ER Freak Out!

kyrsties · August 2013

Not necessarily from me, but DH was loading us in the car and eating dinner at the same time when he got home last night. Personally, I've been around a LOT of kids, and if something is broken, dislocated, bruised, etc... it's not the same shape or color as the opposing side, so when DD started favoring her arm after her 3 o'clock nap yesterday, I just thought she slept on it wrong. When six, seven, eight o'clock rolls around, and she's still not putting any weight on it, crying when you pick her up, just wanting to be held, and Tylenol had done nothing (you could tell she was in REAL pain), I started to worry.

When DH got home, we went to the ER. The pediatrician came in and right off the bat asked if she had fallen (we got asked this 5 other times by random medical staff and got dirty looks all night; I guess if you bring your child to the hospital, you're automatically a bad person or abusive parent). After that, he diagnosed it as "nurse-maid's arm/elbow," saying that he sees it usually every two months. Then, he just goes right to try popping it back into place, which freaked me out. They took X-rays, saw a "crack," took more, and that crack thankfully ended up to be a blood vessel or something they caught on film. Then, he made us sit there while he played on his phone, drank coffee, and talked to the nurses. It was 2AM, and DD hadn't slept since 3PM. We were getting furious, so finally, DH went and personally escorted him to our room, and the doctor told us there was nothing wrong... Uhhh.

Anyway, have any of you guys heard of this "nurse maid's arm/elbow" thing? I've never heard of it in my life.

martha919 · August 2013

Yup. Although, my sister's happened (twice) because she used to do this "rubber woman" thing where she'd just go limp. Did it while my dad was holding her hand and boom!

ObLaDi · August 2013

2013mommy said:

We see nursemaid's in the ER where I work at least once a month! Sorry you had a long, frustrating ER visit and you got dirty looks. Nursemaid's is actually really common and I've never seen doctors or nurses question abuse with it. Of course it could be (and obviously we pay attention for things like that!) but it is usually because the child falls or drops themselves to the ground while someone is holding their hand. DS has flip flopped a few times while I help him stand and I've had flashes of this happening to him! Hope LO feels better!

This.

Is she feeling better? If it was a nursemaids, it should be back to normal now.

Hope all of you got some rest!

miss.brittany · August 2013

I've heard of it. I work for child protective services and we've been called by hospitals before to look into possible abuse and then after further testing the hospital staff has determined nursemaid's. Sorry they put you through the ringer. Unfortunately some children are abused or neglected so hospitals have to be extra careful.

kyrsties · August 2013

Yeah, she's doing much better. She's starting to crawl around again and put weight on it again, but I'm watching her like a hawk. I just have no idea how she did it!

Want a personalized experience?

ER Freak Out!

Re: ER Freak Out!

Choose Another Board

Search Boards