Baby W's First Surgery

Yesterday was the Big Day.  Baby W and I got up really early and headed over to the Surgical Tower for a 7am checkin.  He was a little sleepy and slightly grumpy that I didn't feed him before we left but he decided we were having an adventure and was pretty happy to go for a drive and then take a walk in the dark across the parking lot with me :p  He played shy peekaboo with the other people checking in and was happy to walk with the nurse escorting us through the hospital.  And, then, we got on the elevator.

Normally elevators are fun for W but this one was filled with strangers and he completely freaked out.  He's coming into the stranger anxiety phase of toddlerhood and while strangers in a big open room are okay, crammed into an elevator apparently is not :\  That set the tone for the rest of our check in and he fought every step of the way--weight, height, temp, heart check, all of it.  He even fought changing into his tiny set of scrubs.  When he finally started to settle, he held onto me tight and gave the Sad Face to everyone stopping by:

After a while of it just being me and him in our little room, he got up the courage to explore:

Of course he was drawn to the giant glass door :p  He stood there watching everyone in the hall and waving at the other kids he could see.

And then he saw some grownups coming and he ran for it!

Turned out to be the anesthesia team arriving to take him back to the OR.  They brought a little red wagon for him to ride in but he wasn't having it so one of the anesthesiologists sat in a wheel chair and cuddled him.  He hugged her tight but still cried his way back to the OR.  Poor little bug.

Ear tubes took less then ten minutes to go in and then he went to recovery to wake up.  Dr. M said they went in quick and easy and they suctioned out all the fluid still trapped in there. He has some ear drops to use for the next five days and then whenever he gets sick enough to get ear discharge (from fluid draining) but other than that no restrictions.

He came back from recovery shortly after and was sleepy and super clingy but when the nurse brought him milk he downed all eight ounces in just a few minutes and then ate a (dry) bowl of cheerios.  Dad arrived (he did school drop off) right as we were getting ready to be discharged :p  W spent the rest of his day slightly wobbly and with a wicked case of Mr. Crankypants but otherwise was completely normal  :)