Week from hell

My pixie decided, very early Monday morning, to jump out of my arms just after I'd lifted her out of her crib.  I barely caught her by her left arm, and heard a pop.  She started screaming, but didn't seem like she'd broken anything, since she settled down, nursed well, and fell back asleep.  She woke up about an hour and a half later screaming again when she tried to push up to resettle herself against my shoulder. 

We took her to the urgent care clinic, and the doctor diagnosed her as having nursemaid's elbow--a mild dislocation--but couldn't put it back.  He gave us the name and number of a specialist to call Tuesday, and put a splint on her to protect her little elbow.

She spent most of Monday in my lap, nursing and sleeping.  She wanted down to play a couple of times, but got incredibly frustrated because she couldn't crawl with the splint, which stretched from an inch or two below her shoulder to her knuckles.

We got her in to see the specialist on Tuesday, he got her elbow put back in (with much screaming and crying on her part, and flinching and nearly crying on mine), and sent her for some x-rays to make sure her tiny bones didn't take any damage.  She finally started using her arm again, but acted like it was still really sore (big surprise, there).  It was sore all day Wednesday, and much of the day yesterday, making her really cranky, and inclined to want to nurse all the time.  It was only late yesterday afternoon that she started acting like her normal, happy, active self.

So, for most of this week, I've been limited to one hand to do anything with--which really sucks when it's my retarded left hand.  And I've not had nearly enough sleep.

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My kids

On December 4, 2010, Kathryn Aubrey Chism decided that 36 weeks was long enough, and she wasn't going to wait those last four weeks before making her entrance into the world. She weighed six pounds, and was eighteen and a half inches long.

Frankly, after her brother's impatience, I'm surprised (though very pleased) that she waited as long as she did to make her entrance.

Her brother Daniel, who'd stayed with my husband's parents while I was in the hospital, got to meet her the day we got to bring her home. He pretty much fell in love with her right away.

It's not hard to see why. She's incredibly cute, and has been since day one. Below is her first day home.

These are more recent picture of Grandma holding Kathryn, with Daniel kissing her little head in the first, and looking up at Grandpa's camera instead of ours with the second.


Daniel adores his baby sister, but since he's only two years old, he has to be penned out of her room sometimes (no matter how adorable he is begging to come in), like when she's in her swing. He may be gentle with her, but he's a klutz, like any toddler is.



One of the funnier things is how protective he is. If she cries at all, he freaks out and runs to make sure she's okay. If I'm in the room and the gate is open, he'll run up to her and touch her to make sure everything's all right. If I'm not in the room, he'll come find me and point at my chest to tell me to go feed the baby*. It's really sweet--he takes his duties of being a big brother seriously.

*Have you seen how expensive formula is?! If we weren't breastfeeding her, we wouldn't be able to afford to eat!

So, if it sometimes seems like I'm taking forever to get back to you on the discussion board, with your blogs, or your e-mails, it's probably because I'm taking care of these two little gifts. You really wouldn't believe how many hands I need to wrangle a toddler and an infant, and do the other things that need doing on a daily basis.