Sigh of Relief

Everything went so well today. I am so grateful.  The first blessing was that Jackson slept in. He wasn’t supposed to eat or drink anything after midnight and I worried about him waking up at 6:00 and having to keep him from eating or drinking.  We got to Riverwoods Surgical Center at 7:45 in the morning. After signing  no fewer than 1 billion forms, we sat and waited. Jackson played with a little girl in the waiting room. She kept speaking Spanish to him a he shared his trains with her. I was grateful he had a friend to distract him.

 

We waited and waited. An hour after we got there they called us back to the pre-operation room. Jackson really disliked the nurses. They put a blue t-shirt with a bear on it and says “Riverwoods Surgical Center”. I thought it funny to have a t-shirt souvenir from having a medical procedure done. I don’t think I want to remember this day forever or show off that he was a patient there.  Perhaps it will become his official playing in the mud shirt.

We sat and watched Finding Nemo for half an hour before it was time for the procedure. They came and got him in a little wagon. I wasn’t allowed with him after that point. I don’t think he realized I wasn’t coming with him because he didn’t cry. They told me that they would give him a balloon to distract him and then put the gas mask on and that they usually fall asleep by the count of five. After that, they put the IV in and intubated him through his nose so the dentist had access to his teeth. The decay in his teeth was bad enough that the Dentist did a pulpotomy so the teeth wouldn’t get infected. I think it is similar to a root canal. Then he did normal fillings I believe. 

About an hour after they took him the nurse brought me into the recovery room and then brought me Jackson. He was so sleepy, he just slept in my arms in the recovery room. I sat listening to Ms. Carpal Tunnel and Ms. Liposuction recovering from their surgeries. Ms. Liposuction kept asking for more pillows, more pain meds, to have her head raised, and then lowered, for juice, to have her bandages adjusted,  to talk to the doctor, among other things.  After about 20 minutes, Jackson finally woke up. I was surprised how awake, alert, and not grumpy he was when he woke up. He had a little bloody nose and a sore throat from being intubated. His teeth look so good now.  On the way home, I got him a milk shake. He was really excited about that drank it all very quickly. Since we got home, he has been perfectly fine and normal playing with trains and making quaking noises. I’m so glad that it is all taken care of and over. I will post pictures of his beautiful teeth as soon as he is happy enough to give me a big smile.

 

I have to say this probably was the most expensive rookie mom mistake I could have made. I am grateful we have good insurance, but still… There is a story I like about a man that worked in finance for some big company. He made a mistake that cost the company to lose millions of dollars. The man was called into his boss’ office where he was sure he was about to be fired. He was surprised when the boss started to talk about other things. The man asked “aren’t you going to fire me?”. The boss said, “Are you kidding? After we just spent millions of dollars on training you?” That’s sort of how I feel. I hope all of you new and soon to be moms out there learn from my mistake and be way more vigilante about brushing your babies teeth that you think is necessary, even if it means ganging up on them with your husband and holding them down. It is well worth it.