Double-Sprout Day (warning: lengthy post!)

We like to joke around that when Ellie has two pig-tails in her hair (or "sprouts", as we call them) that she's in an extra silly mood. On our last day in the Park it was Double-Sprout Day! Unfortunately that would turn out to be a day I would like to forget!
Not listening to conventional parenting advice, Daniel and I were walking down a pathway near Yosemite Falls and swinging Ellie between us. Well, Daniel felt something pop and then Ellie proceeded to have a total meltdown. First we thought her elbow was dislocated, so Daniel tried to pop it back in (while Ellie was screaming bloody-murder and I was getting increasingly panicky). But that didn't seem to work, so next we deduced that because of the way he was holding her on that side, that her wrist was broken.
Off we went (on foot) to the nearest medical clinic-- probably about a mile away, but seemed longer than the 17-mile hike we'd done two days earlier, because poor Ellie was in misery the whole time. Anyway, we finally got there and after waiting for what seemed like an eternity we got back to see a triage nurse. He was certain her elbow was dislocated because of the way it happened, so he tried to pop it back into place-- unsuccessfully. At this point, Ellie was hysterical and I was getting sick to my stomach. We got back to see a doctor, who despite the previous two attempts to relocate (sp?) it, still insisted that she didn't need an x-ray and that her elbow was just dislocated. Soooo, you guessed it, he tried to pop it back into place. I had to leave the room at this point. Ellie was just absolutely out of her head. It was awful-- and unsuccessful.
He left the room and scheduled us for an xray. At this point, other than feeling so sorry for my poor baby (and the people in the waiting room who could hear all the screaming), I was thinking about what life was going to be like with a 16-month-old in a cast. Baths, pool, eating, etc would become nightmarish, but still, I just wanted her to be out of pain.
The nurse came in and offered some Motrin, but she could barely choke it down, she was crying so hard. It was just pitiful. Then after a few minutes the doctor came back in and told us that he just really thought she didn't have a broken wrist and that it was her elbow and he was going to try one more time to pop it back into place. Honestly, if Daniel hadn't been there to restrain me, I would have punched that doctor right in the face. I mean they had already tortured the poor baby 3 times and it just wasn't going back in. I felt like yelling: "IT"S NOT HER ELBOW!!! TRY SOMETHING ELSE!!" Anyway, he said he was going to try to turn and push the elbow the opposite way of how you would normally relocate a "nursemaids elbow" and see if that worked.
So that's what he did. And even though he had to push really hard (I had to leave the room again), it worked!!!!!
I can't tell you how relieved we were. Ellie stopped crying almost immediately and within 2 minutes was running down the hall with a big smile on her face to meet Gramps and Grandma in the waiting room. I'm so thankful her wrist wasn't broken and that her recovery was pretty much instantaneous. Also, I'm thankful for the doctor, who even though I'm sure he could read my mind, still kept his cool and went with his gut. More than that, though, I feel so blessed to have a child that is generally healthy. As I was sitting there waiting for someone to help us and watching my baby suffer, I couldn't help but think about all the parents of chronically ill children who live in that nightmare every day. We are truly blessed.

Here are some more pictures from the day, which, other than the 2-hour-elbow-debacle, was quite fun!