parker's hospital stay

Long story…

So on Easter Sunday, we were at my parent’s house and my sister’s boyfriend, Steve was holding Parker. Steve bent over to get something, and down fell Parker. We heard the bang from the next room and walked in. Parker was screaming in his arms. I put ice on the bump on the back of his head. After he calmed down, I asked what had happened. They told me. I wasn’t that worried bc kids get hurt all the time and are usually okay. We got home and called the Dr. He said to watch him to make sure he’s still acting normal and bring him into the office in the morning. So, we did. Dr M felt his head and sent us for an x-ray. His little tiny 5 month old skull was fractured. There was nothing we could really do except to watch it and him to make sure he was acting normal.Parker was a little cranky and we thought it was because his head was hurting. Also 4 days after Easter he got his first tooth! Kids are notorious for being cranky when teeth are coming in. So I thought maybe it was that. A couple days later I realized it was when I was changing his clothes that he started screaming. Brian called the Dr on Tues and she said to bring him in Thursday.

Brian took him in to Dr K’s on Thursday and she took a look and said “his collar bone is broken, why did you wait so long?” Well, because your nurse told us too. We had no idea something might be broken. So Brian and Parker were admitted to the hospital to get tons of x-rays of his body. She also thought his head was too big so he had to have a ct scan of that to make sure there was no blood on the brain. Brian called me at 4p at work and I left work at 4:30 to be with my baby.

They x-rayed his whole body and he hardly cried. We waited for the results. They ct scanned his head. He didn’t cry at all. And we waited for the results.
The results came back. Dr. K came into our hospital room. His brain looked good. But he had a broken arm. The lower bones of his left arm- radius and ulna- are totally broken through. Dr K asked what had happened and I told her the story as best I knew it. She was apparently not satisfied with the answer. She called child protective services on us. “There must have been a lot of impact.” “This couldn’t have happened from just being dropped” and it was then that our judgment and ability as good parents was in question. She said that there were no orthopedic Drs at Oswego Hosp and so we needed to go to University. Since Crouse was full. We had to be taken by ambulance since our parenting skills were in question we couldn’t drive him ourselves.

He was admitted to University Hospital at about 1am Friday morning. All the residents and Drs were amazed on how well he was moving his arm even though it was broken. He was playing with toys, sucking his fingers, smiling and laughing away. His arm was finally casted around 4am. The Dr was nice and he gave Parker a dark blue cast. We waited until about 6a to take more xrays to make sure it was set okay. They said that the break looked like it was starting to heal already. This means that the break was old. It didn’t happen recently. We met with the Social Worker and the cps lady called me. She would come over to the house tomorrow to investigate further. Since the Drs opinion agreed with our story we were able to leave the hospital Friday night around 7:30pm.

I have never felt so belittled and incompetent as I did knowing that we would be investigated. I know that I am a good mom. Parker is such a great baby and that is why we had no idea it was broken. He would have tummy time and get right up on his arms. He hardly ever cries and sleeps well. We never in a million years would have thought he had a broken bone.

So, as the cps thing continues please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. This is def an emotionally trying time. Also, I’m pretty sure P-man has no insurance. So, we’re going to officially be in debt. The ct scan is about $3,000 and ambulance is at least $500.

Thanks.