I hadn’t planned to disappear from the blog this long. But, as it is wont to do, life decided to interfere with my plans.

Monday Aria fell off a bed, and had the misfortune of smacking her wrist on an armoire door on her way down. Afterward she wasn’t crawling properly, and she kept grasping her right wrist, so my mom and I took her to our family doctor to make sure all was okay. I have to say, I thought it was probably bruised, because she wasn’t acting like she was in much pain – she continued to crawl, she was playing using her hand and arm, and nothing looked particularly amiss. To be safe, the doctor sent us for x-rays. Since I am pregnant, I had to leave the room while they got the films. After checking them, the x-ray technician cheerfully (she was quite nice) asked if we were now heading back to the doctor’s office. When I confirmed that we were, she responded “Good!”. Uh-oh.

Aria has two fractures in her right wrist. Because they (or one of them? I’m not sure) went through the growth plate, our family doctor was not comfortable treating it on her own. It was the end of the day by this point, so she splinted Aria’s hand and they made us an appointment for Tuesday morning with an orthopedic specialist. Aria did very well that night. She wasn’t acting as though she were in pain. She was a little annoyed with the splint. She ate well and slept well. The next morning Mom and I took her to the specialist, where we met with a physician’s assistant who did a good job with Aria. I was nervous to learn whether she would need surgery or might have permanent damage to her wrist, but he confirmed that neither of these would be issues. As fractured wrists go, Aria’s is not severe, and her age works in her favor, healing-wise. He put a pretty pink cast on her arm (did you know a below-the-elbow cast on a baby will just slide off?), and that was that. She didn’t fight him too hard, though she cried the entire time he was touching her (and stopped as soon as he backed away), and she’s still doing well. She’s needy, and she doesn’t like to have a sock over her right hand while she eats (necessary to keep the cast clean and dry). But, she’s doing okay even with that, for the most part.

She doesn’t seem to be in any pain; however, this experience has afforded her the first tastes of cherry flavored Children’s Tylenol, and now she asks for it consistently, because she thinks it’s candy. Comical stuff. That’s what happens when the only sugar your child gets is in fruit.

The cast remains for three weeks. Shorter than I had assumed, but longer than I wish to have a 1-year-old in a cast. I am incredibly grateful she was not injured worse, and the experience has given me a new compassion for parents with children who suffer long illnesses or other severe physical problems. As always, Aria is entirely resilient. She has adjusted quickly and easily, and immediately discovered what a great banging sound she can now make on anything solid. She is thoroughly enjoying the cast as a tool to alert her parents that she wants out of her crib. 🙂

We are, all in all, doing quite well. I am exceptionally behind at work, however, and thus I will likely continue to be absent from here for the remainder of the week. See you next week, yeah?