Baby H goes under the knife

Today was the first of several surgeries that little miss Holland will undergo.  Thankfully they start off with an easy procedure: ear tubes!   She DID have to go under general anesthesia, but the surgery was only about ten minutes.

The hardest part of the whole ordeal?  She couldn't eat (drink) anything after 3am!  Luckily our children's hospital, Nationwide Children's, schedules their surgeries by age, youngest to oldest.  Holland was number 1!

I woke her up to eat at 2am, and then again at 3am, and then said a little prayer that she wouldn't freak out when I had to wake her up just before 6am to head to the surgery center.  She rocked it.

Holland's pre-surgery jitters

She slept until I had to get her out of her carseat for the nurse to weigh and measure her.  She flirted, giggled and made eyes at the male nurse who bought into all of her smooth moves.

When we got to our pre-op room Holly girl finally realized she was hungry and screamed while I changed her into her fancy hospital pajamas which happened to be fit for a two year old.  The only thing that would calm her down was her binky and standing in front of the television so she could watch Mickey Mouse.

Putting on the fancy tie-in-the-back gown

"I'm Hungry Mother, I Really Am!"

Holly's surgery time was 7:30am, and so obviously at 7:30 we were still waiting in the pre-op room.  Apparently even the first appointment of the day is difficult to keep punctual as I saw our doc walk in at 7:31am.  So..we took some selfies!

After meeting with Mr. Anesthesiologist and Mr. ENT surgeon the nurse came to take Holland back. I all but begged to be able to watch the surgery, promising I wouldn't break down crying but apparently there are policies in place to keep crazy people who like to see blood and guts out of the O.R.  

"Gonna get some tubes in my ears" SELFIE!!!

I got to sit in the waiting room and watch the news while waiting. Finally I got to go back to the recovery room where a nurse was holding little sister. I got her and immediately she began screaming for food.  Bottle inserted into mouth! She ate, and she went to sleep. Workin' on sleeping of the anesthesia.

Sleep sleepy sleep

After awhile I was told I could change her back into her own PJs and get ready to take her home.  The surgeon came in to debrief me and told me that when he vacuumed out her ears before inserting the tubes a TON of "goop" came out.  He said it was the consistency of rubber cement and that it was a really good idea to get the tubes sooner rather than later.

Let's get ready to go home, mamma!

Doc said she would have some bloody drainage out of her ears for a few days, but that she would be able to sleep better and be less irritable.  That's incredible because she is already the most un-irritable baby ever! She maybe she will just start sleeping through the night (of course now that I've written that she never will!). 

Little lady still has a long road ahead of her, and this is not the last surgery she will have to undergo. She is one step ahead now, however.

Now we all need a nap.