That's It!

It looks as though I'll have to stop breastfeeding HN. Even though I still express every morning while I was in KL for a conference last week, my milk supply has dwindled steadily. HN isn't letting me off so easily, though. She still insists on suckles after every bottle, despite me telling her mommy's milk isn't quite enough anymore...

Pulled Elbow

I guess it's bound to happen sooner or later, given the no-holds-barred way HN frolics around... but she still gave us a turn. Friday evening and we'd just came back from SP, and she'd just finished her bath and was playing and rolling around like nobody's business (as usual). When suddenly she started wailing LOUDLY.

I ain't worried yet.

And she doesn't stop wailing after a few minutes.

I took a good look at her and somehow it seemed that her left arm's not quite right. No swellings, no bruises, no nothing, yet she's holding it a bit limply.

Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap.

I tried to get her to grab a ball, she takes it up slightly, wailed even louder, and drop it away. I gently raised her arm, she shifts her shoulder as if to avoid touching a nerve, and screams.

Oh CRAP. I insisted that we took her to the pediatrician RIGHT AWAY.

Well, the pediatrician quite promptly confirmed that it's a pulled elbow (i.e. "mild dislocation of the elbow which is the result of the lower arm slipping out of its normal position at the elbow joint", OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH I can't stop wincing as I read and typed that!!) after ruling out accidental swallowing something, tummy upsets, fractures etc. She put things right in a jiffy (as promised by all the articles I looked up later) and prescribed some pain-killers, and assured us that all is well now, but we should avoid touching her left arm for a while (strictly no further massaging!!!) and especially not lead her by the left arm.

Quite understandably, HN was still sniffling as we left the clinic. I said to her "well you'd better not play so roughly from now on." To which she sniffled, whimpered and nodded her head vigorously.

After tucking her in that night, I googled some more, and learnt here that pulled elbow occurs slightly more often in females (check), and in the left arm (check). Most common cause is axial traction i.e. a pull/yank on the child's hand or wrist; 2nd most common cause is a fall; some cases have been reported after rolling over (check).

Come the second morning, HN was still miserable and kept fussing and crying, although she's using her left hand and arm more. I insisted that we head to the pediatrician's again for a follow-up.

You know what? The moment she saw us changing clothes, she stopped crying. There was even a hint of a smile when I put her in her car seat. And she was beaming when we reached the clinic, the rascal! And sure enough, the pediatrician confirmed that the arm's alright after observations, but acknowledged that it's probably still tender, and that HN would make the most of the oppotunity to get extra hugs out of us. HN was given a generous patch on the elbow, and we were on our way.

By late afternoon, she was her usual mischievous and frolicsome self, rolling and dashing all around again. And that, reader, if you were reproaching me for the seemingly cold-blooded, calm tone of this post, is why I can write thusly 2 days after the fact. I was a miserable, emotional wreck on Friday night and Saturday morning, nearly driving MC up the wall too.

And once is quite enough, thank you, so HN, you'd better honour that promise about not playing so roughly again. EVER!