The break

Words you don't ever want to hear screamed from a child: "SO-AND-SO FELL AND HE'S HURT REAL BAD!!!!!"

Especially when the "so-and-so" is your son, oh my it sends chills through your body.  I rushed out of my seat at our small group Bible study to race downstairs to the basement.  Not knowing what I'd find, my heart raced as I RAN.  Lovebug was laying on the floor literally wailing and screaming in pain.  The look of terror in his eyes made me nauseous.  Worrying about what kind of injuries he had, we quickly put together that the issue was his arm.  I pinned his shoulder to the ground so he couldn't move the arm while he writhed around on the floor.  I was shaking.  I could see the deformity.  His wrist and elbow both just looked wrong, and then I saw the bulge coming out of his forearm.  His ulna had completely cracked in two and I could see it.  In hindsight I am so very thankful that it hadn't been a compound fracture or that both bones hadn't snapped in two.  But in that moment, I can't describe how terrifying it was to see his arm so broken and him in unspeakable pain.

DH grabbed a towel and as gently as possible, pulled Lovebug's arm to his body.  He screamed.  We wrapped the towel around him, picked him up, and got him in the car.  I am so thankful that everyone from small group was there - we were able to just leave with no worry about the other kids being taken care of.  I held Lovebug in the backseat and sang to him as DH drove.  Within a few minutes he yelled at me to stop singing.  So I prayed over him out loud so he could hear me, hoping my words could bring him some kind of comfort.

When we got to the ER, the lady at the front desk told me there was a two hour wait.  I was respectful but firm, explaining that my son was in way too much pain to wait for two hours.  She told us she'd "try" but that she couldn't promise anything.  As DH and I weighed our options (including possibly going to another ER), they opened up the door and admitted him into triage.  Praise Jesus!  They gave him a narcotic for the pain, and he started to have a little peace.  He was still in pain, but it was more controlled as we got the x-rays and he was evaluated.  The team who worked with him was AMAZING.  They even managed to insert an IV without him knowing.  I am so thankful for the staff there.

We watched Nick Jr. while waiting for the orthopedic surgeon to arrive, trying to take Lovebug's mind off of what was going on.  We purposely shielded him from seeing his arm, concerned the sight would make him more upset.  He really did well.  He was so brave, such a trooper, so willing to go with the flow.  The staff prepped him for the resetting with an awake sedative.  When the surgeon arrived, he told us it was a 50/50 chance he'd be able to reset it.

By the grace of God, he was indeed able to reset it without surgery.  After the discharge procedure, armed with a prescription for hydrocodone and a pretty cool cast, we were on our way home about three hours after everything started.  The staff at the hospital could not have been more wonderful.  They were amazingly awesome and treated my little man as their own child.  I am so grateful for everything they did for him (and for me, ha!).

A week later, other than missing lots of sleep and a bit of swelling, Lovebug is doing very well.  During the day, you wouldn't even know he has a broken arm by his actions.  He has been awesome!  We only used the hydrocodone for sleep a few nights, but stopped that rather quickly because it didn't seem to be helping much.  He is just uncomfortable because he can't move around like he's used to.  He is sleeping in my bed with me so I can make sure the pillows are arranged just so.  I'm really missing my DH, but I know this is temporary.  The cast stays on for six weeks, and I'm told the bone will be stronger than it was before the break.

I have a new appreciation for ER visits and broken bones.  After never breaking a bone myself, standing by my son during this was a difficult experience.  But now that it's over, I am confident that just one broken bone is good for our family.  I don't want anyone to be in so much pain again!  So, my littles, when you are old enough to be reading this, please don't break anymore bones!  Now I need to convince myself that I can, indeed, let go of Lovebug so he can run and carry on again, like boys do, after the cast comes off.  Hmmmm.