Sunday, August 5, 2012

In Which Nolan's Name Suits Him

Before Nolan was born, we settled on his name because we liked the sound and the Irish origin (we lived in Ireland for a while) - and then we saw the meaning of his name, and the meaning sealed the deal.

Nolan means champion.

Fighter.


Noble.

We had no idea how perfectly his name would fit him.

We woke him at 8:30am on Saturday for his 9am soccer game. He couldn't wake, and was in pain when he did wake. He requested that I vent his tummy, which contained some air and a lot of tummy fluid. It didn't help much, so I tried to get him to eat. I gave him a children's chewable Pepto Bismol tablet, as he was begging for help because he was in so much pain. These really only have a placebo effect for Nolan, but at least they help him feel like he is able to do something for the awful stomach pain.

We were going to skip soccer, but he was sobbing. He loves soccer. He's remarkably good at soccer. So we carried our hurting boy to the car and went to watch his last soccer game of the year. I told his coach that he was probably out for the game, and he sat on the sidelines while his team battled for the ball.


After the first period, he decided to play defense. In U-4 soccer, the defenders mostly sit around in front of the goal and don't do a lot of running. By the third period, he asked to play offense, where he immediately scored three goals.


A lot of the parents watching from the sidelines shouted, "Wow, he must be feeling better!" Except he wasn't, really. He was simply playing through the pain.


He played one more round of defense, standing in front of the net and resting. The game ended early, and everyone got their snacks. Nolan's Popsicle melted in its wrapper, as he couldn't eat it. We went home as soon as he had gotten his participation award.


I am so proud he is my son. He is so young, and fights so hard. He doesn't let anything get in his way.

Thankfully, our little champion started to feel better by noon on Saturday. He has been eating today, so hopefully we are getting past this nasty bout of "tummy not working."

3 comments:

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Oh my gosh... he's a hero, all right. A champion. But my heart is still breaking for his pain - so glad he's starting to feel better again.

Julie

dlefler said...

He's doing much better today. The bloating comes and goes. He does terribly in the summer for some reason - last year was similar (July/August had a ton of tummy issues). Maybe the heat? Maybe a coincidence? Or maybe just bad luck with a virus?

Poor kiddo - but he is feeling better - I need to show the nutritionist the bloat pics because that is the real cause of the discomfort.

Kyla said...

Aww, poor little guy! He sure is a champion! KayTar's major tummy issues started last summer and recently she has been complaining about her feeds a little (too full)...but it is super hot here, so I think that is what it affecting her. With the meds she is on, it has been much better than last summer was!