Step by Step...

So, we've had a few very eventful few days, and thought we'd fill you all in. On Sunday we were getting ready to go to Whit's parent's house to watch the Super Bowl. Whitney was downstairs and I was coming down the stairs with Nina in my arms when I slipped and we both fell down a few steps. Nina seemed alright at first, and we gently moved all of her joints to make sure she was fine. She cried but didn't flinch so we strapped her in her car seat and headed off to the Wheadons to watch the game. She was calm the whole way, but once we got there and took her out she was acting a little strange. She was crying a lot and not moving, which is very strange if you know her personality. So, we decided to take her into the emergency room only 5 minutes after arriving.

Once we were at the ER, Whitney decided to feel Nina's joints once more. We noticed that every time that we touched Nina's left leg, her entire body would jump. The doctor came in, expressed concern with the leg, and ordered an X-ray. We gently brought her over to get examined, and the X-ray technician took over. Once the first image was taken, the technician came out and asked us what happened. We told her the story and she said "Oh, that makes sense." She told us that she normally likes to take images from 2 angles, but she didn't want to move Nina. We asked her is she was seeing anything, and her eyes grew very large as she slowly shook her head yes. That didn't make us feel too comfortable, and so I asked if her femur was broken. She told me shook her head yes, but told me that she wasn't allowed to diagnose anything. She told me and Whitney to come over to see the image on the monitor, and this is what we saw...

As you can see, Nina's femur is completely severed. The technician at the ER put on a splint and an ace bandage which was meant to immobilize her leg. The sent us home with Lortab and the splint, with instructions to call an orthopedic surgeon to schedule an appointment for a cast. As you can see from the picture below, the splint did not do too much to relieve Nina from her pain. (I HATE this picture because she looks so sad...)

We had Nina sleep in our room on Sunday night, and she woke up more than a few times due to the pain. She has always flinched in her sleep, which was causing her tons of pain since the splint was not really immobilizing her leg. We didn't really feel like letting the leg sit in the splint for 3 days was a good idea, so we called up to Primary Children's Hospital. They told us they wanted to see her that afternoon, so we packed her in the car and drove up to Salt Lake. Nina had a great experience there... they even put her in a wagon instead of a hospital bed!

Here Nina is off with the Anaesthesiologist. They put her under so they could more easily fit her with her cast. The fitted her with a Spica cast, and of course Whitney insisted that she got a bright pink cast. As you can see from the pictures below, a Spica cast goes from the mid stomach all the way down both legs, and it has a bar in between the legs to completely immobilize her lower body.

And here Nina is with her brand new cast. She still is a little under the anaesthesia...

waking up...

There is a hole in the bottom of the cast for a diaper, and the nurses were nice enough to put moleskin on all of the edges to save Nina's bum from any cuts or rashes.

After a long day at the hospital, no one was more ready to go home than Nina. Look at her face... you can almost hear her saying "Seriously... did that REALLY just happen? Am I REALLY wearing a pink cast on my entire lower body??"

My favorite part about this next picture is the hospital tag that the doctor put on the crossbar.

The doctor is going to bring Nina back in early next week to ensure that the bone is still correctly set. He's saying the cast could be on for 4-6 weeks, but that she will be completely fine. Thank heavens for good doctors. As you all can probably imagine, we were complete wrecks when they told us what happened. Although she won't be able to continue crawling and scooting around the house, we're so grateful that she is going to be OK. The moment we got her home last night she started being herself again, and her happy personality started to come back. Today she has been so happy and even playful even with her big cast. It's probably mainly from the drugs, but hey... with a broken femur we'll take the happy moments however they come.

So, that's what has been going on the past few days in our world. I know the pink cast looks stylish, but PLEASE... be careful with your kids on the stairs. The emotional pain you feel is NOT worth it. We're just so relieved that she is going to be just fine, and even with a Spica cast... isn't she cute?