair for mealtimes.  But yet he's 35lbs and very opinionated.

I wish I could say I've taken this "adjustment" well but with being so sick I have definitely had my fair share of mommy meltdowns.  Now that I'm on the mend I feel like I can handle this temporary situation with more patience.  It's very hard to see your toddler, who has just gained some independence, become completely dependent all over again.  It is heart-breaking, actually.

Kendall has been the sweetest little angel.  Friday night she sang to him the whole way home and said
things like, "it's ok buddy, just don't move your leg, OK?'.  She knew he broke his leg but when I told her that meant his bone in his leg was actually broken...her face was priceless. It was like she was feeling for him how awful that must be.  I don't know how I got so lucky with that little girl but she sure is the best and has been making this a lot easier.

So, whew, it's been a whirlwind.  I know that God doesn't give us more than we can handle but I definitely felt like we were being tested this weekend.  But I also know that when I cried out to Him, Sunday night, and turned this over to Him, I felt instant relief.  In that moment, my tears stopped and a sense of calm came over me.  I squeezed James and told him I was sorry and from that moment on things seemed to get "better".

If you want to keep up with #jamescastadventure on IG I'll be updating as we navigate this very unfamiliar territory {I've never even broken a bone myself!}.  If you think about it, we would appreciate any extra prayers our way.