Autumn's Big Pink Bandaid

I think most of you know the story, but for those who don't let me catch you up. On Tuesday, August 17th Autumn was playing in our living room. It was close to bed time and she wasn't in the best mood. In somewhat of a fit, she turned around quickly and accidentally stepped into a small toy wagon that was sitting on the floor. Her left leg went into the wagon and it started rolling forward. To try and balance, she turned to her right and twisted her right leg at a funny angle - then she fell down. The wagon literally sits two inches off the ground, but between the twist and the fall it ended up breaking her right femur.

Right when it happened she was crying so I picked her up and set her on my lap. I tried to see if she would stand up but she wouldn't put weight on the leg. However, she calmed down within about 10-15 minutes and even fell asleep in my arms shortly after. We certainly weren't thinking we had a broken leg on our hands, so we decided to put her to bed at 8:30 and check on her throughout the night. I went up at 9:30 and 10:30 and she was resting fine. At 1:00am she moaned a little and asked for me, so I went up and she had rolled over her right leg onto her belly. Even with that though, she said she was fine and fell right back asleep. That was the last we heard from her until 9:30 in the morning. When I went up to get her out of bed, however, she immediately started crying when I tried to move her. Needless to say off we went to the Dr. Our pediatrician took her pants off and without even touching her leg could tell it was broken. She sent us immediately to Children's Hospital in Columbus. The next 5 hours were spent in the ER getting x-rays and explaining what happened to about 15 different nurses and doctors. Many of them also couldn't believe that an accident like that resulted in a broken femur, and they were even more astonished at how well she had tolerated the pain through the night. According to them, Autumn was somewhat of an anomoly. They said when this type of fracture occurs in a child they are usually in overwhelming pain to the point where you're in the ER within 15 minutes and there's no doubt that something is seriously wrong. As each nurse and doctor came in to evaluate her, they were amazed at how content she was. (In a way it ended up back-firing because we had to fight pretty hard to get pain meds for her later that day and through the night.)

Anyway, we spent Wednesday night in the hospital and first thing Thursday morning Autumn went under anesthesia to have the bone reset and casted. Because it was the femur that broke, they had to do a 2/3 body cast called a spica cast. As you can see from the pics below, both legs are fully casted and, other than an open area for changing diapers, the cast goes all the way up her waist to about an inch below her chest. She will have to have the cast on for 6-8 weeks and at this point we aren't quite sure what to expect when it comes off. We keep hearing that she shouldn't need any PT or rehab, but niether of us are totally believing that at this point.

It has been quite an ordeal and nothing that Nick and I ever imagined happening. We are about 2.5 weeks in at this point and can gladly say there has been vast improvement from week one. Those first 5-6 days were very difficult for everyone, her especially. Having a 2.5 yr old immobilized from the chest down has required a level of patience we weren't sure we had, and we are amazed every day at her spirit and how well she's handling this. Of course she (and we) have our moments, but we are grateful that this is temporary and she should make a full recovery.

First full day home with the cast, and first of many many wagon rides.


We don't know how we would have managed up to this point without our amazing parents. Yesterday was literally the first day since this happened that either my mom or Nick's mom were not here, and both have agreed to spend additional full weeks with us to help since I am limited with carrying and lifting her due to my pregnancy. The Grandpas have also made multiple trips down to check on her and help out, and have also been in charge of Macy (our dog) since we aren't comfortable with her being here for the time being.

Autumn insisted that Grandma Church put her glasses on too for the pic. Autumn looks like Stevie Wonder, but with a pacifier....


Day 3 in the cast....this pretty much sums up everyone's state of being.


Maddie and Autumn with their matching itouches. It's insane to me that my two year old has an itouch but it has been a huge help these past few weeks, especially in the car.


Autumn and Daddy bonding over some finger painting


Two weeks down, 4-6 to go. It's so good to see smiles from her :)

Summer 2010

Oh, where to begin. I'm certainly not going to win any blogger of the year awards this year considering our last post was in April. It's been a fast and fun summer. Our summer began with some exciting news that baby #2 is on the way and due January 16th!!! Shortly after that the fun of first trimester sickness began so June and July were spent swimming and playing with Autumn and promising Nick that I would laugh again come August :). He decided he doesn't particularly like "first trimester Jen".

In July, Nick and Grandpa Latta built Autumn her very own swingset. She was thrilled and kept clapping as they were working, saying "yeah Grandpa, yeah Daddy!"


This summer was SO HOT!!! The only way to survive was to spend lots of time in the water. Here's Autumn in our blow up pool going down the slide head first. She certainly discovered her love of water this year...to the point where Nick and I didn't know whether to be happy or scared at how fearless she is.


Maddie, Jacob and Autumn cooling off in the pool at the Latta Family Gathering at Indian Bear Lodge.


Starting to see a trend here? The next few pics are from 4th of July at Grandma and Grandpa Church's lakehouse. More fun in the sun and pool!

Autumn discovered the Slip-N-Slide!! Nick's cousin Tina had a cookout 4th of July weekend and this kept her entertained for hours. Duke (the dog) had lots of fun chasing her down the slide and jumping over it too.

Cutie pie :)

Can't believe our niece Maddie is already three! Going along with the theme of the summer, she had a pool party. Lots of fun - she's growing up so fast!

Two going on 25....who's ready for some shopping?!?!?

Autumn had her first fair experience this year when we took her to the Ohio State Fair. She loved it, and got to feed goats, llamas and a deer. We were so surprised at how quickly she took to the animals and feeding them. I think she would have slept in that barn with them if she could have.

...And let's not forget the other reason to go to the fair - the food! A proud moment - Autumn's first elephant ear :)

These last two pics are from our Girls weekend with my friends from high school. Getting all of us together in the same place is no easy task, and it was so much fun hanging out with everyone and seeing all the kids. Kind of crazy looking at this picture at all of the kids together (and there's one missing - where's Taylor?)