B.A.D. Luck

I am warning you all now. I am in a BAD mood, I am bitter, and I am mad at GOD. So if I ramble, change the subject and it's hard to follow, rant about something entirely off base, I am sorry. But today has sucked. Today will probably go into the top 5 of the worst days ever. Yes, this sounds like a pity party for me. But actually it's all about Caroline and how she does not deserve anything that happened to her today. So again, I am sorry.

Actually I do not even know where to begin. Today started off like any other day. Caroline woke up happy, she drank all her juice, Web left for work, then Caroline and I started our morning routine. I had a dentist appt at 10, nana was coming over at 9:30 and the morning was beginning. In mine and Web's bedroom we have a Caroline area. She has a bumbo pillow to sit in and a couple of toys to play with. It's ideal. Perfect for me, so I can brush my teeth, do the morning routine, without watching her like a hawk. She was watching Matt Lauer, I was making the bed, all was well at the Browne home. Then all of a sudden, Caroline had spit up all down her onesie and she was gagging and could barely breathe. She had no idea what to do, this has never happened to her before. She is super healthy besides the OI, of course. I immediately pick her up and she is crying hysterically. I think it's because she threw up. What one year old wouldn't be crying?! After about 15 min, she is still crying uncontrollably. I try everything, rocking her, singing to her, walking her, you name it I tried it. She wouldn't take a bottle or her cheerios! So you know something is right, because Caroline never refuses cheerios! I call my dentist and cancel, call nana and cancel, call our pediatrician and schedule an appt at 9:55. I lay her down in her crib so I can get dressed, throw the hair in a ponytail. She is still crying, ps.

As I am about to walk away from the crib I notice her left leg isn't moving. Her right leg, she is kicking, but left leg isn't moving. I call Web, tell him about her leg, but also about throwing up. He decides to come home and go with me to dr's office. After I get some pants on Caroline, I realize her left leg is swollen and hot. This isn't good. But Web and I still have in our head that she threw up and it can't be a fracture. That's not fair, and there is no way on earth it could have happened! SERIOUSLY! She was sitting in her boppy pillow, watching Matt, playing with her monkey toy. She didn't fall over, roll over, she was even on a solid surface!!!! We load up the car, and I keep telling Web that there is something wrong with her leg. We then start wondering if we should skip the pediatrician appt, and just go straight to the ER. Last minute, we decide to go to ER.
Caroline is still crying.

We get to the ER at 10, they immediately bring us back. And here we go. Yes, she has OI. Not sure if she has fracture. Yes, we have been here before. No she didn't eat anything. We always like the dr's in the ER and they are very thorough, but when your daughter is screaming you just want to skip the questions and move on to x-rays. After much sitting and waiting we take the x-rays and wouldn't you know it? They don't see a fracture, but her legs are really messed up. SHE HAS OI. Yes, her legs are bowed, yes she has OI, yes we have seen them. They call ortho dr on call. I stretch the truth and tell the ER dr. that our ortho, Dr. Herndon likes to see her and wants to know what is going on, not the on call resident. HA! Good news is the on call resident was in the OR with Dr. Herndon. They sent him the x-rays and asked us to meet him at his office at 1 so he can cast her.

LIfe would be so much easier if we could just skip the ER, but oh well. What's 2 co-pays in 1 day?!?!? UGH.

By the way, at this time she has had Tylenol with Codeine and not crying. But when she sees Dr. Herndon and his assistant, Anthony the tears were back on. All in all, Caroline cried for 5 hours today. 5 HOURS!
When Dr Herndon touched Caroline's leg she screamed bloody murder, so he didn't hesitate to cast her. She has a full body cast on her left leg. For some reason this cast is thicker than the others, and at 1st he said to come back in 3 weeks, but changed his mind to 2 weeks. I hope in 2 weeks it comes off.

The 2 things on my mind were Omaha trip next week and of course, her 1st birthday.

After talking with Dr. Herndon, he had no problem with Omaha. He said to go and get her started on PAM.
When we got home I called Omaha and they also said there was no problem with her coming in a cast. We probably won't gain all the benefits of physical therapy, but we can at least ask questions. A very good friend suggested that we upgrade our tickets to 1st class, but since we are flying Southwest that's not an option. So this afternoon I booked Caroline her own seat. No she won't sit in it, but at least Web and I can have the 3rd seat to lay her down and let her relax. Sitting on an airplane with a baby is hard enough, let alone one in a body cast. I hope none of y'all are flying to Omaha next week. If so, wear ear plugs. We will be THOSE parents on the plane with child.

Then there is her 1st birthday. I think about it and bawl my eyes out. This is so not fair. Caroline has had fractures on mom's day, dad's day and now her birthday. I have been working so hard to make this day special for her. So what do we do?
Well we still have the party. It's not fair to her to deprive her of her 1st birthday party.
We find a way for her to sit in her high chair. This is the 1st break where she is eating big people food, so it was a challenge, but I think we figured something out. She can't sit up without human support.
BIrthday outfit won't work, and it was so cute! If you saw her invite picture on FB, then you saw her outfit. Miss October with a tutu. TOOOO CUTE. Here's the deal. Caroline is petite, she only weights 16 lbs. She pretty much wears 0-6 months on bottom and 9-12 month on top. Well what the hell am I supposed to put on a one legged body cast?!
Tomorrow I shop. I think I have a onesie that will work, then I need to find a tutu. Because a tutu can cover a lot of her cast for pictures. I don't want her 1st birthday to be about her cast, but her smile!
I know Web and I and Caroline will survive but it really just pisses me off. My plan on Sunday was to take her to a pumpkin patch and have her pictures taken with pumpkins, but now we can't do that because she can't sit up on her own. This body cast sucks.
As you can see, today sucked.