Four Feet More

...may be broken. At the very least, it is sprained.


Yesterday, Vika and Eamon were doing bridge handstands, with their feet on the wall behind them and their hands planted on the floor. Even though I did the same thing as a kid, this is not an activity that I encourage (they could break their necks, after all). As I was washing dishes, I heard a loud thump closely followed by Vika's wimpering. Then, Eamon rushed into the kitchen saying, "I need some ice Mama! Vika's been hurt! Hurt badly!"

Words no mother wants to hear.

When I went to investigate, Vika was not crying anymore, but she did look a bit pained. Apparently, while she was doing her bridge, Eamon thought it would be fun to throw his body across her. She collapsed, with the brunt of her weight landing on her pinky finger.

After holding the ice on her hand for a while, Vika resumed her normal activities until bath time, when she complained about her finger hurting her, and requested help getting undressed. I thought she was just milking it (something she does with every injury, no matter how small), but I did help her, and she didn't complain again until bedtime. However, while tucking her in, I took another close look at her finger, and it looked terrible! Her poor pinky was swollen and bruised, and curved kind of funny (whether from the swelling or a fracture, I'm not sure).

Boy, did I feel like The Worst Mother of the Year at that moment. I guess the next time Vika insists that she cannot clear the table because of a hangnail, I won't be so quick to scoff.

For the time being, we've "buddy taped" the pinky to her ring finger and given her some children's ibuprofen. Tomorrow, I'll call her pediatrician to see if we should have it X-rayed.

Ugh. Poor kid.

I talked to one of the pediatricians I used to work with, and referred him to this blog to check out Vika's finger. The fact that she can bend her pinky and the pain seems to be localized to her big knuckle (as opposed to the area between knuckles) makes him think it is just a sprain. Of course, he cannot know for sure without x-rays, but said that if the finger is broken, they would just buddy tape it and give her Tylenol for the pain, which is what we are doing anyway. Vix is playing around like normal, and while she is protecting her finger, it doesn't seem to be limiting her activities too much. So, I guess we leave it at that for now. If it starts to look worse, or the swelling does not go down completely after a few days, then we will take her in for x-rays.