X-Rays and Pink Medicine

I don't want to repeat the last two days. I really, really don't.

Yesterday, Lily fell while I was on my laptop, out of my sight, so I'm not really sure what happened. She screamed obnoxiously, and I assumed she was just being her usual drama queen self. Recently her drama has ramped up a little and I thought her screaming was more of the same. But then she wouldn't nap well (woke up crying) and then she wouldn't crawl. I could tell she was in pain. I watched her through the day and decided she needed to be seen.

So Tuesday at 4pm we ended up at the after-hours clinic. I had all three kids there, and the doctor found a double earache for Lily (which I had guessed after putting two and two together on her recent drama behavior) and sent us to the hospital for x-rays on her left collarbone. It was swollen and bruised. This is the same collarbone that she broke at birth. I was so anxious I couldn't eat dinner.

Kyle did the x-rays with Lily while I fed the other two kids dinner at home. After the x-rays, we had to go back to the clinic doctor to read the x-rays. I had Kyle swing by home to pick all of us up, because once I gathered my thoughts somewhat I realized that Molly's ears should be checked too. At the last minute I threw in a check for Claire because she had mentioned a sore throat a few days ago.

Molly is fine. But Claire has strep throat. And Lily? Well, there is no visible fracture. We were all floored because it looks like a classic collarbone break. After spending quite a bit of time talking to the doctor, we got three very overtired kids home and in bed at 9pm and both Claire and Lily got a dose of the pink medicine.

Coincidentally, the babies had their one-year well baby check-up today, so we were able to check on Lily today. Again, their regular pediatrician was floored that no break was showing in the x-ray films. Her opinion is that once the swelling goes down, if we re-did x-rays again, it would show a break - that it's the swelling itself that is masking the break. Given that there is no real treatment for a broken collarbone, that just means we help her manage her pain and watch her. We've got a follow-up appointment to check the area in a couple weeks. I'm supposed to call them if I'm not seeing any improvement.

Molly is a short chunky monkey! She weighed in just under 20 lbs (and right on the 20-lb mark at the after-hours clinic last night), but she is about 2 inches shorter than Lily. Of course these height measurements aren't exact, but she's definitely a good bit shorter. And Lily weighs 19 lb 7 oz, less than her shorter twin. So my characterizations of their body types, 'long and lean' Lily and 'short and stumpy' Molly, are pretty accurate. Lily is 80th percentile in height while Molly is 25th. Go figure.

The twins got 4 shots apiece, and I listened to ear-piercing double screaming in a tiny examining room, so between today's and yesterday's crying, I'm fried. Truly fried.

The only other noteworthy part of the appointment is that the doctor noted that Lily's palate is becoming long and narrow from those "Soothie" pacifiers she is addicted to, so we were told to stop use of those and the bottles pronto. This will come as a life-ending proposition to Lily. She adores those pacifiers, so this will be one more battle with her. I told Kyle we wouldn't start until next week, when hopefully her shoulder is feeling better. Why kick her when she's down?

My greatest hope is that the earache has been causing Lily's extreme drama recently and not that we're in a new, difficult phase with her. Even after two doses of the pink medicine she had calmed down today so I'll let myself be a little hopeful.