While I was absolutely dreading this (no one wants their baby to have surgery), I was also calm and amazingly slept the whole night beforehand. Having to get up at 4:30 helped that some no doubt! But really, I knew it was a quick ordeal and the end result I was praying would make it all worth while.
It hasn't been long enough to really tell if the surgery will cure him of his constant ear infections, but we have noticed he seems happier. He was already a sweet fun little guy to begin with, and now we see even more smiles which I LOVE.
I wanted to do a quick timeline of our day, since I am sure I won't remember much of this way down the road!
4:30 a.m. - Anthony and I woke up (actually, I don't think Anthony slept at all that night. We are opposite: big things freak him out and he is easygoing otherwise!) I did a few things around the house and gathered Nolan's snacks and things to take with us for afterwards. I planned for the worst and tried to bring things to entertain a hungry, thirsty, little guy since he couldn't have anything to eat or drink before the surgery. We both got ready and left getting Nolan up for last since we wanted him to sleep for as long as possible.
5:15 - We woke Nolan up and gave him his breathing treatment and did a quick diaper change. My goal was to have him up for only as long as to do those quick things and then we could hustle him straight into the car so he wouldn't wake up too much. We left him in the jammies he slept in, and luckily, he didn't wake up too much!
5:30 - We headed out. I know we left pretty early, considering our arrival time was 6:30 a.m., but since we live out in the middle of nowhere I wanted to be safe :) We drove through Bojangle's just so I could get my daily Dr. Pepper dose and we were off! Thankfully, Nolan dozed most of the way there. We did end up arriving about 25 minutes ahead of time, so I drove around a little while to let Nolan sleep a bit more since we hoped the less time he was awake would mean less time for him to get hungry/thirsty/cranky!
6:15 a.m. - We arrived at the surgery center and were so surprised that there were already a ton of people there! I guess surgeon's start early. There were also a couple of other parents in there with children about the same age as Nolan, and I guessed they were there for the same thing (turns out I was right: Nolan was the THIRD tube surgery of the morning!)
We killed as much time as we could pacing around the waiting room. They finally called us back to the pre-op station at around 7:30 or so. It was good timing; we were about at our limit!
7:30 a.m. - Pre-op was basically lots of people coming in and introducing themselves and asking lots of questions. I didn't realize it took so many people for one 5-minute operation! I liked the anesthesiologist, and he made me feel comfortable about the gas they used and Nolan's breathing issues. We saw the doctor again and filled out more paperwork. About 15 minutes before the surgery they gave Nolan a little "cocktail" to help settle his nerves. He was actually doing just fine, but was starting to get a little cranky so this helped him mellow out. He played with a syringe from the diaper bag for a good 10 minutes - you could tell he was feeling pretty good because he never sits still that long! Supposedly this was to help him not be afraid when they carried him back to the room and he was surrounded by strangers.
Getting his hospital gown on (and not liking it)
The "mesmerizing" syringe...
Really, this kid has no "stranger danger" so I think he would have been just fine, albeit a handful!
8:00 a.m. - Finally the doctor told us he would be with us very soon, as he just had two other tube surgeries before us. We held him and gave him lots and lots of kisses and then they came and carried him to the back. I held it together and did really well! Proud of myself - I am usually a cry baby!
We took turns going to the bathroom to kill time, and Anthony fixed himself a cup of coffee. According to my cell phone and the group texts I was sending, they took him back at 8:20 and I sent a text saying he was done and we had just spoken to the doctor at 8:31. So quick! It was a couple more minutes before we go officially go back to see him, and that's when we got anxious and excited to see our babe.
They warned us that Nolan could be quite out of sorts when he was done, and the anesthesia usually causes them to cry and lot and seem a little whacky. Well, Nolan was no exception and Anthony about bolted down the hall when he could tell it was Nolan crying at the end of the hall! We got to him and sure enough, he was a mess. But, he was doing just fine according to the doctor so we were fine too. I decided to nurse him just to calm him down and of course, that worked like a charm :)
9:15 a.m. - I would guess it was about 9:45 when they finally told us we could go home. Nolan got a bit fussy while we changed his clothes, but took down water just fine so we were cleared to go. We heated up the car a bit and he pretty much snoozed the whole way home! My last text message to family was at 10:11 a.m. when I said that we were home and he was eating an orange.
But wouldn't you know - that little stinker didn't take a nap that day until I drove him around and he fell asleep at 3:45! Totally that would be our case :)
Overall, it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be, and Nolan did as well as you could expect from a 14-month old. However, I am very glad it's over - here's to hoping it helped!
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