Kodak moments

Saturday morning, K had a soccer game. A bunch of family went - hubby, the littles, me; my stepdad, my brother, and hubby's mom. Pretty much a full complement (compliment?). The weather was absolutely beautiful that morning. Seriously, I can't think of a better soccer day EVER. And I've been to more than my fair share of soccer days.

K was chosen to be one of the team captains at this game, which is kind of a big deal for the kids because they get to go onto the field before the game and shake hands with the opposing team captains, plus they get to talk to the refs all adult-like and such. I had taken my camera to this game to get some action shots (scrapbooking! yeah!), and I got a good one of the team captains on the field. I don't often take my camera, and I didn't know K would be captain, so it was pretty cool that I was able to take pictures.

So the game starts, and K's team is doing well. I even got that action shot I was talking about. Then about twenty minutes into the game, three kids go after the ball and end up in a pileup. K was on the bottom. But the kids all jump back up and continue vying for possession. My stepdad even said, "Way to get back in there, K!"

As K heads off down the field, I noticed that he was rubbing his arm and grimacing. I asked his dad to go check on him, so he went around the field and called to K, who told him that he was okay. Hubby headed back to tell me what K had said, but by then I'd noticed that K's forearm was bending the wrong way. I met hubby halfway and told him to get K off the field now.

By the time he got off the field, he was in tears. In typical prepubescent-male fashion, had tried to run it off. But the pain was getting to be too intense. As we sped toward the emergency room, he started to hyperventilate. Drawing from my own pain experience (mostly childbirth x3), I taught him how to breathe more slowly. Surprisingly, that seemed to help. (I say "surprisingly" because it sure didn't help me birth three babies. Anyway.)

Three hours later, we were discharged from the hospital - K in a fiberglass splint with a broken ulna, and me with his referral to an orthopedic specialist.

Side note: Because I had my camera, I'll be able to scrapbook that day. I'm not sure I want to, though. Well, eventually I probably will, but right now it is not something I want to remember at all. I keep visualizing him running down the field with his arm bent backwards, trying to be strong. It brings tears to my eyes every time. He is such a wonderful kid, and I love him so much.