An Ear Full

It's no secret that 'Munchkin' has had a rough year in terms of getting sick.  The poor girl got an ear infection every time she had a sniffle.  Then she started teething and she got an ear infection every time she cut a tooth.  I felt like I was pouring amoxicillin into her sippy cups instead of milk.  And every time she got sick, I rocked her and kissed her and cuddled her and then woke up a few days later with a cold myself. 

Last month, during an ear infection diagnosis appointment, I asked Dr. H., "how many ear infections does she have to endure before we start talking tubes?" 

She replied, "four in a year". 

Then she rummaged through 'Munchkin's' chart and counted up her offenses.  And then she gave me an 'oops' face and said we were at eight.  Eight!  Ugh!

The next week we were off to the ENT and setting up surgery for her to have tubes put in her ears.  My poor little baby girl.  I was so nervous about the whole thing considering all 20 pounds of her was going under anesthesia.  I was reassured by some awesome Facebook friends who had been through the same thing that everything would be just fine.  Thank goodness for Facebook friends!

The morning of the surgery, we arrived at Fallbrook hospital (30 minutes away) at 6:15 for her admission.  She got a little hospital bracelet and we had to sign a bunch of papers (and pay for everything...you would not believe how much that cost!). 

Waiting in pre-op.  Look at her tiny little ID bracelet.

We got a smile out of her just before they took her away.  She was holding onto her snugglie for dear life.

My nerves were totally shot.  She knew something was going on and she let us know that she did not like it.  They let us take her back to the pre-op area where we met the anesthesiologist and Dr. M. explained the procedure to us one more time.  Then the whisked her away and led us to the waiting area.  We heard her screaming all the way down the hallway. 

Dr. M. told us he would get us when he was finished, about fifteen minutes or so.  I went to the bathroom, called my mom and talked to her for two minutes and there was Dr. M. telling us how well everything went.  He was gone for five minutes.  I thought he was coming to tell us something had gone terribly wrong.  I cannot believe how fast it went.

They only let one of us back in recovery with her so, 'The Hubs' headed off to work and I went to cuddle my girl.  She was a mess coming out from under the anesthesia.  She screamed for the whole 30 minutes of recovery and didn't stop until she was buckled in her car seat, watching Tangled. 

She did great on the car ride home but, just as we were five minutes form our door, she puked up her apple juice (that the nurses told me to give her) and whatever else was in her stomach.  It was so bad I had to pull over and clean the whole mess up on the side of a country road. 

When we got home, we just snuggled and then we both fell asleep for a few hours.  She woke up and was still a little out of it.  We let her watch movies on the couch all afternoon.  Then, at about 4 in the afternoon, she went crazy.  Running, jumping,climbing, squealing, screaming, crazy.  So, we decided she was fine and we went to Mimi and Papa's to carve pumpkins and let her run off some steam. 

Recuperating and watching Beauty and the Beast (her favorite).  About an hour before she turned into a maniac.

She has been great in the weeks since the surgery.  She is currently cutting a tooth and has no signs of any ear infections.  Yay!  We also have noticed that she has finally started to speak more words as if she wasn't able to hear us all that well before.  We are so glad that it is done and over with and all we are left with is a healthy little girl.  And a hefty medical bill to pay off.  Haha!