Our first trip to the ER...

Yes, people...we did it. We took Owen to the ER. Now you have to understand that I am definitely one of those parents that rolls my eyes when I hear of people rushing to the ER over any little thing...I just think that often people over-react to things. Well, then MY child got hurt. And let me just say, when it comes to your child and it's not your every day bonk or bruise, that urge to get things checked out for reasurance' sake becomes pretty darn strong.

So here's the scenario: Owen has gotten to the age that he wants to jump off of anything and everything. Problem is, he's not yet old enough to understand that this can often be dangerous. So...this morning he starts jumping off of the furniture and I decide "hey, I might as well let the kid jump instead of telling him no all the time." I then decide to make a nice landing spot for him...I move the living room furniture out of the way, make a giant pile of about 15 pillows complete with a down comforter on top on which he can land softly and safely. He takes a few jumps off the chair onto the landing spot and loves it. About jump #5, he takes a big leap, misses the pillows (somehow?) and lands with his legs locked straight. C.J. and I both hear a loud cracking sound, Owen screams, and cries, and screams, and cries. I try to comfort him to no avail. We take him outside, put ice on his leg, give him a popsicle trying to take his mind off of things, and wait. We decided that we would wait until he calmed down to try to make him walk on it. So, we hold him and let him watch his favorite movie, Barney songs, for the next hour or so (an hour complete with whimpering and Owen saying "it still hurts.") Now, the kid has had many bumps and bangs in his life and normally it takes a few minutes to settle him down and then he is off to play again. Not this time. We set him on the ground after he is good and calm and his leg immediately buckles. So.....we decide we should get it looked at. After all, we both saw it happen and heard a loud cracking sound so we realize it really could be worse than his other injuries. We then load Owen in the car and head to town to the ER at the hospital....my first time EVER visiting the ER (well, excluding my Dad's plane crash when I was in high school). On our way there, we pass the park and Owen says he wants to go to the park to play. We are now thinking "oh good, maybe he'll forget about it and it's really nothing." So we stop at the park, get him out of the car, put him on the ground and again, his leg buckles and he starts to cry. We then see a fire truck parked nearby and ask Owen if he wants to go see it. Now, Owen LOVES fire trucks so on any other day this would have been a HUGE treat. We head over to the fire truck, we try again to make him walk to it and the same thing happens. So, we decide to continue on our trek to the hospital to get it checked out.

After all of the normal hoopla they do at the ER (at least I'm assuming it's the normal hoopla), and quite a few tears from Owen because A. he hates doctors visits and B. the poor kid's leg is hurting him, he gets a few X-rays of his legs. Doctor reviews them and says he doesn't see anything "alarming" wrong. However, I didn't realize until today that x-rays ONLY see bones and nothing else....and since we think the injury is in the knee and the knee is not made of bone, what good is an x-ray? I mean seriously, isn't there a whole bunch of junk in your knee that can get injured that isn't bone? In fact, on the x-ray the knee is totally missing in the picture...just a blank spot. So yes, the doctor ruled out a major break in a LEG bone but to me that doesn't mean much. Oh well, I guess we wait. We are supposed to go back in a couple of days for a follow up appointment. We shall see. For now our poor guy is left with a swollen knee that we heard go "crack" in the middle of his jump that he continues to tell us is "still hurting" and he won't put any weight on, let alone walk on. I'm HOPING that by tomorrow he will start to put some weight on it and that there truly is nothing "alarming" wrong with him. Poor kid! So there you have it. We took our son to the ER today...and any of you out there who are like me can roll your eyes at us and think "overprotective parents"....but just wait til it's YOUR child! Ta ta for now!

Oh yeah, and how on earth do you keep an immobile 2 year old entertained? I mean seriously, a person can only handle so much Thomas the Train before they go crazy!