Continuing on with our trip...
The next day brought a bit of heartache and pain. Aimy, Alixe, Carlos and I shared a room at the house, and on the 29th in the morning, Aimy decided to jump around on the bed while Carlos and I were busy getting breakfast and such ready... and she slipped and fell off the bed onto her shoulder, or at least that's what we assume, because neither of us saw her fall. She was very upset and cried a lot, and would cry out in pain when either one of us tried to pick her up with our hands under her armpits. She sat on my lap to eat breakfast and was all hunched over and very hesitant to let me touch her left shoulder... so we took her to the emergency room at the local hospital, and though the intern who examined her didn't think it was serious, I was pretty sure something was broken. The pediatrician came and took a look, and sent us for an x-ray right away, though he wasn't sure if there was a problem with her arm, her shoulder blade or her collarbone. They let me come into the room with Aimy for the x-ray and the tech and I both discovered it together: a hairline fracture on Aimy's left collarbone.
We went back to the exam room and the doctor came back right away to give us a sling (that Aimy started calling her 'special backpack') for her to wear for the next 6-8 weeks. There's not much else to be done for a broken collarbone, but Aimy - and all kids, really - was lucky in that she was able to snap back to her old self right away. After a long nap that afternoon, since she was exhausted from the stress and pain of the morning, she was back to her old self, as the photos below will attest. But through the whole thing she was very brave, and after the second day wearing the sling, it was as if the fall had never happened. For a few weeks after that, we were still unable to pick her up the way we usually did, but she didn't complain of being in pain and her x-ray 8 weeks later showed normal healing.
And of course, ever since that day, she hasn't once jumped on the bed again!!
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| Poor baby. Being brave at the hospital. |
As I said, we still went out and visited a few more villages before we left - Aimy was feeling fine and we had no restrictions on putting her in the car seat (which was a relief, seeing as we were going to be leaving the next day to head back home). This part of France was completely unknown territory for me, and I'm hoping to go back there again someday and explore more!
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| Brissac's church belltower, seen from the rooftop terrace of the house where we stayed |
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| Ironwork |
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| Saint-Martin-de-Londres |
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| Old houses, Saint-Martin-de-Londres |
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| Eglise Saint Martin, XIth century |
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| Looking towards the archways in earlier photo. The doors at the top of the stairs lead to the municipal library. How would you feel about working at a library in a building like that, Mom? |
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| Another little house... |
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| ... and its nearly hidden stained glass window |
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| Back side of clock tower showing the modifications made to the city wall over the centuries, Viols-le-Fort |
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| Another door, Les Matelles |
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| Walking through Les Matelles |
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| Picturesque houses covered in vines |
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| Take away the humidity, and I could totally live in this house. |
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| As you can see by the big grin, Aimy was feeling much better by this point. She's wearing the sling under her sweatshirt |
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| She even felt good enough to climb the steps up to someone's front door |
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| A wild rosemary bush, just growing out of a crack in the rocks |
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| Just short enough to fit in the doorway! |
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| The girls were thrilled to bits about holding hands with each other and kept giggling as we walked through town. Can't complain about that! |
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