bump in the road

I knew it, I just knew something in the back of my head told me not to gush quite so much in my last post. I would just be asking for a shoe to drop and boy drop it did. Monday evening I ran to the grocery store while Nick played outside with Lucy. Towards the tale end of my trip I got a call from Nick that something had happened with Lucy. When I got home a few minutes later she was still pretty worked up while Nick explained that he went to put her down to walk and she had leaped out of his arms only about a foot from the ground but fell on her side on the concrete driveway. We phoned the pediatrician on call who told us to keep an eye on it overnight and to bring her in if she still wouldn't walk on it in the morning. We figured she had twisted/sprained her ankle.

The next morning we had high hopes she would just spring to life like normal but that didn't happen. She was all smiles until she tried standing in her crib and her leg just folded under her little body and she began crying all over again. We got her in to see her pediatrician as soon as they opened. After an initial exam we got the news we didn't really see coming. It was her leg. Not her foot or ankle. They sent us to x-ray. Ever seen a 21 month old get an x-ray? Not fun. After two tries they got a good shot and we headed back up to her pediatricians office to await the results. About 20 minutes later her doctor came out and confirmed the worst, it was broken. She had a spiral fracture to the fibula and sent us to the orthopedic doctor down the hall who fitted her with a pretty new purple cast from the knee down.

{don't worry her daddy wasn't on his phone but he was trying to distract her with a game}

She bravely sat for her cast with out complaints but as soon as he was done putting it on, she was over being there. We finally got to take her home, fed her a happy meal and put her straight to bed. When she woke up we had to drive to the gymnastics center where she goes to class to take them her doctors note and get a credit for her upcoming classes she will miss and then we took her to dinner. Bath time was awful she cried and cried. After that we gave her a healthy dose of ibuprofen and put her back to bed for the night.

Reality sunk in as I was laying in bed last night. What am I going to do to keep this little girl happy for the next 4 weeks? How will we all stay sane? Anyone that knows Lucy probably isn't too surprised this happened because she's known for being a little wild and fearless. So how do I explain to her that she's limited for a while? How do I keep her content and busy? Yesterday she wouldn't budge unless we picked her up. The doctor said she'd be able to walk with the cast on once she got use to it. Today started the same though- me carrying her everywhere which I don't mind but I'm pretty sure it's not recommended a 20 week pregnant woman lift and carry around 25lbs all day long. As the day wore on though she grew braver and braver. I walked down the hall to the laundry room to toss a load in when I sensed her coming. I glanced out the doorway and there she was crawling down the hall towards me like a bat out of hell with a huge "look what I can do mom!" type of grin on her face. I'll never forget that look. It was the moment I knew this would all be OK. She'd be fine, she's strong and resilient and determined. Her leg will heal soon and we just need to buck up till then. I was so proud of her, in a weird way it was like seeing her crawl for the first time all over again. The hardest thing about being a parent is seeing your child hurting but when she showed me that spark it was a giant weight off my worried shoulders.

That was at around 3pm today by bedtime she was throwing that casted leg up in the couch and hoisting herself up onto it all on her own so we know walking is only a matter of time. Thanks for listening to my therapeutic rambling, I needed that.