This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

A Broken Child Unnoticed

How can a mom not know her daughter broke her arm?

Two boys, and the girl is the first in a cast?  Go figure. 

Picture this.  We're sitting in the the urgent care center at the Kaiser Facility in Towson.  The doctor asked, "What happened?"  Fair question. 

My answer?  "Would you believe me if I said I have no idea?"

Find out what's happening in Catonsvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Doctor: "Believe it or not, it happens all the time."  Enter sigh of relief.  I was pretty much expecting for Child Protective Services to show up right then and there.  Seriously, how does your 2-year-old break her arm and no one notices?

Of course we all know that hind sight is 20/20, so here's what we can piece together: On Wednesdays I work in Annapolis, so my friend and fellow Mom watches my kids.  She didn't mention any tragic events so I didn't really think to look for anything abnormal.  As I'm putting on Madison's pajamas, she winces out in pain.  Granted, they were tight fitting pjs, so I just assumed I had caught her finger or something.  As soon as the arm was through the sleeve, she stopped. 

Find out what's happening in Catonsvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Bedtime went off without a hitch.  The next morning, I was putting on her fleece, and she did it again, winced out in pain.  This time I thought I'd just check.  Maybe she had a bruise or something.

When I looked closely at her arm, I noticed a small bump.  So I felt it.  Um, that's not a bruise.  That's a bone.  I guess were going to the doctor.

At this point, I'm still calm.  She's doesn't seem to be in any pain.  I drop my middle child off with a friend and head up to Towson. 

The doctor does a full examination of Madison's arm and she doesn't even flinch.  She notices the bump, but figures it must be something else.  A break would cause far more discomfort, so one would think.  "Let's do an x-ray just to make sure."

Off we go to radiology.  Madison isn't one to be forced to do anything, so of course, holding her arm under a big scary machine didn't exactly go over well.  But it was over in a few seconds and we were back in the doctor's office.

A few minutes later the doc comes in and literally says, "You got yourself a trooper because that arm is broken." 

In a way I expected it, but I still wasn't prepared.  How in the world did my 2-year-old little girl break her arm?

While we're waiting for the doctor to get the casting stuff, I texted the babysitter. 

"Did Madison fall yesterday?  She seems to have a broken arm."  In hind sight, I probably just freaked her out, but in the facility I couldn't call her.  I could only text. 

Her response, "actually she did fall, but only cried for a couple minutes and then acted completely normal.  I didn't think anything of it."  Yep, I totally freaked her out.  I spent the next few texts trying to explain that it wasn't her fault and that I wasn't at all mad.  (Oh and that I would have called, but I can only text in the doctor's office). 

Even as they were applying the lime green cast, Madison still just looked completely unscathed.  In fact, she was more intrigued than anything.  I couldn't help but be proud.  Yes, I was still struggling with feeling like a horrible mother who allowed a broken arm to go unnoticed for nearly 18 hours, but still...I was definitely proud.

I looked right into my daughters eyes and said, "think of it this way honey, at least childbirth will be a breeze." 

In the days after, I had Mom after Mom come to me and say that the same thing had happened to them.  Though it made me feel a little better, I couldn't shake the guilt.  I guess that comes naturally.  Aren't we always questioning our abilities as Supermoms? 

Lesson learned: Just because they act okay doesn't mean they're actually okay. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?