I dropped Matthew off at his grandparents and took Dylan to the doctor that afternoon. Dr Nelson looked at his shoulder, felt the bump and wasn't sure what it was. He tested Dylan's range of motion in his arms to make sure he was exhibiting the same range of motion in each arm, which he appeared to be doing. So Dr Nelson said we should just keep an eye on it, and also that he would talk to a pediatric orthopedic doctor, and get their 2 cents on it. After that, I didn't worry about it too much.
The following week, I received a call from Dr Nelsons office telling me that Dr Nelson had spoken with another doctor, and they recommended we take Dylan for an X-ray of his shoulder, and that it might be something that he might need physical therapy for. Honestly, I thought I was going to be taking him for an X-ray when I took him in for it initially -- that's why I dropped Matty off with Lori. Anyway, it took me a few days to get to the hospital for the X-ray. Every time I tried to go something got in the way. Finally I just had to take both Dylan and Matthew to get the X-ray done.
That was kind of a nightmare because Matthew didn't take a nap that day and he was soooo tired, and hospitals are sloooooow.
Anyway, they finally took the X-ray. They had me wait outside and Dylan screamed the whole time. My poor little baby.
The next day Dr Nelson's office called again saying Dylan had a fractured clavicle, but that it was healing and had a bone callus, and that he would need physical therapy to make sure it doesn't cause him any problems down the road.
The following week they gave me the referral for physical therapy, and I set up an appointment for the week after that. Seriously the longest process ever, but whatever.
Finally, I met with the physical therapist and we talked about Dylan's labor and delivery. That had to be the time when the break happened because we didn't drop him or anything. The physical therapist asked if his shoulders had gotten lodged during delivery, which they hadn't. She said that usually the shoulders get stuck, and then the doctor has to pull the shoulders out, which is usually when the collar bone breaks. But that never happened. I watched the whole thing. He slid out easily.
It was while I was in labor that we had issues. I told the physical therapist about my horrid contractions while I was in labor and that Dylan was sideways right up until before he was born. She said she believes that since he was sideways, I had a really strong contraction which pushed his shoulder into my pelvic bone, and his collar bone broke. A broken bone before he was even born. That makes the most sense to me.
Before I took him into physical therapy I kept thinking about when his bone would have broken, and kept wondering if it was possible for it to break before he was born. I thought about bringing it up with Stacie at my 6 week follow-up, but I didn't want her to think I was accusing her of anything, so I didn't. I really think it happened before he was born.
I did bring it up with Amy, my doula, and she was really surprised when I told her that he had a broken collar bone. She said she has had a client whose baby did break his collar gone before, but the doctor was tugging and pulling a lot, which Stacie never did.
Dylan has had a bit of a rough start in life with his jaundice and broken bone, but he's one tough kid. Plus, he is so sweet and cute. His smile just melts my heart.
Anyway, the physical therapist checked to see if he had any nerve damage from the break, which he doesn't. He does seem to favor his right arm when we do tummy time, so I try to encourage him to bare equal weight on his left arm. And she showed me some stretches to do with his arm/neck so those muscles don't get too tight. I'm supposed to take him back this week, but I'm going to have to reschedule for the following week. She wants to make sure that as he develops and starts reaching for toys that he can do everything he should be doing. But it will still be another month or so before he starts doing that anyway.
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