Ouch...and Happy Birthday, Claire!

A week ago tonight, we woke up at 1:30 in the morning to the sound of Claire screaming like she'd never screamed before. I ran into her room and was surprised to find her bed empty. With my darn deaf ear I couldn't tell what direction the crying was coming from so I turned on the lamp and was surprised to see her kneeling in the middle of the floor (glad I didn't trip over her as I came in!). She was grabbing at the neckline of her nightgown on the left side and assuming she was having a night terror, the first thing I did after picking her up was pull it off. We couldn't get her to settle down and after a few minutes, we realized that she was very much conscious and responsive and very much in pain. After watching her movements and reactions to them, I guessed that it might be a broken collarbone but at the same time thought it unlikely. But we just didn't know and being naturally worried with her behavior, screaming, etc., we soon called Max's brother and he came up and stayed with a sleeping Hudson while we took Claire to the ER. The doctor fairly quickly said that he thought it was indeed a broken collarbone based on her sensitivity to touch and movement on that side. They gave her a shot of morphine in the leg to help ease the pain. In reacting to the shot being administered, poor Claire managed to get her left arm out of my grip and reached for her leg, causing her collarbone to hurt horribly again (sobs, screaming, etc.). We waited for the morphine to kick in and then they took us off to radiology for a couple of x-rays. Claire was good as gold sitting upright on the little bench while they took the films but it was obvious that the morphine wasn't doing the trick as she trembled and quietly sobbed from the pain during much of the process. Sure enough, though, the pictures showed a nice clean break right through the center of the bone. They told us that it's the most commonly broken bone in the body and that they see it all the time. We ended up going home with her arm in a sling with an Ace bandage around her torso to keep it in place, a prescription for kiddie Lortab, and a note to call our doctor for a follow up in the next few days. The first couple of days were pretty rough for her but watching her now, you wouldn't guess that anything was up if it weren't for the sling and body wrap. It's amazing how quickly kids rebound!

Showing us all how to work the sling look (about 13-14 hours after the break).

After a few days of getting used to being less independent than normal, my baby turned the big "3" over the weekend. As my mom says, it goes from the terrible 2's to the tumultuous 3's to the ferocious 4's. Even though she's most definitely following that path, we still love our Claire and we'll keep her (at least for the time being).

For her birthday, Claire decided to forgo her normal daily manifesations of her age and was most pleasant the entire day. After we sang to her in the morning, she kept singing various renditions of Happy Birthday to herself all day long. She talked about it being her birthday, enjoyed repeating that she was 3 years old, and repeatedly asked to open her presents. That evening we had family members from both sides come and joing us for cake and ice cream. Everyone enjoyed dessert, the adults had a nice time visiting, the 5-and-up group took turns on the trampoline, and Claire and the other 3-year-old cousin present spent their time doing girly things. Claire was thrilled with her little party and was excited about all of her gifts. A couple of the things she really loves are her flowered pink sunglasses (lenses flip open to the side...so cute!) and a big pink birthday sign/card that she refers to as her "newsletter". However, the most popular present of the night - let me take a bow - was her shiny pink tutu, "jeweled" crown/tiara, and pink star wand. She has worn them regularly since and enjoys asking me to put them on her frequently (when I'm in the restroom, when we're leaving the house, right after she's taken them all off, when it's time for bed...you get the idea).

Happy 3rd Birthday, Claire!

P.S. Per our follow-up with the pediatrician, the body wrap comes off tomorrow and she'll just have to wear the sling for the remaining 4-5 weeks. Hooray!