And the Award for First Twin to Break Her Arm Goes To…

And the award for the first twin to break her arm goes to….

Any guesses?

Samantha! On August 13, all of us were at the little park by our house and Samantha was playing on the zipline, no more than six feet off the ground. On one ill-fated attempt, Jake pushed her a little too hard to give her a head start going down and when she hit the end of the line, she fell off, landing right on her right wrist, arm, shoulder and face. The playscape beneath was the soft, squishy kind, but she was hysterical and was obviously in a lot of pain.

Thinking it had just scared her and that maybe it was a sprain, we tried to console her onto her bike to ride home so we could ice it, but she would have none of it. Crying and gripping her arm, she walked home while Jake rode his bike and carried her bike, Meredith rode on the back of my bike, and Amelia trailed behind on her bike, screaming and crying that her “arm hurt toooooooo!” and that she wanted Daddy to carry her bike.

I arrived home first and could hear the rest of the wailing crew coming down the cul de sac from inside the house!

We iced Samantha’s arm and she laid on the couch next to an equally hysterical Amelia, who insisted on having an ice pack for her “injured” arm as well. Maybe they have some weird connection and she really does feel pain when her sister does, but it sure was annoying to have the non-injured twin throwing a fit and complicating things even more. Samantha was obviously in a lot of pain throughout the day and both twins were too tired from the ordeal to go to church, so we wrapped her wrist until we could go to the doctor in the morning. We figured it was likely a sprain, but at no point did I ever guess it was actually broken! She could bend and move her wrist, all her fingers and her arm, and I had no idea!

In the mean time, that day, Noah came over to play after we attended the memorial service of Auntie Lynn’s dear friend and our adopted “Aunt,” Marsha. Her passing was unexpected and we will miss her infectious laugh and bubbly personality. She’s been a staple at all of Auntie Lynn’s parties and has attended all of our birthday parties, showers, family events and even brought meals to us when the twins and Meredith were born. Such a sweet, generous, adventurous, and amazing soul who will be dearly missed.

We love you, Marsha!

Noah played with us while his parents were at the dinner for the memorial.

With her sore arm, Samantha did not feel like swimming and sat forlornly on the spa.

After a rough night of tossing and turning due to her sore arm, Sammy woke up, still complaining about her arm. Jake took her to the pediatrician who said she definitely needed an x-ray, so off to the orthopedist they went that afternoon. After nervously checking my phone for the verdict every five seconds, Jake finally texted me the x-ray and the news: it was broken!

Fortunately, it hadn’t broken near the growth plate, but both the ulna and radius of her right arm had small breaks and her arm would need a cast. The ortho said they weren’t bad breaks and would only take a month or so to heal, but we still felt so bad for poor Sammy and were shocked she had broken it from such a low height. She fell on it in exactly the right place. Sammy came back from ortho with her latest accessory, bright pink of course.

We explained that usually when people get casts, it’s fun to let friends sign it and decorate it with a marker, but Samantha would have none of that. So it remains plain bright pink!

The cast helped with Samantha’s pain considerably, and life resumed back to normal, with the occasional complaint of it being really itchy (the ortho told her not to stick anything down the cast herself, but when she gets itchy, we’ve been using popsicle sticks to give her some relief). Amelia, on the other hand, was a complete wreck for the first few days. From not getting to go with Daddy to the special doctor’s appointment, to all the attention Samantha got wherever she went with her cast, Amelia was feeling left out and extremely jealous! We’ve tried to make her feel special by spending extra one-on-one time with her and creating opportunities for her to be helpful by acting as a nurse, but it’s hard to convince a four-year-old that she’s doesn’t really want a cast!

But can you really blame her? Since birth, Samantha has always been the one needing the extra medical attention! First the helmet to correct her plagiocephaly from the womb when she was a baby, spending the night in the ICU after swallowing Visine eye drops as a 15-month-old,  then the glasses to correct the farsightedness in her right eye, and now the cast! It’s always Samantha, Samantha, Samantha!

I’m seeing a pattern…

After a few days, the novelty of the cast had worn off, and Amelia stopped her fits of rage and jealousy, even volunteering the whole story of how Samantha broke her arm whenever anyone asked and Samantha was too shy to share. Life resumed semi-back to normal.

At first, Samantha was very discouraged trying to do all the things she normally does with the annoyance of the heavy cast on her arm. We’ve tried to make a game out of it, counting all the things she CAN do with it and praising her for finding ways to be independent. She’s learned how to climb her bunk-bed ladder one-handed, can get dressed and undressed for the most part, can ride on the swings, eat with her fork, and even write and draw left-handed!

My initial thought when she received her cast was, “Oh noooooo! What are we going to do the rest of the summer??!!” But thanks to the marvels of modern technology, her cast is waterproof, so going swimming and taking baths has not been a problem, as long as she stays out in the sun or we hair dry it to help dry it out so it’s not uncomfortable.

Meredith and Maple on their toddler playdate.

It’s nice we don’t have to worry about water, but a huge ordeal has been the sand! She can’t get any sand in her cast or else it becomes super itchy, but try wrapping a plastic bag around an active four-year-old’s arm whose favorite pastime is making cupcakes in the sand. NOT happening. We remind her to be careful at the park and preschool around the sand and her teachers keep an eye on her, but that’s about all we can do. We’ve had to intervene with a popsicle stick to relieve the itching more than once!

Having never broken a bone myself, I can only imagine how uncomfortable and annoying it is for Samantha, but Jake, on the other hand, has broken pretty much every bone in his body at one time or another and entertained the girls with fascinating stories of different incidents, including an exciting four-wheeling accident resulting in a spiral fracture in his femur and having to sit out the entire basketball season in a cast up to his hip. Samantha and Jake now have a little bonding experience to share! Samantha was also fascinated to learn that Aunt Sarah once broke her arm falling off a swing during the summer and, assuming it was just a bad sprain, Grammy didn’t take her in for an x-ray until the next day either! I don’t feel so bad about waiting a day…

Nap time…

Samantha can still do her ballet and yoga… she just has to get a little creative!

Swinging? Check.

In addition to the itchiness, Samantha’s major complaint has been how blazing hot the cast makes her feel. She’s definitely been on the cranky side the past few weeks from not being able to get comfortable while sleeping due to overheating. Meltdowns have been on the increase since her cast and we’ve tried to make her as comfortable as possible. In the end, breaking an arm is no fun, but overall, she’s taken it in stride.

Tempting fate on the tire swing… there’s no stopping Samantha when she wants to do something. We’ve been back to the infamous zipline park, but she understandably has not expressed interest in riding the zipline again.

The lack of cast now makes it easier for their friends to recognize which one is Amelia!

She will get her cast sawed off on September 10, so only a few more weeks to go. In other medical news, Samantha had a check-up at the opthamologist’s and her eyesight in the right eye has improved considerably, as has her depth perception. She’ll still need the glasses for at least a year, but hopefully at this rate, she may not need them forever as her right eye gets stronger and her depth perception improves.  

There’s never a dull moment around here!

Lots of love,