BA's Corner: World's Best Baby

I'm now fully convinced that I have the world's best baby.

We had an ENT appointment scheduled for a couple of weeks from now, just in case Leah's ear infections didn't improve.  And the plan was to get an “emergency” ENT appointment if necessary last week.  Leah had been on her most recent medication for about 3.5 days.  Like the other medications, she seemed to be doing fine for a couple of days.  But on Thursday, she didn't nap well, began to tug at her ears, and we had to console her several times between 7:30 p.m. and midnight.  She tugged at her ears some more Friday morning.  So we thought something might be going on. 

It's always a judgment call as to whether we should make a doctor's appointment or not.  I'd say 80-90% of the time we've gone into the doctor, he or she confirmed that there was good reason for us to come in.  This day was no exception.

So after a month of a double ear infection, and after a failed 5th medication, we called in Friday morning to get an "emergency" ENT appointment for evaluation and next steps, which they scheduled for this coming Tuesday.  But we didn't think that was a very "emergent" appointment, and we thought we should get Leah checked out before the weekend.  So we got the first available sick appointment with Leah's pediatrician Friday morning - 10:10 a.m.  Nana and I hopped in the car for the short trip to the doctor’s office.

We brought the stroller so Leah could nap as long as possible at the office.  They tend to make you wait for a while, so we’ve learned to be prepared.  Leah fell asleep in the car, and I was able to transfer her to the stroller without her waking up too much.  So she got a 30-minute nap or so in her stroller at the doctor’s office (while I convinced the nurses not to touch her until the doctor came in).  

The doctor looked in her ears, determined they were “not much better,” and said our next step was for him to call in a favor to see if she could get tubes that afternoon.  He made several calls to review his treatments and Leah’s (lack of) progress, and discussed next steps.  Most doctors were in surgery or on vacation, but he managed to get a hold of one going through airport security at ATL.  He also got a second opinion in the office.  Everyone agreed immediate tubes was the right answer, and he got us scheduled for some time that afternoon.

At this point, Leah knows what the doctor’s office is, and she doesn’t care for it.  She whips her little head around to see each person who walks through the door and notice what they have in their hands.  So we had burned through all the toys in her diaper bag trying to keep her calm.  And while all these conversations were taking place, I was trying to convince Leah to drink her bottle, having already distracted her with goldfish and rice krispies. 

The doctor peeked in for a quick update and instructed us to stop feeding.  Oops.  If there was a possibility she’d get tubes that day, she’d have to stop drinking liquids for 6 hours, and stop eating solids for 8 hours.  Sorry Leah.  This is how she handled it....

The arrangements were made, and we headed straight to the Emergency Room.  Yikes.  Leah’s Granda (AA’s dad) was passing through town to have lunch, so we told him to have lunch with us in the ER!  AA met us there with a couple of bottles so we could give Leah some apple juice until about 1 p.m. 

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta was wonderful.  From the minute we stepped in, we were impressed.  There was no wait, so we burned right through triage to our first room, where we traded off so that Granda could spend some time with the Peanut, who was in a smiley, playful mood as usual.

Nurses and doctors came in and out of that room, and Leah watched every one of them.  She looked at every tool and instrument that came close to her, and smiled at everyone.  She was great.  We determined that the surgery would occur no earlier than 6:45 p.m., since I had given her goldfish.  We were quite lucky actually…the Pediatric ENT performing the surgery was only scheduled until 7 p.m.  Had our original appointment been any later, we’d have been out of luck for the whole weekend.  So after some lunch and visiting, we shipped AA back home to study until at least 6 p.m.  We were moved to our second room, at which point I walked Leah up and down the halls for probably an hour trying to get her to nap in her stroller.  I got some strange looks, of course, but I’m used to it. 

Leah napped for probably 20 minutes, and I began to brace for the worst.  I knew we’d have the crankiest baby pretty soon….ear infections, strange environment, essentially one bottle all day long, and maybe a combined 60 minutes of naps all day.  She was going to be a handful until this surgery.  And I figured she’d be really cranky after the surgery too.  So Nana and I settled in for a long day.

We were moved to our third (and final) room, which had a pull-out couch and a crib bed in it.  Man-o-man did Leah have a ball in that crib bed.  We put the rails up, dropped her in, and she ran laps for hours!  She would crawl from one end to the other, stand up, point at anything, talk adamantly about it, hop down, and do it all over again.  She was so funny.  We kept steadily rotating through the limited number of toys we had, and improvised with a few others.  We built a fort with sheets, and I made balloons out of some medical gloves - she had a ball with those. 

We were told the surgery was scheduled for 8 p.m., so we grabbed a bite to eat and told AA to keep studying.  Soon after that, they called me and said “we’re ready for you.”  I knew AA wanted to be there to see Leah before the surgery, so I stalled them as much as possible.  They came in with an infant gown and told me to put Leah in it.  I lolly-gagged through that, asking the nurse some questions and playing with Leah a little bit.  Then I slowly sauntered down the hall with the nurse, making conversation and taking pictures with Leah. 


The big people in the funny costumes are using big words. 
Should I be concerned?


Nana stayed in the room to tell AA where to go when she arrived.  The doctors, PA’s, and nurses came in, and I asked each of them some questions.  The Pediatric ENT came in to review the procedure and I asked him some questions (after I thanked him profusely for squeezing us in at the end of his shift).  Just before the OR nurse came to pick up Leah, AA arrived.  So I handed Leah to her and we snapped a few pics.  Leah was curious, of course, but still smiling.  I couldn’t believe how wonderfully she had handled all of this on no sleep and an empty stomach.  She was amazing.

At 6:45 p.m., the OR nurse put Leah in a warm blanket and carried her off to surgery.  Leah didn’t cry…she just put her arm on the nurse’s shoulder and looked around. 

Do you all think you can bribe me with a measely warm blanket?

We walked back to our room.  The doctor came in about 10-15 minutes later and talked us through the follow-up procedures.  They brought Leah in a few minutes later, and she was cranky and fussy as expected.  She drank A LOT and we finally got her calmed down after about an hour.  She was ready to go, but they said it’d be another 2 hours before the paperwork was ready for her to be discharged.  Ugh!  So we all grabbed some dinner (Leah included) and then we sent AA back to study some more.  It was hard to believe that an hour and a half after her procedure, this was our girl…..

Which way to the elevator, Peanut?



Every time the nurse came in, Leah crawled to that side of the crib, stood up, and stared at her while she spoke, listening intently.  Her final discharge instructions included (1) no blowing your nose and (2) no heavy lifting.  Leah didn't think either of those would be a problem.  By 9:45 p.m., we were all wrapped up.  The last thing I asked the nurse was “Do you mind if we keep the gown?”  She let me, so we’ll see if we get a bill.  It was adorable….what a souvenir.  

Get me outta here!!

I couldn’t believe after a day like that, no food, no sleep, all that strange activity, and it being way past her 7:30 p.m. bedtime…this was how my child was behaving.  I was so proud of her.

She napped on the way home.  We gave her another bottle at midnight, along with some Tylenol.  She slept well.  Lets hope the worst of the ear infections is behind us!