Paul's First Surgery!

Our brave little boy had tubes put in on Tuesday. So many friends had told me how quick the surgery was and how fast their kids bounced back that I actually wasn't very nervous. The worst part of the process was not letting him eat after 2:30 am. He woke around 2 am and ate a couple of ounces. My plan was to wake him up around 5:30 am to get ready to leave (we had to be at the hospital at 6:30 am) but he woke up around 4 am and was inconsolable. Phil tried calming him down and we tried giving him water in a sippy cup but that did not help (he could have water until 4:30 am). I tried rocking him for awhile but gave up after 15 minutes. So we were all up for the day at 4 am. He had been up multiple times that night so I ended up getting 4.5 hours of sleep. Bleh.

He was in good spirits by the time we got to the hospital. The nurses were all impressed by how happy and smiley he was! He looked so cute in his hospital gown (which was WAY too big for him!).

A little before 8 the nurse anesthetist took him back for surgery. When they are under a year, the parents aren't there when they are put under. He had gotten kind of fussy around 7:30 but surprisingly he did well when he was carried away - he didn't even cry!

The surgeon came back to talk to us after he had put the tubes in, which took about 10 minutes. He said his ears had lots of thick fluid so clearly getting tubes was the right decision. One ear was still infected. We had suspected that as his sleep was especially bad over the weekend and he was fussy during the day. The surgeon told us that since Paul is younger than usual for a tubes procedure, he may need this procedure again in the future, possibly multiple times. That's obviously not ideal but at least it's a very quick procedure.

They brought Paul back from the recovery room around 8:45. I fed him a bottle and we cuddled.

We were discharged around 9, picked up his prescription for ear drops on the way out, and were home by 9:30! And then it was off to bed for everyone as we were all desperately in need of a nap!

After a 2.5 hour nap, he was pretty much back to normal!

His sleep hasn't really improved yet, but I think the ear that was infected is likely still bothering him. Hopefully it heals soon as Phil and I are so ready for more sleep and fewer wake-ups!