Yesterday I experience the highs and lows of being a Dad all in the one day...... Let's start with the low point:
My smallest daughter was climbing all over me whilst we were watching the older daughter playing netball. There were lots of laughs and tickles and fun and climbing on shoulders...... All the good parts of being a Dad and having small daughters. Then it happened.
As she was getting down off my shoulders, I had her by the hand and she fell backwards. I caught her as she fell, but not after I had twisted her arm/elbow back. I heard a slight crack and thought the worst straight away. The screaming then confirmed that something was wrong and no amount of comforting stopped the sobbing. Now, am I a bad Dad for thinking that my daughter was just over-exaggerating all of this? She has done this before and soreness/injury miraculaously disappeared a few hours later.
So after making her comfortable for another 15 mins, we watched the remainder of my oldest daughter's netball match. I then scooped her up off the ground and took her to my car, and the screaming began again. It was at this point that I started to feel really horrible as a Dad and took her to the Emergency department at the hospital for a look over.
After pumping her full of drugs (Paracetamol) her pain died down a bit and we were ushered into the X-Ray department to check the arm bones for a possible fracture. I had to don the lead gown and twist her little arm into position whilst she yelped and cried further so they could get a great shot. Luckily, it came back not fractured/broken so we sat in the Emergency department for another 30 minutes to determine what was causing the pain. The verdict was.......
A Pulled Elbow.
It is where one of the forearm bones has slightly moved away from the ligaments in the elbow. Apparently it is a common injury inflicted by Dad's on their children, particularly when you grab kids by the arms and swing them around. The fix was to grab my daughter on her painful elbow and twist and bend the arm and elbow in different directions to get the bone back into correct alignment with the ligaments in the elbow. Of course this was painful for her and she screamed some more.
After placing it in a sling, we were let out of the hospital with the assurance that the pain would subside as the inflammation in the elbow went down.
If I didn't already feel bad enough, she then told me that I was a 'bad Dad' for hurting her arm. I must admit I did feel pretty low, I am supposed to protect them, not hurt them.... But apparently it is common and she has forgiven me!
Do you have any Dad stories to share? If so, use the tag #BadDad......
Thanks for reading.
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