Tubes - over and done

Alice had the surgery to put in her tubes Thursday morning. The morning started out much better than we thought it would. Our first concern was the fact that Alice was not allowed to eat after midnight. We had to be at the hospital at 6am for a 7:30am surgery. So I got up at 11:30 Wednesday night to give her a bottle. That turned out to be a wise move because Alice was happy and content the whole morning. We actually tried to get out of the house very quietly and thought she would fall back to sleep in the car on the way but she stayed up and sang to us the whole way there.

In typical Alice style, she completely charmed the entire nursing staff. She was so great - very smiley and happy. She didn't even complain when it was time to be handed off to the nurse to go to the OR. She was very interested in her ID bracelet, as you can see from the pictures and was not too concerned with her hospital gown.

Fast forward 25 minutes, the doctor came out to talk to us. He said that her ears were indeed still infected but that they started draining right away. We were given ear drops and another week of antibiotics but he said that everything went perfectly. He told us that he used titanium tubes. I am not sure if that is different from what is usually used but he was very comfortable with the outcome.

Five minutes later, we were greeted by her sweet face in the waiting room. The nurse said that she was really unhappy but seemed to calm down when she was up walking around so she brought her out to get us. Alice came right to me and but once she realized it was me, she started crying. We sat down for a bottle and that is when she started fighting me. The nurse said that when adults come out of anesthesia, we are groggy but we understand it. Babies, however, fight it. Alice ate about 3 ounces of formula but would not or could not stop crying long enough to take any more. I finally got her calmed down with a pacifier and she drifted off to sleep.

We were home by 9am and she slept until 11:00. Most of the day was spent sitting with Mom and Dad on the couch with another nap from 12:30-2. She was not very interested in playing or eating at all but we went for a walk about 3:30 to get some fresh air. I think the extra sleeping really helped get the after effects of the anesthesia out of her system. She had a little dinner, medicine and a bottle then the talking started. She squealed and sang and babbled all evening and tried to turn her exersaucer into a jumperoo. She was wide awake until 10pm when Mom could not keep her eyes open anymore so in the crib she went. She whined a bit when her music machine went off but we did not hear a peep for the rest of the night.

Each morning, typically, John will get up, shower and then wake me up on his way to get Alice up and changed. Then he brings Alice in to "wake up Mommy". I was so pleased this morning to hear her squealing away and smiling. I did not think it was possible for this little girl to be any more cheerful but it seems that she has found a way to do it.

We will see how today goes with daycare but I am optomistic that she is on the road to recovery.