Gabi's broken leg

Last Monday, while I was cooking dinner, Gabi fell in the playroom and said she hurt her leg and couldn't stand up. I expected a large bruise to appear, although it never did. When my kiss didn't help, I gave her an ice pack, Tylenol, and Motrin. I had to carry her to dinner and to the bathtub and to bed. At bedtime, I explained that she needed to sleep because when she rests, it gives her body energy to heal itself. She thought that sounded silly, but she trusted me.

The next morning, Gabi sweetly told me, "Mommy, I must not have slept enough because my leg still hurts." Since she continued to insist that she could not stand up, and she was having pain just moving her leg or flexing her foot, I took her to the doctor. He could not find anything wrong on exam; her leg wasn't even swollen. When he asked Gabi how she hurt her leg, she told him that she fell trying to jump off the slide in our playroom. (News to me!)


NOT what the playroom looked like when Gabi fell
(I told Gabi that she hurt her leg because we had too many toys out in the playroom,
and that's why she needed to put her toys away.)
The doctor told me that he'd seen kids stub their toe and refuse to walk for weeks; however, he'd also had a little girl just sit and smile at him while he poked and prodded her arm, but an X-ray revealed that both the girl's bones were broken. So we got an X-ray for Gabi. Gabi's X-ray showed a non-displaced spiral fracture in her tibia, so we headed to Children's hospital for a cast around lunchtime on Tuesday. The next day, Gabi informed me that when she fell off the slide, she landed on Bella's door. (Maybe I'd have taken her to the doctor sooner if I'd known that.)


Gabi was very decisive about which color cast she wanted.


Gabi was surprised that her new cast was hard.


Thinking of a name for her new puppy from the ortho docs/nurses


Daddy took time off work to be with Gabi while she got her cast.


At physical therapy, learning to use a walker


She did it! (and has since refused to try again)


Gabi pointing out her friends' names on her cast
After a week, Gabi is much more comfortable in her cast and moving around. She still doesn't want to walk on it, but she has put some weight on it just fine. Here are some pictures Gabi's teacher took at school before Gabi broke her leg.


Gabi's PreK class on the first day of school


Omari, Nathan, David,
Gabi, Kate, and Isabel


Gabi and Isabel


Kate and Gabi