Nursemaid's Elbow

After I got done socializing after church, I went looking for my family and found Cate crying while she stood at the water fountain with her arm running under the water. Um ... obviously, I missed something.

Turns out, Greg was spinning Cate around (holding her by her arms), like he often does. Apparently while he was spinning her, he felt something pull in her arm. He thought her right wrist was hurt. Our athletic trainer friend Cate (who previously tended to a Taylor family injury when Greg sprained his ankle ... ) felt her arm. She didn't think anything was broken, but agreed something didn't seem right about her arm or how Cate didn't want to use it.

We held ice on her wrist and gave her some ibuprofen. We decided to go on and eat lunch with our friends to see if how Cate acted and then decide if we needed to make an emergency room visit. She ignored her food, which, if you've ever been around us, is completely out of normal Cate behavior, and ended up falling asleep on my lap while sucking on her left thumb. She never sucks on her left thumb. Always the right. And when she was awake, she held her arm bent, close to her body.

Greg ended up calling a friend from church who is an emergency room doctor. Conveniently, he was working and said we could come to see him. Based on the phone conversation with Greg, he said the injury sounded like nursemaid's elbow. He repeated the diagnosis after Greg showed him how he was holding her. Then he kindly fixed her elbow.

I read online this common injury to toddlers is most often caused by tugging on uncooperative children's arms or swinging kids. Greg will now be holding Cate under her arms when she wants him to spin her.

She's fine, and, just like the doctor said she would, started using her right arm a few minutes later. And, you know, Greg and I survived our first parental experience involving our daughter, an injury and the emergency room.