Carter's Ear Tube Procedure

This morning when our alarms went off at 5:00 am Ty was so eager to turn them off, he tried to roll over me to get to mine!  I hit snooze and slowly rolled out of bed assuming Ty was not going to get up with the first alarm.  I was pleased I had been able to sleep.  I was worried nerves would keep me from catching any rest, but I slept soundly until about 4:30 am when I awoke and struggled to fall back to sleep.  Fortunately the more information I read about the procedure Carter was to undergo, the better I felt.  I knew he would only be in surgery for about 10-15 minutes and the procedure is the most common childhood surgery.  We needed to leave at 5:30 so I waited until the last minute to wake Carter.  He's had a few mornings this past week where he woke up at 5 or 5:30, but of course today was not one of them!  I went in a little after 5:20, rubbed his back, carefully pulled him out of bed, changed his diaper, and off we went.

A little tired, but ready to go!

We arrived at the hospital a little before 5:45 and got checked in quickly.  Carter was a little bit tired, but fairly alert during our wait.  There were multiple other children in the waiting room most likely undergoing the same procedure.  One little boy was definitely a morning person and was running all over the room, talking, and keeping his parents on their toes.  Carter sat in my lap for quite a while and then wanted to walk around.  Then he read a book with daddy and not long after we were taken back to a room.  

Watching the other little boy run around the room.

Just chilling in the waiting room.  You can see the busy boy in the background.

 

Reading with daddy.

The first thing I noticed walking into the room was a little teddy bear sitting on the miniature bed.  The nurse told us the teddy bear was for Carter and we even had to sign a release saying we got to take the bear, but understood the button eyes could be a choking hazard!  Ty signed paperwork while I held Carter.  The nurse had us change Carter into a gown with tigers on it which we all enjoyed.  She put a monitor around his toe and then we placed booties on his feet.  They gave him some medicine our doctor had described to me during our appointment that was supposed to make him feel calm.  The nurse described it as goofy medicine and said he may act goofy and he would look like a drunk toddler if he attempted to walk.  I held him and we rocked in a rocking chair in the room.  He got sleepy initially and then got a bit goofy smiling and then leaning in really close to my face and biting my nose.  After biting my nose a few times and grinning ear to ear about it, he leaned in and chewed on my shirt.

Changed into his tiger gown.

He was not pleased that I set him down, he wanted to be held!

So I obliged of course!

When we first entered the back area they had me set Carter on a scale to get his weight.  He screamed and cried, reaching for me the whole time.  I was thankful they gave him the medicine to calm him because when the nurse came to get him and wheeled him out of the room, he just sadly looked at me and reached his arms up to be picked up.  There was no crying, screaming, or breaking of my heart as he was wheeled away.  Ty and I were sent back to the waiting room after being told the procedure would last 5-10 minutes and the doctor would come out to talk with us after anywhere from 15-30 minutes.  After speaking to the doctor a nurse would come to take us back to a recovery room once Carter opened his eyes.  We sat down in the waiting room to eat the snacks we had been given and then I headed to the bathroom.  When I came out I was shocked when Ty said I had missed the doctor.  A few minutes later the nurse came out to get us and take us back to Carter's recovery room.

Starting to get sleepy.

 

Before Carter was taken away the anesthesiologist described to us what would happen before, during, and after the procedure.  He told us the recovery area would be a sad place with lots of crying, not because the children are in pain, but because they don't like the way they feel from the anesthesia.  He said even when you try to soothe them they will typically still cry.  I was so glad he prepared us for that because as we were walking down the halls, before we even got to the recovery area, I could hear Carter crying.  A momma knows her baby's cry and it sure was hard to walk the nurse's pace and not run ahead to find my baby.  When we got to little man he was laying in the bed.  I scooped him up and held him as he screamed.  I had a bit of a flashback to the newborn days as I realized I needed to support his neck because his head was flopping around.  When I first picked him up, he continued to cry, but I could see him start to come to a little bit more because he looked up at me and stopped crying as I rocked him back and forth.  They got Pedialyte for him to drink and he drank so violently he soaked the front of my shirt.  We packed bananas for him, but didn't even attempt to feed him.  He was struggling just to drink.  

Poor guy was so upset in the recovery room!

After just a few minutes in the recovery area, monitoring his breathing, we were released to go home.  He was still crying a little bit off and on, but would look up at me and stop occasionally.  We pulled out of the parking lot at 7:45, just 45 minutes after he was wheeled into the surgery area and 2 hours after arriving.  I was so thankful everything had gone so smoothly and our sweet boy was on his way home.  We fed him a banana and some more Pedialyte before changing his diaper and then all 3 of us crashed in our bed for family naptime.

Chugging Pedialyte on the way home.

Carter woke up from the nap really fussy, but he was just super hungry.  After feeding him and sharing some cuddles he was ready to get up and play.  He played for about 3 hours and was ready to take another nap.  I am amazed at how quick the recovery has been!  He is doing really well and other than being a little bit fussier than normal, is acting his typical self.  We have to make sure no water gets in his ears for 3 days and will give him drops in his ears for the same amount of time.  Then it's business as usual.  We don't have to worry about keeping water out of his ears or protecting them any more than we already would after the tubes have time to settle in!   

Eating some dark cherries after his nap.

Down for nap #2.