Fragile Bones

Mercy has a broken arm. As far as the doctors can tell, her right radius broke approximately 8-10 days ago - about the same time she had surgery. It could have happened as a result of IV placement prior to surgery, changing her outfit, swaddling, or any number of things.

We discovered it during an X-ray to look at her hemangioma, which is a growth on her right shoulder that has been causing her quite a bit of pain recently. As the doctors looked at the hemangioma X-ray, they noticed a radius fracture in the process of healing.

Premies with fragile bones are not uncommon. Babies get calcium from their mothers during the third trimester; since Mercy didn’t have a third trimester she's at risk for fragile bones. The fracture confirms the fact that we need to be extremely careful with her.

Honestly, this worries me. We want her to come home as quickly as possible. We also want her to stay protected. The, “So Your Baby Has Fragile Bones: Now What?” handout recommends gentle, slow movements, and maintaining a calm environment. If I had to choose one word to characterize the way our household shows love and lives life, it’d be “enthusiastically.”

Dance party!!

Having such a fragile little girl around while loving our extremely energetic 19-month-old will be a challenge, and maintaining calm with our 8 and 10-year-olds has been a goal for years. Here’s hoping we can pull it off for Mercy’s sake.

Other than the broken arm she’s doing relatively well. Her pain levels seem to be down yesterday and today (thank God), and her feedings are progressing mostly on schedule.

Also, we're celebrating Josh's 10th birthday today! He's such a gift, and we hope he's able to enjoy it without absorbing our worry about Mercy.

Ways to Pray:

Relief for Mercy’s pain

Healing for her arm

That her feedings would progress ahead of schedule

Peace and patience for me and Erica

That our other four boys wouldn't carry burdens too heavy

That she’d come home quickly and stay safe