It’s a mystery but it’s one that we can approach safe in the knowledge that we are blessed to have a healthy child.
Yesterday morning, Séimí and I lent our support to the HAPPY FACES campaign for the Jack and Jill Foundation. We smiled for the cameras and met lots of lovely people – although Séimí was uncharacteristically grumpy. Poor Brendan O’Connor was greeted with a wail when he tried to say hello, but he assured me it wasn’t the first time he’ d been met with such a reaction!
My bubbly baby, who was brought along to smile a HAPPY FACE, could only manage a moan. He wasn’t hungry, I had fed him immediately before. He was due a nap alright, but usually even when he’s tired he loves meeting people and if there’s anyone – especially other kids around – it just makes it harder to put him down. Not yesterday. All he wanted was Mammy’s shoulder to lay his head on, and if he wasn’t clinging, he was crying.
When we got home, I had to transfer his care to his lovely child minder. His Daddy and I had noticed, seperately, that morning, that he was flinching a bit in pain when his leg moved a certain way. So I asked the child minder to keep an eye on it. I wasn’t half an hour into my 10 hour working day when she got in touch to let me know she thought there was something wrong. So Daddy rushed home and went from GP, to A&E at Crumlin Hospital. And there they stayed. For hours.
Leg X-rays, knee X-rays, hip X-rays, and no diagnosis.
He was sent home after 4 hours of being assessed and examined, and we were none the wiser. Yes, there is something amiss, they said. He’s not putting weight on his leg, he won’t stand up, and for a child who loves to dance and bounce around standing upright, it didn’t quite fit.
I was busy at work during the entire process. Daddy took over and played a blinder, keeping me updated… and calm! We are so lucky. My boys spend the best part of the afternoon and evening in an A&E department of a children’s hospital. All around them in rooms and wards and theatres were babies and children who are struggling with something a lote more sinister that a dodgy hip or a twisted ankle.
If ever there was a day for perspective, yesterday was it. Séimí began the day trying to raise awareness for children who are cared for by the Jack and Jill foundation. He finished it in the national children’s hospital. He’s sore today, he’s crying, he’s out of sorts, but he is not seriously ill. I can only thank whatever higher power is up there for my healthy baby, and for affording me the luxury of appreciating how truly lucky we are. Get well soon little man, I have no doubt that you’ll feel like a new little man in a few days, and if you don’t, aren’t you lucky that a hug from Mammy or Daddy is enough to soothe your pain.
Chat next week friends
E x
