you know you have a life short of serenity when you and your magnificent significant other fight over who gets to take your one (1) child to the emergency room vs. stay home with your three (3) others.

this morning sebastian woke up. nothing so unusual about that, i agree. he wasn't the first to wake up, oh no, jasper pulled a 1.30-3.30am special. magnificent charles got up with jay-jay-jude and took him into the family room, offered him a bottle, orajel, cough syrup, tried to settle him in the pack and play until finally at 3.30am the little man settled. but even with his eyes shut, he was crying confusedly. at 5am i came out and relieved charles, which meant holding jasper in my arms and patting his bottom or stomach in hopes he would shush.

but at 6am, i heard sebastian cry out. now you've seen the pictures of sebastian sleeping and so you can imagine that it is not beyond the realm of possible for him to fall out of bed while sleeping. but he usually falls out of bed during the middle of his circadium rhythm, not right before he wakes up. i listened, but wasn't concerned enough to get up and check, because after that first cry, there was nothing. maybe, maybe, i thought hopefully, he's gone back to bed.

but i thought i should check on him.

so still patting the jay, i got up and shuffled towards the nursery.

there in the door frame, was sebastian, standing on one leg.

i can't walk on my leg he announced pitifully, showing me his bent leg.

i put jasper on the floor (he was okay with that), walked back to sebastian and picked him up. i carried him to the couch. asked him where it hurt.

he pointed to his knee.

we established that he could bend and straighten it completely and that the area surrounding his kneecap was not painful. but when he walked, he couldn't weight bear and was falling to the ground pitifully. yet then when he saw his dad, he took several steps toward him that looked pretty normal to me. i started mentally running through the television shows he had been exposed to while we were away. had he seen a re-run of a christmas carol and decided to pull a tiny tim on us?

charles did the same knee triage that i did. and determined that sebastian should go to the er, just in case.

i'll take him, i offered. the babies have continued their snail trail of stickiness, and i envisioned reading the saturday paper uninterrupted in the er waiting room (a knee injury wouldn't get first priority, i could probably take a book too!) while sebastian crayoned or played quietly beside me.

but no, sebastian wanted his dad to take him.

it was around this point that i told charles that maybe we should wait and see if sebastian really needed medical attention. his walking was looking rather normal, maybe all he needed was a good stretch.

but no, they headed off to the hospital.

three hours later they returned.

sebastian has chipped a bit of his kneecap. they wanted to put a full ankle to hip cast on his left leg, but they want a surgeon to take a look at it first. that will be on tuesday. and the not so great news is, the x-rays show that chipping has started on his right kneecap as well. i have no idea what is going on. but come tuesday, i will find out.

so sebbie is hobbling around the house, yet is desperate to get outside and run with his friends which of course he cannot do. i am feeling like the crap parent i so obviously am. sela is crawling up my leg and leaving a strip of snot so long it feeling like i am about to get my legs waxed. jasper is planning on how he will keep us up all night, carys is sniffling around the place and i am also wondering how all three managed to get such terrible colds and low grade fevers. i don't take them out all that much.

then again, they have been home for ten months now (almost), and not one of them has been re-admitted to the ER in that time. that's got to count for something, right???

Comments

[Lioness]

Oh Tess. I'm so sorry darling, I hope they sort out what's happening soon, and that Sebastian heals fast. That and the triplets having a cold... Thinking of you all.

[Lioness]

Wait, I'm confused. They want to put the cast AFTER they remove the floating bit right (through a small hole)? Or is there no floating bit? And it is the kneecap itself (the patella), no ligaments, no tendons, no meniscus? I know you know this and again, it's not meant to alarm you, but knees are a noble joint, don't let anyone bully into one course of action before being given thorough information and seeing more specialists if you want to.

[The Good Rachel]

Poor Sebbie! And Poor Mom! I hope his knees are healed soon and that they determine what is causing such a terrible thing to happen!

I hope the trips are free of their snot soon, too!

[Auntie Pammie]

Poor Seb,
Its funny how all week my knee has been hurting from a bad run on Monday.. I know realize it was/is sympathy pains for Seb. Tess I know it is rough right now, but one day you will be able to look back and laugh this one off. At the same time you will be wondering how you got through it without having a bottle of cooking sherry in your bathrobe pocket at all times.
LOve you all , Hang in there.
Let Sebbie know that Auntie will have extra fruit loops for him this summer :-)
P

[mollyv]

Tess, just when I thought that my week was crappy, I just need to check in on you! So sorry, mum. Poor seb. - did I read correctly that they think he has a chip on both knees? Sending hugs and dry noses your way.
love,
Molly

[Maggaggie]

Oh no! Poor Wassin! Do let us know what the surgeon says next week. I do not know much about knee surgery. My husband tore is ACL when we were first married and had surgery for that. Quick recovery. I'm concerned that this is both kneecaps, and he's such a small tot! I'll be praying for him.

And my three little poppets! My Alexi has a horrible cold as well this past week. She doesn't quite know how to blow her nose, so I still need to suction it. This morning, I suctioned her nose so she could breathe-she screamed like I was beating her. It can't be that bad, now can it?

Oh, here's to all four getting better and hopes that mum and dad don't catch the colds too!

Love, Maggs

[sue s (ottawa)]

Tess!

sorry about sebastian - and the other little snotty ones. Hope they are all better soon.

I loved the picture updates - all the kids have such big beautiful expressive eyes! I also liked seeng the playtime shots to see how they do interract very neat. They sure are getting bigger &more mobile! Take care & try and find 5 mins to yourself :)

[Lioness]

(Wasn't there another post here? It's like an epidemic in the blogosphere! It was a good post, I was going to comment now! Why is it gone? Hell. Anyway, pretend it's here, pretend this is the comment - actually, this IS the comment. I'm happy for you.)