Surgery Day

Katelyn had her ear tubes placed today, and everything went very smoothly. She didn't even fuss when I woke her up at 1130 for a bottle or at 530 to leave. We made it to 285 before she started to protest the whole ordeal. Here are a few things I learned today:

When you wake your child up at 530 (and she normally sleeps until 730) to drive 30+ minutes in the car, sit in the back seat with her.

I (still) love Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Although I'm only working there as a holiday/vacation PRN right now, I was proud to call myself a CHOA employee today more than any other day. As soon as we walked through those doors, I knew we were in the right place for Katelyn. The first words I heard (rivaling the greeting you receive at Moe's) was "Welcome to Children's". I relaxed immediately. I would have expected some slight kinks in the plan, considering her surgery wasn't scheduled until around 3 pm yesterday. But, no. Everything was perfect. From the time the pre-op nurse called me yesterday afternoon, to the polite lady who checked us in while most of us would still be in our jammies, to all the nurses caring for Katelyn during pre and post-op, to having a toy closet for her to choose a toy from to take home with her and lots of toys to play with while she was waiting, to allowing a parent to walk into the OR with their child and stay right beside her until she's completely asleep, and finally to thoroughly explaining what is happening/is going to happen and why and directions for caring for her at home. Perfect. Especially the part when they took her back to the OR 10 minutes ahead of scheduled time.Having tubes placed is FAST. Had I not been warned it would be so quick, when I saw her doctor walking into our post-op room 2 minutes after I did, I would have thought "Oh my gosh. He couldn't do the procedure."

A 12 month old can go about 2 hours awake without eating in the morning. That last hour was a little rough.You can never predict what the "worst" part of a day like today might be. Katelyn's least favorite part of the day: the pulse oximeter (tiny little device to measure her oxygen saturation) placed on her finger (and then her toe) with tape during pre-op.

When puffs can't be your life saver, Elmo's World, mommy's rendition of Jesus Loves Me, and this pop up toy work almost as good.When your child has surgery, you want them to "sleep off" the anesthesia. SO glad Katelyn did this. We actually had to wake her up about 20 minutes after she was brought to us. She was so peaceful. (Almost too peaceful. I kept trying to make Mike wait a little longer before waking her. I just didn't want her to wake up upset. But I have to admit, it was a little unsettling to see her like that.) Thankfully, as soon as we woke her, we put a bottle of pedialyte in her mouth and she was happy as could be. She also saw her puffs and started asking for them. Thankfully, the nurse said it was ok to go ahead and try solids. But goodness, we could hear many poor little kiddos who had woken up in that in between stage. Sort of reminded me of when I had my wisdom teeth cut out.

If your child does sleep off the anesthesia (and probably if she doesn't), she will continue to do so ALL. DAY. LONG. Katelyn took a 3.5 hour nap today. Less than 2 hours later, she took a 2 hour nap. And she went to sleep at normal bedtime.

Don't forget to warm up the antibiotic ear drops in your pocket. Wow, she HATED those. That will be a fun battle for the next 3 days.

Today could have been much harder. I actually saw a family in pre-op getting BOTH of their girls ready for surgery.

No matter how simple the procedure, it's hard to see your child go through it. But it's SO worth it when they are so happy and you can tell they feel better already!

All buckled up and ready to go home!
Enjoying a late lunch after her 3.5 hour nap