Quite a chaotic New Years for us already!

[DammitJanet]

We left to go up to VA on the 30th with Keyana - just me, Tony and Keyana were going up first to visit with Jamie, Billie and the kids on that Wednesday, spend the night that night then drive back down to Richmond on Thursday (NYE) to spend the night and visit with my father and step-mom so they could get some quality time with Keyana.

Well, late Tuesday evening Cory calls us and that Keyana is running a fever...slightly and seems to not feel very well. She is also starting to cough. Hmmm. We get over to his house early on Wednesday morning to pick her up for the trip and she is not running a fever anymore but she is listless and still coughing...and promptly vomits! Ugh...what to do? She is begging us to take her with us and Cory is asking us if we think we can take care of her...lol. Uhhh...ya think? Well...we decided since she wasnt running a fever anymore that we would take her with us and just deal.

Off we go.

We get to Jamies with her. She has perked up considerably. We gave her some Mucinex and she was barely coughing anymore and she was playing happily with Hailie. Pretty much best visit ever with Jamie and family. Probably because we timed it at under 24 hours...lol.

Then we got halfway to my Dads house and I realized I had left my weekly pill container at Jamies house. Oh no!

So Tony and I called him and told him and we all decided that we would spend the night with my dad then go back to Jamies on New Years Day. Ok...works out well. So we think.

We get to my Dads and my dad is getting more ...well...forgetful. Small kids are hard on him. Keyana was starting to get sicker again. The cough was coming back hot and heavy. I was worried about her infecting my parents. She was starting to get very cranky and out of sorts. I made an excuse to them about just discovering my forgotten pill minder and that I desperately needed to get back to it. I think it really was a relief to them. Not that they dont love us...but it would be hard.

Well...turns out it was a godsend that we got back to Jamies when we did. Not 15 minutes after we walked in the door, Hailie got hurt.

Billie has this friend with two little hellion boys. 4.5 and 2.5 add them to Hailie being 2.5 it is chaos with little hellions on wheels.

Billies brother who lives with them was throwing his own NY eve party in the basement and there was a bunch of people going in and out and the kids were just running all over the place. Somehow, those three little ones got into a huge bottle of baby body wash..economy size from costco...and they poured it all over the landing at the top of the second story stairs and down the flight of stairs! Billie sees this and goes ballistic at the kids, screams at Hailie that she is in trouble, sends her to her room and tells her she is going to bed NOW! Then she goes screaming for Jamie to come get his daughter, punish her and clean up the mess his daughter made.

So Jamie goes up the stairs, tries to clean up what soap he sees but he didnt realize it went all the way down the stairs...after he got up what he saw, he was carrying Hailie back down the stairs to get a sippy cup so he could put her to bed when stepped on huge puddle of slippery soap and his feet went out from under him. He fell down 5 steps and Hailie had her little legs wrapped around his waist like toddlers do. When he fell, he was trying to shield her but he fell so awkwardly he just went down. The way he landed, he landed on his tailbone and hip and on her ankle and lower leg.

He refused to get xrayed but her tibia and fibula are broken. She is so pathetic. Her foot and leg are in a splint right now from foot clear up to her hip until she can get in to the ortho surgeon on monday.

Her whole foot was just hanging limply off to a weird angle. It was eerie.

Jamie and Billie were freaking out. If we hadnt been there when we were, god knows what would have happened because other than them, we were the only sober ones there and they were so upset they couldnt calm themselves down! Tony took over immediately to get them and Hailie in their car and on the way to the hospital. I stayed at the house with the baby and Keyana and the drunks...lol.

 

[tiredmommy]

Oh no! That poor baby!!! Sending {{{hugs}}} to her and Jamie. And thank goodness you were there! :wildone:

 

[klmno]

OMG! I'm glad you two were there for several reasons- not the least of which is that previous report to cps about the baby. You didn't mention any issue like that with this incident so I assume there wasn't any speculation, thank goodness, but if there had been, the more witnesses the better. It sounds like Billie needs to learn to quit freaking out so much because it's contributing to chaos over what I call "typical misbehavior". I can see getting bent out of shape though and feeling like one is at wits end- I've been there done that, too.

Anyway, my heart goes out to Hailie. That must be very painful and I'm sure Jamie isn't feeling too good either.

Other than that, it does sound like the trip was a success from your end. I'm glad you enjoyed the time with your family and had a safe trip.

 

[DammitJanet]

Thanks...Keep her in your thoughts. I wont be feeling better until after her ortho appointment monday. Seeing that lower leg hanging, well, I just cant help worrying that maybe it may need surgery with pins. It was really bad. Remember the movie Misery? It looked like that scene. Its not just a hairline fracture.

 

[GoingNorth]

janet. Since toddlers have such flexible little bones, surgeons can often knock them out and manipulate the fragments back into place without having to pin the fractures. I'm talking about the type of fractures that would have us adults, especially older adults, requiring pins and plates.

Another good thing about these injuries in small children is that they heal incredibly quickly and very rarely have any after effects. In some cases they don't even need physical therapy.

I'm sure Hailey will do just fine, though I agree that Billie needs to lose the "freak out" thing, not just over injuries which would freak any parent out, but over expecting Jamie to deal with all the difficult parts of parenting.

 

[everywoman]

Oh Janet, that poor baby...and poor grandma for having to see it---I'm sure it freaked everyone out. I'm glad Tony was clear headed and calm and got them to the hospital. I wish Jamie had gotten checked out too.

 

[Fran]

Poor baby and poor parents and grandparents.

 

[Hound dog]

Sounds like Billie has yet to get over her New-Momitis. And could use a really good parenting class. sheesh! If you don't want 2 yr olds pouring shampoo all over the floor then you just might want to watch them, or better yet....save your party for after they're asleep! Someone may need to remind her there is a reason it's called terrible twos. lol

And she is going to have to learn to svck it up and get her freak outs under control. sheesh

I'm also very glad you and Tony were there to witness it due to the privious report to cps. Cuz something like this would seem suspicious to an observant caseworker. Of course I've as yet run into an observant caseworker.........

Poor baby. But GN is right. A child that age has amazing healing powers and should not have too much trouble healing. Let's just hope Billie pays close attention to doctor instructions.

Man that had to be horrible to witness! And poor Jamie......even though it was an accident, you know he's blaming himself. I bet he's mighty bruised and sore too.

Is keyana feeling better??

Hugs

 

[gcvmom]

Thank goodness you were there! Hopefully her young age will mean she'll heal quickly and have no lingering effects from the break. Poor kid! What a crazy confluence of events!

 

[GoingNorth]

Jamie should probably get checked out as well, if you can talk him into it. Tailbone injuries, even just deep bruises, can cause long-standing pain and difficulty not just sitting, but getting up and down and walking on uneven surfaces.

There are also a huge number of nerves that run from the actual spinal cord and exit in that area, so there can be other side effects as well. So many nerves go through that area that they are referred to as the "cauda equina"" because they look like a horse's tail.

If nothing else, you can tell him that such injuries can cause impotence in men...THAT might be his attention.

 

[Kjs]

Oh my gosh. Poor thing. Hope the pain isnt too bad. sending thoughts of a quick recovery.

 

[donna723]

Oh that poor baby! And poor Jamie! He really should be seen too, but I know how stubborn they can be about things like that. Personally, I don't think that it's just 'coincidence' that you and Tony just happened to be there to help during the crisis. I'm a big believer in 'divine intervention' when things like that happen.

My son had a very badly broken leg when he was almost three. He had a horrible splintered break just under his hip joint and was in a body cast from his chest to his toes and a pn going thruogh his shin bone for over two months! But a break like what Hailie has should heal very quickly - probably be in a cast for a while though. And it's no picnic having a toddler in a cast and the pampered Ms. Billie needs to be ready for it! They are immobile and they take a LOT of care and a LOT of time spent amusing them! With my son, he had to learn to walk all over again. And they should be ready for many, many follow-up appointments as she heals. With young children, they have to make sure their bones are growing properly and evenly. And they get crabby .... very, VERY crabby! And she has an infant to care for at the same time. Billie will need to grow up and start acting like their mother and not just think she can assign all the chores to Jamie! This will not be easy!

And I don't even know Billie but I still want to just back-hand her! She so badly needs to grow up and take some responsibility for her own children instead of pushing all the less-pleasant parts of parenting on to Jamie! She sounds so childish and spoiled rotten, not very attractive attributes in an adult. Even with my scum bag ex, we used to refer to them as "YOUR kid" when they did something like that but it was done as a joke - I think Billie really means it! I sincerely hope that someday you will be posting here about how Jamie either packed up and left with "his" children or that he finally read her the riot act and lined her butt up!