Straight Leg

We've moved into our new place, just emptying boxes now. It will take a couple weeks to be able to re-learn everything, like where the plates or glasses are now. But we have more room, and hopefully we won't feel the urgent need to FILL those spaces too quickly.

Our son seems to have gone through the transition pretty smoothly. He's finally over his cold and latest ear infection, and it has brought out more of his personality (just as I had hoped). He loves laughing at funny noises and has started to mimic our silly mouth sounds, like the "raspberry." It makes him spit and drool everywhere, but it's a riot to see/hear.

Also, lately he has even started sleeping better, maybe from finally being over all that sickness. Instead of waking up four or more times after putting him down around 7PM, last night he only woke three times. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's far better than him waking every hour after midnight like he has done in the past. He's beginning to eat more, which also could be attributed to him sleeping better. Where we used to give him four ounces at a time, we now start with at least five ounces in the bottle. He might not finish the entire bottle every time but at the end of the day he's still taking in more altogether.

Saturday night, however, our son started really screaming in pain when he was put down on his back, and he stopped kicking or grabbing his left leg/foot. We were at a loss trying to figure out what could be the cause. We had a babysitter over that day, a young girl that was recommended to us, and he was fussy most of the day with her, too, but not screaming in agony at any time. He did fall asleep that night but woke up often and uncomfortable. We were sure his leg could be fractured or his something happened to his hip. He could move the leg and his foot, so I didn't think that was the issue. But I felt his quad muscle, however, and it was really tight/hard compared to the other leg's muscle.

The next day he still wouldn't bend the leg even though he wasn't crying when laid down. My wife decided to take him to Urgent Care at a local hospital and find out what was the matter. The helpful pediatrician there felt the problem could be a fractured femur or a sterile abscess. Earlier in the week he had gotten four shots of vaccinations (two in each leg) at his four-month doctor visit, one of which may have caused the abscess. At that time my wife decided against X-rays because of the risk of radiation to our son's testes, so no more definitive answers could be given.

On Monday my wife took the boy to our regular pediatrician and he recommended the X-ray to be sure what was going on. My wife did allow it, as the doctor said X-rays aren't as harsh as they used to be and his "daddy sac" would be covered (see photo). The doctor analyzed the pictures and deduced it was not a fracture, thankfully, nor any other bone separation. It was figured that one of the shots given had nicked a blood vessel causing some internal bleeding that feels like a deep tissue bruise. He should hopefully be over it in a few days...

A couple days later and he still won't bend his left leg at the knee, keeping it stiff when we try to bend it for him. He doesn't seem to mind weight on the leg, like when we hold him standing up, but he still won't kick the it like he usually enjoys. Some ice and perhaps massage should help out. In any case, he isn't too upset about it anymore, and has been a pleasure lately, making us laugh and smile even more than we do to him. Hopefully soon we will get a few days with him being "normal" (no illness or injury), if that even exists.