So the ENT decided that tubes would be best for Maddie. I scheduled the surgery for the week after that initial appointment, wanting to get it over with while everyone was healthy and on a day that Rob had time off work. (Hello, Columbus Day!)
On our way to the ENT appointment...
These little ears need some help.
The surgery was scheduled at 7am on a Monday. We were asked to be at the hospital at 5:45am, which meant getting up before then. It was pitch black and cold outside, and when I quietly got Maddie up and put her in the van, she was looking at me like a crazy woman. Baby girl likes her sleep.
We got to the hospital and everything went perfectly. They made a fuss about her having MRSA in the past (understandably) but swabbed her during surgery to see if there were any traces of it left on her skin. We found out later it was negative, just as we thought it would be. So thankful.
So she got her scrubs on (would've kept them but they were a mess by the time we left... more later on that), and started to get a little nervous about what was happening so we listened to Bon Iver and Taylor Swift on my phone and the music calmed her down.
Just before surgery they gave her 'happy juice' that would relax her before she would be put completely under. All I can say is my baby is pretty funny when she's drunk.
Then the anesthesiologist came and reached for her and asked her if he could hold her, and she laughed a little and reached right for him, without a thought in the world that a complete stranger was taking her away from her mama! (That happy juice is amazing.) She never looked back and was such a trouper.
I sat in the waiting room for a short while and barely got through a magazine before they said she was in recovery and I could go see her. When I neared her room, I could hear her very agitated, low crying. That mama instinct reared up in me and I took her in my arms, and she was so confused and just waking up from anesthesia. She was practically growling as she cried, she was so angry! As time passed she started thrashing and hitting me, and discovered she could throw her head at me and do some damage. Poor girl was miserable. But she didn't seem to be in pain, and her milk bottle calmed her down and when the nurse saw her taking it without a problem, we were in the clear.
Post-op
We waited a little longer to head home, filling out paperwork and getting discharge instructions and making sure Maddie was settling. I thought she might be hungry, and after the bottle didn't come back up, I offered her a mashup. Well something ticked her off while she was sucking on it and she squeezed it and flung it in my direction! The nurse wasn't there at that moment so I tried to quickly mop up a dotted line of berry applesauce that ran from one wall, across the floor, over the bed, and up the other wall! She came back mid-cleanup, and as I was telling her what happened, I realized any effort to hide the mess would have been futile as Maddie and I were both covered as well! Like, applesauce in my hair and all over the front of both of our clothes. Good times. Finally we decided that Maddie was just going to be one of those babies who is greatly annoyed by the process of waking from anesthesia but that she was fine. So I bundled her up and we headed home at around 8am.
My groggy, grumpy little patient.
Within a few hours she was playing with Robbie and Ellie, even attempting to climb into the doll's stroller. It amazes me how simple this procedure is and how quickly kids can bounce back from things.
Goodbye, ear infections! Hello, healthy happy baby!
