The first broken bone.

Well, Miss Ava is the first of our children to have a broken bone. I was the first (and last, so far) in my family when I broke my elbow at 2 years old by falling through the banister on the second story apartment where my family lived, down to a cement floor. Ack!
Ava fractured her ankle 3 weeks ago. She was standing at a desk and got her arm caught in a cabinet door, lost her balance, and sat down on her ankle. We didn't actually see it happen (Jacob was working on a lesson at his computer), but that's the best we can figure out. We think she might've fallen on a small screw that shouldn't have been on the floor. When it happened she cried the most pain-filled cry, but we didn't know what was wrong and she soon calmed down. It was bedtime, so I gave her a bottle and put her to bed. She was pretty restless all night - crying out several times, but appearing to be sound asleep when I got in there to check on her.

The next morning, I knew something was wrong when I lifted her legs to change her diaper and she shrieked in pain. :( After her morning bottle I stood her in my lap without thinking and she again cried and wouldn't put weight on her left leg. I called the pediatrician and got her in as soon as possible. The doctor moved her ankle/leg/hip and Ava only cried when her hip was moved. She didn't act like her ankle hurt at all - so weird! We got an X-ray done and the doctor and radiologist both read the X-ray as normal and determined that Ava just had a strained muscle.
I still felt like something more was wrong because she was still acting like she was in pain and she would try to pull up and then crumple to the floor.

The following morning, she woke up and her ankle was quite swollen, red, and warm to the touch. I called the doctor back and she zoomed in on the ankle in the X-ray and realized that the outside bone was chipped. Since Ava is so little, the pediatrician referred us to an orthopedic pediatrician.
The ortho ped found two abnormal places on Ava's ankle and he prescribed the boot cast for 3 weeks. He said that he sees the same situation a lot in babies - they will act like one thing hurts (her hip) but then it turns out to be something completely different (her ankle). At first we had lots of trouble keeping her foot properly in the cast, but after a layering on 4 socks, it stays on pretty well. The picture above was soon after we got home. She was so proud that she got the boot off! :)

We usually take the boot off after Ava's asleep at night - otherwise she wakes up crying because (we think) her foot/leg falls asleep.

Of course we have been using essential oils from the beginning (before we even really knew what was wrong) to promote healing and help ease the body's natural response to injury.

She has been such a good sport about the whole ordeal. She isn't letting it stop her from crawling at lightening speed and cruising around the furniture. I think she would've been walking by now if this hadn't have happened.

Ohh, she is just a JOY! :) She hopefully gets the cast off this Friday - 3 days before her first birthday!