Ups and downs

We went back to the hospital today and the plasterer took a look at J's cast and the sore patches of skin. He cut away semicircles of cast under J's arms and that has helped - J was able to put his arms down nearer his sides. He also put adhesive felt under the other arm and at the front.

I have no pictures because it took 5 (yes FIVE) people to hold J down. He's very strong and was determined he didn't want to lie down on his back while his cast was adjusted. The scissors the plasterer used are cleverly made - they are curved and the bottom one has a plastic blob on the end so it can't jab a twisting baby.

J gave the plasterer such an evil glare when he saw him! He clearly remembers what happened.

Apparently sudocream is a good thing to use on the sore bits (phew!).

So we continued our day - me back at work and J in the nursery. But when J went down for his afternoon nap, they noticed that the felt had stuck to his stomach and he couldn't get comfortable. When we got home I took a look and it wasn't just a little section but the whole stretch across his entire belly from one side to the other, with a good couple of centimetres of highly adhesive felt stuck to it.

I rang the hospital again to see what they'd advise. They suggested pulling it off like a plaster in one yank while holding the skin - they thought he'd cry a little bit then be ok. I don't think the nurse I spoke to understood which felt it was. It is incredibly adhesive (not like a sticking plaster) and went all the way across his belly.

In the end, we daubed sudocream on cotton buds and "soaked" the felt with cream, pushing it little by little till it became looser. A slow process and J cried loudly throughout. Even doing that, there are chunks of adhesive left on the skin where the felt came off, but we couldn't get the adhesive off. God knows what would have happened with a yank. I think skin would have come off. The photos are rubbish because of the light - but may give some idea of what we faced.

So we're still left with the front section being rather rough against his skin.

Poor J.

When the next cast is fitted, I think all the edges need doing very carefully at the time, with a good depth of padding so it doesn't come off and stick to the skin.

There's still a very red patch under one arm - lots more sudocream needed there.

However, I don't want to give the impression that J has had an awful day. We have had lots of lovely moments. It's hard to give an overall impression of a child's day, isn't it? Let's end with 2 photos that show one of the many happy moments: J having a go at being in the driving seat. He immediately knew where the key went, and if he was a bit bigger with longer legs I reckon he'd have had a go at driving!