**I wrote this 3 months ago… not sure why I never posted it?**

It’s been just over a month since my sweet lovey girl got hurt. I received a phone call from Charlie’s school that she had fallen from the jungle gym. They didn’t think she was hurt, but was wondering if I’d like to come in and help settle her and maybe bring her in to the doctor as a precaution.

On my way to the school I called Mark, “I think I’ll have her stay at school and eat lunch. I don’t have anything at the house to feed her.” Clearly, I thought she was fine.

When I arrived, I was thrust into an emergency. Charlotte was screaming and crying like I’ve never heard before. She was holding her arm.

Ugh… as I write this, I’m just exhausted thinking about it. Maybe for now, I’ll just say this…

We spent the afternoon at the clinic, who sent us to the Children’s Hospital. We learned that Charlotte shattered her elbow and also cracked it all the way through, right at the growth plate. We sat and waited for hours… from around 12-8:30, when Charlotte was finally taken into surgery to have three pins placed in her elbow.

The waiting was terrible. Charlotte was in pain and she was terrified. I was terrified. None of us had eaten anything since breakfast. We were exhausted. I literally held Charlotte in my arms for probably 90% of the time we waited. I dug deep to find my best poker face. To stay not only calm, but cheerful. To show her that she would be okay, despite the pain and the fear she was experiencing. I rode in the hospital bed with her up to meet the anesthesiologist.

When she was wheeled off to surgery, I broke down. I just cried. I was scared and exhausted and overwhelmed and confused and angry and scared.

Thankfully, from the time C was taken into surgery until I got to go back to recovery to see her was only about an hour. Then, it was back to game face time. Of course, she came out of the anesthesia crying and scared. I held her in my arms and fed her juice from a sippy cup.

It was time to go to our room on what felt like the other side of the hospital and on a different floor. So carefully, I carried my 28+ pound baby to her hospital room.

Nana came with toys and relief. We finally settled into a little routine and by around 12 or 1 am, got some food. By 3 am, Charlie finally closed her eyes.

She slept for 2 hours, whimpering and crying in her sleep the entire time. It was terrible. The morning was filled with tears and stress and just fear for what our little baby was going through.

Finally, sometime between 12 and 3, we were released. Throughout the entire epically long experience, I must have sung Twinkle, Twinkle and You Are My Sunshine about 5,000 times each.

But, we got home to Mark’s dad, step mom, mom and little Henry and things started falling back into place. Charlie was so relieved and happy to see her Henry and to be home.

The past month has been filled with recovery and now, C’s cast is off! Onto the next phase of healing…

The First Few Days Home

 

Bathtime

We had to spongebathe C while the cast was on… this was our method:

C’s SPARKLY blue cast (can you believe this was before she saw – and became obsessed with – Frozen)

 

Life at Home 

We tried very hard to come up with activities for C and get back into our normal routine.

 

We had to get creative with clothing…

 

Doctor Visits

C was at the doc every 1-2 weeks while the cast was on. Fortunately, she didn’t mind them because it meant presents, stickers, BLUE suckers, and roaming the hospital halls!

 

Time for the Cast to Come Off…

Duck, duck, OOPS

 

Temporary splint

Getting used to life without the cast/splint