Tubes, Tubes, Tubes

Today started early.  For the surgery Owynn had to be NPO (nothing by mouth) after midnight.  I set my alarm last night to midnight so I could give him a bottle before the cut off time.  I didn't sleep well because I kept waiting for my alarm to go off.  When I finally looked at the time it was past 2 am.  DANG IT!!!!!

The next alarm went off at 4:45.  I had every intention of taking a shower.  I was SO tired that I gave up that idea for another 30 minutes of sleep.  And sure enough, as I got up and was getting ready, O started crying for a bottle.  I went to him and asked if he wanted to brush his teeth.  He was so excited he forgot about being hungry.  For about 20 minutes.  We got dressed and walked around the house for a little while.  The hunger was getting the best of him so we got in the car and proceeded to drive up to Los Alamos.  We were told to be there early for our 7am procedure.  We showed up about 15 minutes early.  The doctor didn't show up until just before 8.  FOR OUR 7AM PROCEDURE!  We should have called him at 5:45 when we left the house.  But apparently, that was a special occasion that he showed up before 8 for his 7 o'clock case!

While waiting, we did a lot of walking around in our pink gown.  And a lot of singing and running around.  The anesthesiologist brought him a dose of a powerful sedative and within a few minutes he was happy and calm and kinda "drunk."  A lot of people go to sleep when they get this drug (that I can't remember the name of at this moment) but not my son.  He was awake until the bitter end!  I can't understand half of what he says normally and on the drugs I couldn't understand any of his babbles.  Here he is singing "Wheels" with mom and grandma:

Wheels on the bus

They had me go into the Operating room with O and administered the general anesthetic.  As soon as he was out I was led out of the OR and into the waiting room.  I had about 5 minutes of playing Angry Birds before the nurse came to get me.  He woke up screaming.  I went into the recovery area and he was there with Grandma just screaming and crying.  I took him and gave him a bottle.  He stopped screaming and drank it down without taking a breath.  He polished off that first bottle quickly so I offered another.  He stopped half way through, got upset again and then puked all down the front of me.  Good thing I hadn't showered after all.

The nurses were so sweet.  They offered toys, balloons, gave him Tylenol, almost sang to him...all in the hopes of making him happy.  Nothing worked.  He cried until the moment we got in the car to go home.  To go home we have to go down the hill and up another hill.  He cried with the pressure changes in his ears.  It was sad and exciting all at the same time.  Any time he's flown he's never screamed going up or coming down.  The fluid build up explains that, now. 

The doctor said he had a lot of fluid that drained and the beginnings of infections in both ears.  Good timing!  I noticed later he had stuff in the outer part of his ears.  For the next few days I have to put drops in each ear to prevent infection and it will clear up the infections that were up and coming.  He just LOVES this process (insert sarcastic tone here).  I'm glad it'll be done tonight.

He took a long nap this afternoon and was his happy, playful self when he woke up.  When I call his name, from across the room, he turns to look at me.  He turns to hear where sounds are coming from.  He is trying to say Grandma, not just nana.  That all makes the screaming and the puke worth it!

In other news, someone can say his last name.

Zerbach

Love and hugs to all!