Jackson's Broken Arm

As most of you know, Jackson broke his arm yesterday...poor buddy!  He had been throwing a ball and chasing after it in a field, and as he was standing up, he fell forward and his arms got stuck under him.  I could tell his arm really hurt because he could NOT get over it.  The kid falls all the time and hops right up, but this time was different.  He finally pulled himself together and we came home for dinner.  He wasn't in the mood to eat and when I touched his arm he would grimace.  Oh, and by the way, Ryan left for Alaska this morning, so I called him crying because our sweet little buddy was hurt and I didn't know what to do.  Of course when Ryan got the message he felt so sad that he couldn't be here with us, but in wonderful Ryan fashion, he got on the phone to make sure I wouldn't be alone in this.

I ended up taking him to the ER that's less than 5 minutes from our house.  When we got to the waiting room, he totally perked up and was his normal, happy, fun, sweet, BUSY self...walking (running!) around the waiting room, babbling to everyone, making people smile...just overall bringing a lot of life and joy to a place that felt a little sad and sterile.  So at this point I had convinced myself that I must have totally overreacted and his arm must be fine.  I actually almost left.  Good thing I didn't...

After his x-rays, in walks my sweet friend, Shawn!  She couldn't have come at a more perfect, God-ordained time, because not more than 2 minutes later the doctor came in and said, "Your mother's intuition was right." He broke both bones in his lower, left arm (the radius and ulna).  I wanted to be strong and not cry, but this is my 15 month old BABY we are talking about!  I felt so sad for him, and from that moment through the rest of the night, Shawn acted as the hands and feet of Christ to me (thank you, Ryan, for calling Shawn!!)  Speaking of Ryan, he even called us FROM THE AIRPLANE through Gchat as he was flying over Canada.  Anyway...

They got Jackson splinted up and he fell into deep sleep as we drove home (again, we live less than 5 minutes from the ER...he was SO EXHAUSTED!).  Shawn helped me get him inside, get him into PJs (really hard to do with a splint!), and get him to bed.  She proceeded to make my dinner and clean my house since I had guests coming today.  Saint, saint, saint!

This is Jackson at the ER with his splint.

Today Mom was able to meet me at the Orthopedic Clinic where Jackson got his cast, which he only has to wear for 3 weeks!

Before the cast (above)

After the cast.

Here are just a few of the ways God has been so gracious to us in all of this.
1 - Jackson sucks his right thumb for comfort and he broke his left arm.
2 - Ryan was not alone when he heard the news - he was with a good friend that was able to reassure him on the plane, "He's gonna be ok Dad, he's gonna be ok. "
3 - My mom had a pre-planned visit to be with us today.
4 - My house was already mostly clean before all this happened so I didn't have to stress about it before the guests arrived.
5 - Shawn being there with me.
GRACE GRACE GRACE!

After the cast, we went to Dollywood to play!!  This cast is not going to slow him down.

"Come on mommy!  Keep up!"

"Let's go, Grammy!"