Totally Tubular

Today Sadie had tubes put in her ears.  Everything went really well.  When Piper got her tubes, I was freaked out.  Today, since I knew exactly what we were in for, I felt much better.  I even took pictures!

Here is Miss Sadie signing forms in the hospital waiting room while we listened for our name to be  called.  Just kidding.  She was just coloring on the back of them.  Other highlights from this portion of the morning included pointing out the yellow fish in the fish tank and complaining (it was SUPER early).  Note her pink pjs.  Chloe helped me bathe her last night and pick which jammies she should wear.  It's so nice to have a stylist around.

This is Sadie in the pre-op room.  She got to don her hospital gown and socks (she hated those).  The nurses cooed over her (every single one of them commented on her red hair).  They even gave her this yellow teddy bear to keep her company.

Daddy and Sadie read books while we waited for the anesthesiologist to come talk to us.  The surgery is so short that she just breathed gas through a mask.  And my mama trauma was cut down considerably because a kind female nurse took her back to the operating room.  Sadie hardly complained at all.  (The male doctor came for Piper when she had to go and I'm pretty sure the whole hospital heard her screaming bloody murder.  She was screaming MY name, begging me for help.  I'm still trying to block that memory!)

The surgery took all of fifteen minutes.  Dr. Stevens, her ENT, is a friend of the Durham family.  So he took great care of us.  Sadie's been sick this week and we were desperately trying to stave off another ear infection in order to do the surgery today.  He said that the pressure in her ears was immediately relieved and she's probably feeling much better now despite some ear pain.  Sadie was pretty mad when they brought her back to us.  She screamed and cried.  But then she settled down to sleep.

When she woke up, she was much happier.  She struck the hands behind her head stance of a truly relaxed individual and absolutely cracked me up.  Her druggy mumblings made me laugh, too.  She was saying something about Chloe being funny and then started to giggle.  My kids are hilarious coming off anesthesia (yes, now all THREE have had surgery in less than two years!).  We spent about an hour in recovery and then we got to take her home.  Notice how Carter is holding her in all the pictures?  Our daughters become real Daddy's Girls the moment they enter the hospital and cling to him for dear life.  I can't blame them.  I feel the same way about him when I go to the hospital :)

Now, just a few hours later, she's right as rain.  She's watching cartoons, clutching her Dora figurines, of course, and running around the house with Piper.  You'd hardly know to look at her the arduous morning she had. Her anesthesia breath would clue you in, though.   I hate that she had to go through all this, but I'm thankful to be off the earache/antibiotic cycle.  I know these tubes are going to help her feel so much better.   What a brave girl!