Gabby's First Surgery

Gabby had her first surgery today. I think it was harder on me than it was on her, isn't that how it is.  We were scheduled for her surgery to put her ear tubes in at 8am. We had to be there at 7. She wasn't allowed to have anything to eat (solids) past 11pm the night before, no Breast Milk past 3:00am and no clear liquids past 5am. So I had set my alarm to go off at 2:30am to let her nurse as long as she wanted.  I put her to bed last night and she ended up waking up around 10:30. I nursed her and she slept and woke up like clockwork exactly at 2:30. It worked out perfect. I was hoping that she was going to sleep until 6:30 as we had to leave at 6:45. but no such luck. I was up at 5:15 and she was up around 5:30.

She did pretty well until I had to pump and she couldn't eat. Mike did great walking with her, and of course as soon as she was with mom she was fine. We arrived at Childrens Hospital and let me say they do an awesome job! It really makes a difference I think that they only have children there. After check in the nurse came and got us and Nurse Ann (Our intake nurse) was WONDERFUL!! She was great! Gabby was pretty easy going getting her blood pressure checked, temp & oxygen level. We changed her into her cute PJ's and then we were allowed to let her play in the common area. There were a lot of little ones there and she got to play with a few of them. One 14 month old girl was there and they had a good time sharing toys.

When kids are 10 months or older their parents are allowed to go back with them into a transition room. So because she was younger the nurse and the anesthesiologist came and got her. The hardest part of the whole experience. Of course that is when she choose to be upset and only want mom. So she was screaming and crying...I almost cried myself at that point.

We were led into the family waiting room and really by the time we got settled in Dr. Rhodes was already out there. it was only a 10 minute procedure. He said that it all went well. I was a bit surprised to see him and thought she hadn't had it done yet. He said that her left ear was pretty bad, it was filled with a LOT of pus. TMI Warning - Skip ahead if you are squeamish. He said he cut into her ear to put in the tub and suck out the fluid and a TON of pus came pouring out. So we are (and he is) hoping that this will improve her hearing a lot and also her temperament as this was probably causing her some pain. Might be why we have been having so much trouble getting her to sleep at night. So I am really hoping this will help with that.

About 10 minutes after Dr. Rhodes came to see us, she was waking up so we walked back to the recovery room and she was awake but out of it. They okay'd me to nurse her, so I did that. and she pretty much slept the entire time she nursed. We changed her and then left for the pharmacy. We filled her prescription and headed home. I had a little cuddlebug on my hands. She cuddled on me and slept and we put in her ear drops. She slept for about an hour.

By the time she woke up to eat again she was back to normal and wanting to play. She took another really good nap this afternoon. We had a play date with my good friend Jessica and her two kids, Evan and Emma. We went for a walk to the park by Jess' house and then played in her back yard. Emma and Gabby had a great time! Thanks Jess for letting us come over.

She is now sleeping peacefully in her bed. I gave her ear drops again and gave her some ibuprofen. Hopefully she will have a good night sleep and no more ear infections!