Ella's first trip to the ER

Last night was one of the scariest nights of my life! I had to do the thing that every parent dreads, take my baby to the ER. Ella fell down our stairs while I turned away from her for a minute. I thought I had the baby gate still up so I thought she was safe crawling around. I heard her start to fall and when I ran out I watched as she rolled down the stairs all the way to the bottom wood floor. I have never been so scared in my life! I was so relieved that she started crying right away because my first thought was that she would be unconscious. Since we live in an old house we have a curved stair case with very steep steps. I called my sister right away since my brother in law is an EMT and asked them what I should do. They told me to call 911 and have a paramedic take her to the ER. I was so upset when I called and had a hard time even talking to them. They arrived really quickly and they put Ella on a board with her head taped down in case she had a spinal injury. We got to the hospital quickly and the DR. came in and checked Ella over. Ella was screaming the whole time and there wasn't a whole lot I could do to help her, I felt awful. They didn't see any marks or anything on her so they said they wanted to keep her for a little bit and make sure she was ok. We were discharged an hour or so later and they told me to wake her up every 4 hours to make sure she didn't have a concussion. I felt a little uncomfortable leaving because they didn't really do a thorough check of her but figured they knew what they were doing so we came home. I laid Ella down for bed and as I was reading her bedtime story she tried to stand up and I noticed her leg started shaking and she started screaming. She couldn't even stand up! I held her for a little bit and and gave her some Tylenol because I thought she was just really sore. Ella slept for a little while but a few hours later she woke up crying. I gave her a little more Tylenol and tried laying her back down. For the next 4 hours Ella kept waking up crying. I knew something was wrong with her because she is normally a good sleeper. I called the ER again around 3 a.m and told the nurse about her crying and she told me to call the ambulance again and come back in, she seemed concerned that a cat scan or x-rays weren't done at her previous visit. So we headed back to the hospital. When the new Dr. checked her out she noticed she wasn't putting any weight on her right leg. She ordered a cat scan and an x-ray of her right leg. Soon after she came back in to tell me that Ella had broken her leg. They had to put a big splint on her leg, and it was the saddest thing I have ever seen. She seemed a lot happier after her splint was on I think it helped the pain. I brought her back home and put her to bed again around 4:30. It's so hard for her with her splint on because she still tries to stand on it and crawl around. I can't really keep her sitting all the time. This morning her splint actually came off while she was crawling! She has an appointment tomorrow to get a cast on. They told me in the ER that she might get a walking cast which would make it easier for her to get around. Since babies heal very quickly she should have her cast off in 4 weeks.
I feel so horrible! I'm so glad that it's just a broken leg and nothing more serious because it really could have been much worse. If she had fallen head first I'm pretty sure she would have had very serious even fatal injuries. To make this whole situation worse Paul is gone in California right now for training, so it's been hard dealing with all of this without him. Fortunately, my parents and my sister have been here and have been a really big help. So keep Ella in your prayers that she heals quickly and isn't in pain anymore. I of course feel like the worst mother in the world! I'm always so scared about her falling down the stairs and my worst nightmare came true! I'm so thankful to God that her injuries weren't worse. I will keep you posted on what we find out tomorrow at the orthopedic appointment.