Stupid monkey bars.

Before...

After...

I took Houston, Hannah and Macy to the local school playground after dinner to play on Saturday evening. We were having a great time when Houston fell from the monkey bars ladder (about 3 feet) and landed wrong. He came to me whimpering, and as soon as I saw his arm I knew what had happened. It was completely distorted. I was by myself and couldn't reach Jason (at home with Aidan) so I called my Dad and he took us to the Hendersonville Hospital ER. Jason was there not long after we arrived. They pumped him full of painkillers and took xrays. They showed it was a horrible double fracture breaking both bones in his forearm, with severe displacement, probably needing surgery. They sent us to Vanderbilt Children's in an ambulance (scary for me, awesome for Hootie).

They had to put him to sleep to set his arm once there, but he didn't have to have the surgery. (Praise GOD!) He is in a soft cast for now (to allow for swelling), and will go back this week to see if he will need the surgery and to get a hard cast. It was a long, emotional night - we spent a total of 10 hours in two ERs. Having to put him under anesthesia totally freaked me out (while the 20 minute procedure took over 40 minutes) - but we all survived. He's still in pain, and sleeps a lot due to the Lortab pain killers, but all-in-all he's handling it like a champ!

Here's a look at how his arm looked from the top...I'll spare you the picture from the side. Seriously.

Never in my life would I have thought my baby, at three years old, would be in a cast. However, we always figured Hootie would be the first to break a bone - he's a bruiser. Praying to continue to avoid surgery and for him to recover quickly.