Carter's First Surgery

After many ear infections it was determined by the ENT that Carter would need tubes in his ears. So today was the day! I had many nightmares last night about the hospital making me sign the organ donor release "just in case" and them feeding him milk during surgery. So I was ready to get this over with. He looked so cute in his printed gown and slipper socks.

I was a little nervous about how Carter would do fasting. It's no secret that Carter doesn't miss many meals. We were the first surgery of the day but Carter is usually ready to eat the second he wakes up in the morning. Luckily though we were able to keep him distracted and he never once cried for food. He did however check the diaper bag many times for the snacks I usually keep hidden there. I had actually thought he might do that and so I emptied it of all treats. The doctor was late getting there and according to the nurses he's always late. I was getting annoyed with him (we had a hungry baby and a nervous mommy, don't make a wait an extra second) but luckily he was only 10 minutes late and that is superb for him apparently. Carter loved crawling in and out of the room and it was hard to keep him contained in such a small room.
Cute boy before surgery.Neil kept him entertained by doing the "1, 2, 3 fall back" game. Then it was off to surgery. The ansethiologist had me walk him down the hall and then abruptly stopped and took him from me before I had a chance to even kiss him goodbye. I think they know what they're doing because I didn't even have time to worry and I didn't even cry. Surgery lasted less than 10 minutes. Then they brought him to the recovery room for about 5 minutes until he woke up. We could hear him fussing before we even saw him. As the nurse brought him to us, she whacked his head on the door as she entered. The only fussing baby went to a screaming and thrashing baby. I felt so bad for him. He didn't know what he wanted He didn't want to be held but didn't want put down either. So we spent about 30 minutes getting him calmed down. FINALLY he snuggled up on my shoulder and was calmed down when the male nurse came in to take his oxygen levels. He did NOT like this man touching him. He screamed and fought the nurse again. I got him calmed down again and same thing. Finally, after some Tylenol and back rubs he looked like this.....


During his screaming time he would reach towards the door and wave bye-bye. He wanted out! He also kept signing milk but they didn't really want him to have milk yet, just juice. Once we got home he was as happy as could be. He didn't want to sleep right away. He played happily on the floor and then slept for almost 3 hours without even moving. (Could I get some of that gas for everyday use!?!?) We're hoping these tubes make him feel so much better and take all the fluid out of his constantly hurting ears!