We got home from the library and while I was making lunch, Eve was holding Cora in the living room to keep her calm. While she was holding her, she stumbled over a stool Abigail had put in the middle of the floor and fell. She kept hold of Cora the whole time, never dropping her, but they both hit the ground. Cora started crying, then so did Eve because she felt so bad for hurting her sister. She ran from the room and as I was attempting to calm Cora down, I noticed that her left leg was limp, she wouldn't move it, and wailed whenever I touched it. I immediately left to take her to the ER, while Grandma Smith stayed with the older girls (Andrew was at school).
When I got to the hospital, they took one look at Cora's leg and rushed us to pediatric trauma. Almost immediately, the room was filled with 17 doctors and nurses (it was so crowded, I was curious and counted). It all happened so fast, but they stuck IV's in her, put on the little monitor things on her chest, did some x-rays, and put a temporary splint on the leg. The x-rays showed that her femur was completely snapped in half. Poor girl! The morphine they gave her at least took the pain away, though.
After an hour or so, they moved us up to the pediatric floor. Cora was completely out of it this whole time. She didn't even wake up enough to eat for 14 hours!
The doctors came back and after consultation with the orthopedic specialist, removed the splint and put her in this harness. Unfortunately, they put it on wrong.
The ortho remedied it when we arrived. Her arm has a board on it to keep her from pinching off her IV. She was such a trooper! We stayed overnight and that evening Andrew stopped by after school to give her a blessing, then went home to help his mom with the other girls.
The next morning we were interviewed by CPS - me in the hospital and Andrew, Connie, and the girls at home. Eve was too shy to talk to the man, but Halle would. After we passed the inspection, Cora and I were released to come home!
We set her up in the pack and play in our room where she gets to spend six weeks in her harness. We were told no holding her for the first two weeks at all, then occasionally after that if we're super careful with her leg.
There were several neat experiences associated with Cora's accident. First, during this summer term, Andrew was originally disappointed to learn that through a mistake in the MBA office, he was registered for all online classes. He prefers in-class, but after the accident, we realized what a blessing it was to have the flexibility of online classes so he can help me a little more with the girls. Also, about a week before this happened, I switched from breastfeeding to pumping and bottle feeding because I just couldn't handle the pain anymore. Turns out it worked out perfectly because that gave Cora a few days to adjust to bottles before they became a necessity! Another blessing :) And finally, the night before the accident, I texted my sister Kelly and said, "She's too cute!!! I can't put her in bed, I just want to hold her!!!!" The Lord knew I wouldn't get to hold my baby again for a while, so blessed me with that little extra desire to snuggle her the night before.
So neat to see the hand of the Lord working in our lives in these tender ways!
Everyone who hears about the accident asks me how Eve's doing, knowing she would feel terrible about it. Actually, we didn't tell Eve the break was a result of her fall with Cora. It was an accident and there is no need for her to feel guilt about it. She felt bad enough when Cora started crying after the fall. When I decided to take Cora to the hospital, I simply told the girls that Cora had a doctors appointment. Eve loves her sister so much and would never do anything to hurt her! She's continued to be a huge help to me in taking care of Cora - such a great biggest sister!
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