Three and a half weeks ago, I declared that the next three weeks would be some of the longest of my life. And here we are. Three weeks later. I can't believe it's here already. Sort of. It seems like a lifetime ago that we were in the hospital for surgery on Ellie's broken arm. That cast has been so cumbersome and so annoying and so infuriating. But tomorrow is the day the cast comes off. X-rays will determine what happens next. If Dr. C is pleased with the healing, the pins will come out tomorrow, too. If not, I guess we'll be in another cast for a couple of weeks longer. But I'm feeling pretty confident that the cast will come off and stay off. In the meantime, I wanted to document our day, what I hope and pray is the LAST day in a cast.
Ellie wanted an omelet and yogurt for breakfast. That's what she eats for breakfast nearly every morning. She loves eggs!
After breakfast we did a few chores. Ellie loves to take the clothes out of the washing machine and put them in the dryer.
We spent part of our morning in the playroom. Today was a rarity. We didn't have to go anywhere, didn't have a doctor's appointment, didn't have to leave the house. So we didn't! Ellie loves to play, and we'll be so happy when we can spend more of our days at home. One of her favorite toys is the kitchen.
She loves her babies, too. And she especially loves pushing them in the stroller.
Today was also the perfect "outside" day. The sun was shining bright, the sky was a vibrant blue and there was a breeze to keep us cool. Ellie loves to play outside. Her most favorite thing to do outside is swing. I'll bet she would swing for hours if someone would push her that long.
She also loved playing with her water table today. Of course, it didn't have water in it. But I'm hoping that will change tomorrow.
After all of that playing, Ellie was really tired. She took a long nap and woke up shortly after Mason and Hannah Kate got home from school. They went outside to play with Seth while I cooked supper. After we ate, I found all three of them curled up on the couch together with their Kindles. This is their usual nightly routine.
And bath time. That has honestly been the hardest part of this whole ordeal. Ellie loves bath time. But she absolutely HATES having her arm covered. She screamed every night the first two weeks. But this week hasn't been as bad. And I'll be honest. Seth was out of town last week and this week. So on the nights he was gone, I didn't even fool with it. I just sponged her off. But after all of that playing outside today, a bath was necessary. As soon as she got out, she was insisting the cover come off.
Another funny thing . . . two weeks ago we got home one evening. When I opened the door to get Ellie out of her carseat, I noticed what looked to be pieces of cotton all over the floor of my Tahoe. I had no idea what it was. Later I found the same pieces of cotton underneath Ellie's highchair. And then I realized what it was. She had picked all of the soft cottony stuff out of the inside of her cast as far as she could get the fingers of her other hand to reach! So, needless to say, she has some little blisters now on her thumb where it has rubbed against the hard part of the cast.
As excited as I am about the cast coming off tomorrow (and hopefully staying off!), I am also nervous. I know it's going to be very scary for her as they are sawing the cast off. Heck, it's going to be scary for me because that's not something I've ever experienced before. And I am NOT crazy about a saw going anywhere near my baby's arm. But even worse than that, I think, are the pins. I just don't think I want to see those pins sticking out of her arm. And I definitely don't even want to think about pulling them out. But that's what has to happen. I've been told that it won't hurt her; it will only "feel weird." Well, I'd be fine if it was happening to me. But not to my baby! My sweet friend knows how apprehensive I am about our appointment tomorrow. She is going with us. She has a day off of work, and she's going to spend it at the doctor's office with us.
So having said that, I ask you to please join us in prayer for Ellie and our appointment tomorrow. Please pray for complete healing of her arm. And please pray for a calm, peaceful morning. Please pray that Ellie will not be scared and that she will remain distracted by the fun gadgets I'm taking for her to play with. And pray that this Momma will have nerves of steel!
Today was the first day since Ellie got the cast that she did not wear her sling. Until today, she refused to do anything without it. But today she refused to wear it. And since we weren't going anywhere, I didn't make her wear it. She first couple of weeks after she got the cast, she didn't use that arm at all. She didn't use her fingers. She didn't even try. But about a week ago, she started trying to use her fingers and her hand. And then she started using her shoulder again. She's actually holding things now and trying to do things with that arm and hand. I think that's why she didn't want the sling today.
As excited as I am about the cast coming off tomorrow (and hopefully staying off!), I am also nervous. I know it's going to be very scary for her as they are sawing the cast off. Heck, it's going to be scary for me because that's not something I've ever experienced before. And I am NOT crazy about a saw going anywhere near my baby's arm. But even worse than that, I think, are the pins. I just don't think I want to see those pins sticking out of her arm. And I definitely don't even want to think about pulling them out. But that's what has to happen. I've been told that it won't hurt her; it will only "feel weird." Well, I'd be fine if it was happening to me. But not to my baby! My sweet friend knows how apprehensive I am about our appointment tomorrow. She is going with us. She has a day off of work, and she's going to spend it at the doctor's office with us.
So having said that, I ask you to please join us in prayer for Ellie and our appointment tomorrow. Please pray for complete healing of her arm. And please pray for a calm, peaceful morning. Please pray that Ellie will not be scared and that she will remain distracted by the fun gadgets I'm taking for her to play with. And pray that this Momma will have nerves of steel!