They gave us the run down of how things would go that day, and then we headed to the play room to kill time. There were two other boys in there, both older than her, and they seemed to flock to us when we got in there. They followed Annaliese wherever she went. She spent her time between the drums and the keyboard, which makes the percussionist in me hopeful for the future.
Sue called us back to the room and administered Annaliese some dopamine to help ease the fear of separation. She said it could knock her out or make her giggly. Instead, it made her very chatty and lovey. She liked to pretend her pop bead was a phone, putting it up to her ear an saying, "Hello" followed by lots more babble we don't understand yet. As Dr. Edmunds came in to get her for surgery, Annaliese gave her a kiss. If this is any indication as to what may happen when she has alcohol in her system, then we'll really need to watch out with how easily she shares kisses.
About forty minutes later, she was back in our room. Dr. Edmunds said she was a very good baby. Never cried at all. Was giving lots of kisses to of all them back in surgery. Even the surgical nurse who came in later talked about what a sweetheart and snuggler she was. She also returned with a bear she got to keep.
The biggest thing we had to deal with after the surgery was her hunger. She hadn't eaten since supper the night before (16 hours ago) and so was very hungry. The little bit of diluted juice they gave her wasn't enough to tide her over, but they were fearful of nausea if they gave her too much. Eventually her crying won out and she got more to drink and animal crackers to eat.
The dot was to indicate Dr. Edmunds had come in and checked her out before the surgery. There was a bit of drainage from her ear; some fluid was blending in with the ear drum and they couldn't see it until they were in there.
We had to wait awhile to leave, as they had to continually get her blood pressure and heart rate before they'd discharge us. I really just wanted to get her home and snuggle with her.
When we got home, though, she wasn't in a snugly mood. You really wouldn't even had known she had surgery today the way she was playing and crawling around. She even stood for a bit without holding on to anything, which is a new occurrence (our theory is she was a bit behind in this skill because all the ear problems were throwing off her equilibrium). Before we had left the hospital, the nurses gave her a birthday balloon and she found a way to get tangled up in it.
And tonight, following a 4.5 hour nap, she was nothing but a happy girl all night long. She loved the toast, grapes, and ham balls she got for her birthday supper, and ended the night crawling around the living room getting into everything Ian was trying to keep away from her.
So all-in-all, not a great way to spend one's birthday, but hopefully it will make this following year even more enjoyable for her than her first year, or hopefully at least a lot healthier.
1 comment:
From that last picture she sure doesn't look like she had anything done to her. What a great happy little smile. I'm glad that all went well for all of your sakes.
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