Today was the day that Gracelin got her tubes. After 5 previous ear infections, and one suspected one (which the doctor confirmed today) I was more than a bit anxious to get them in. Not that I want any pain or discomfort for her, but I feel that one day of pain is better than the weeks of sickness she has been enduring.
Quite honestly, I was most worried about the fact she couldn't eat after midnight. She usually wakes up in the morning quite hungry, and I didn't know what I would do if she woke up wanting to nurse. I went in and did a "dream feed" around 11pm so that she hopefully wouldn't be so hungry, and then I put her back to sleep in her car seat. It worked great! She was still asleep when it was time to leave. By the time we had gotten to the hospital, a 20 minute drive, she was awake - but she was very content. We went inside, checked in, and sat down to wait. It took them about 30 minutes to call us back, and she was an absolute angel. The other parents in the waiting room were commenting to us on how happy she seemed (they all had fussy babies).
Finally they called her back. The nurse came in and took her vitals, then the anisthesiaologist (sp?) came in to describe what he was going to do. Luckily he would just use gas, but he warned us to expect a crying baby when she came out of it. Then the doctor came in and told us what she was going to do. She said the acutal procedure would only take about 4 minutes. She would also do a hearing test before and after. Then they took our smiling baby (who looked so cute in her minature hospital gown) and sent us to wait in the recovery room.
We had only been there about 15 minutes, when I distinctly heard my baby crying over all the other babies. They brought her to me, and she was crying harder than I had ever heard. I tried to nurse her, but she wasn't really interested. She would latch for a few seconds, but then come off and scream again. They gave the antibiotic ear drops and explained to us how to "wick" away the drainage (some very feminine male nurse named Bruce showed us how to properly twist a tissue into a wick). Then the doctor came in and told us that everything went well. She did have an ear infection and she did fail her hearing test. But, she was able to get rid of the infection, and after the tubes went in, Gracelin passed her hearing test.
Gracelin was still hysterical. It broke my heart to have her cry like that and not be able to comfort her. I don't know how parents of colicy babies do it. We decided to just take her home. She cried almost the entire 20 minutes back home. Finally, just as we were pulling into the neighborhood, she fell asleep. She slept for quite awhile, and woke up with a smile on her face. She has been generally happy the rest of the day, although I could tell she was a bit uncomfortable. We have kept her on a steady dose of Tylenol. I can also tell that she is hearing things differently, and already I have noticed a difference in her babbling.
We did have a slight issue getting her to sleep tonight, but I think that has stemmed from me being a bit lax about her night routine for the past few weeks. Tongith I just put her into bed - cold turkey. And it took about 30 minutes longer for her to fall asleep. She did well though - she really is a great baby!
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