Miriam's big break

Sunday after church Michael's sister, Rebecca, asked if she could pick up Miriam from nursery. When she brought her to me I could tell she had been crying and then she broke down again when she saw me. I asked if they said what had happened in nursery. Rebecca said she fell backwards off a small bench. Michael took her to try to calm her down, but she was inconsolable. We took her home to feed her lunch but she wouldn't eat. She just wanted to lay on me and so I let her fall asleep. Forty-five minutes later she was awake again and she was screaming. We noticed she wouldn't turn her head to the right. We decided to call the nursery leader to find out what happened for sure. She is a nurse and said she felt her head for bumps, but thought we should get her checked out. We decided to take her to an urgent care to make sure she didn't break her neck (or something like that). They took x-rays of her neck and the doctor said there wasn't anything broken. He said she just had whiplash with some sore muscles.

Miriam signing "hurt" to me on Monday

We spent Monday just hanging out on the couch. She didn't want to move at all, so I propped her up on some pillows so she could watch Signing Time. Later that afternoon I got a call back from the urgent care facility saying after the radiologist re-examined the x-rays he couldn't rule out a break because Miriam was so small and the images weren't clear. They recommended we take her to the ER to get a CT scan as soon as possible. As soon as Michael got home from work we took her in. So off to the hospital we went. When we got there as part of protocol they had to put her in a neck brace and on a back board. (The only pictures we got were on Michael's phone and now we can't get them off.) The poor thing was so sad, I was trying so hard to keep it together. She had to leave it on until the CT scan was over, she was much happier once they took it off. The doctor came back, checked Miriam, and said that there wasn't a break and diagnosed her with a cervical strain. She discharged her and told us to follow up with a pediatrician in a couple of days.

Tuesday was spent much like Monday, on the couch with Miriam not wanting to move much. She told me it hurt every time she moved. We were really careful with her neck and shoulders. Tuesday night when Michael brought Miriam down to bed she started crying a lot and didn't want to take a bath. Michael said it seems like she isn't moving her left arm. While she was in the bath I also noticed she wouldn't move her left arm. Then I saw that her left shoulder was a little lower than her right. I felt her collar bone and definitely felt something move. All I could think was that deep down I knew that the cervical strain wasn't right. Call it mother's intuition or whatever, but I felt like there was something more.

This morning I made an appointment with a pediatrician. I told her of the concerns we had after last night. She felt Miriam's collar bone and said she knew it was broken without even needing a x-ray. At this point I was mostly relieved. I was just glad to finally know what was wrong. The doctor sent us to x-ray just to find out what kind of break it was. Michael was at work, so Miriam and I headed back to the hospital for a clavicle x-ray. The pediatrician called me quickly and luckily we didn't need to head to an orthopedic doctor. She has to wear a sling for 3 weeks before we go back to the doctor. She was much happier today and has been such a great sport with the sling. Her collar bone should heal just fine.

Michael and Miriam (showing off her sling)