Nursemaid's elbow

When Kelsey was born, Ken and I decided to make it our last visit to the U-M Hospital for a long time. (Not that we have complete control over this, but it's a wish nonetheless.) We've had two children born at U-M, and we stayed for six days when Brendan was sick at age 2 1/2. That's enough visits to a hospital for me.

Yesterday, however, changed our plans. Throughout Sunday afternoon, Kelsey cried. She cried during her nap. She cried when I picked her up. She just cried. At first, I thought it was a result of a cranky girl who was put down for her nap too late.

Then I noticed that her cry wasn't normal. She sounded as if she was in pain. So after her nap, I asked Ken to take a look at her arm. I had a feeling that maybe she had hurt it when we were getting out of the car after church. She wants to walk everywhere these days, and insisted on walking into the house, except she took off out of the garage toward the pouring rain. I grabbed her arm and swung her around, similar to what you might do while playing airplane or something.

We debated a bit about what to do. If we went to the ER, she'd surely be fine and they'd laugh at us. If we didn't go, she wouldn't sleep all night and would end up with a broken arm or something. A quick call to our neighbor, who happily agreed to take the boys, and the decision was made. Off to Ann Arbor.

Now the last (and only) time we went to the ER, we ended up at the hospital for six days. So we were, shall I say, a bit overprepared. We had packed everything under the sun, just in case. And when the pediatrics ER nurse greeted us and said the wait would be long, we were glad we did.

Luckily, though, about 30 minutes later, a physician came through the waiting room, calling for Kelsey. He declared this would be a "quick fix," which somewhat concerned and relieved me all at once. Because they were extremely busy, the doctors were grabbing patients with minor problems, giving them quick but thorough attention, and sending them home. Our doctor hoped we would fall into this category.

He pulled us into the hallway (no rooms available), grabbed a couple of chairs, and explained that Kelsey likely had nursemaid's elbow. Essentially, her elbow joints were out of place, the result of grabbing her arm. It happens to children under age 3, and once it happens, it can easily happen again.

The cure? Popping it back into place with a couple of simple moves. One symptom is that the elbow isn't tender, which Kelsey proved by not crying when the doctor touched her left elbow. So the doctor performed the quick move, Kelsey cried, and then we waited. Within five minutes, she was bending her elbow, a good sign and a major improvement. After another five minutes had passed, she was reaching with her arm over her head.

Success! The doctor had quickly prepared her discharge papers, and we were on our way home 75 minutes after we walked into the hospital! The best part was, we were able to get home in time for the boys to see their happy sister and tuck everyone into bed.