Tuesday the 25th.
Remember when Ben was scheduled to be sedated for dental work last month but woke up with an allergic reaction to pumpkin bread instead? Well, today was the make-up date. I think the kids must have sensed our nervousness last night, because no one slept well. It was a looong night that ended way too early. Amy dropped Jackson off at a friend's house across town at 6:30am so that he could ride to school with them. We were at the pediatric dentist office in Winston-Salem at 7:45am. Ben was happy to be there and played enthusiastically with all the toys in the waiting room. Then came time for the anesthesia, one that he had to drink it from a syringe. The nurse was a bit of a loon and was wearing gloves, two clues to Ben that he shouldn't drink what she was trying to give him. The catch is that the medicine is mixed so precisely that a spill would mean canceling the visit because guessing at how much he spit out would be too risky. Amy and I had to hold him down while the nurse TOOK FOREVER squirting a little of the medicine at a time into his mouth. Ben fought with all his might and kept crying for his daddy, which of course was hard on me since he NEVER does that. As soon as it was over he was fine and went right back to playing.
Ten minutes later his little legs looked wobbly, so we carried him to a quiet room with a couch where we held him and read stories. His head began to bobble, then finally came to rest on my shoulder. He slept for thirty minutes while we waited for the dentist and neighboring room to become available. During those thirty minutes the little girl occupying the room SCREAMED and CRIED at the top of her lungs. After the tear stained, swollen cheeked girl finally got to escape the room, the doctor popped out and said that they would be ready as soon as the room was clean. Great. We put Ben on the table and they began strapping down his wrists. Ben was awake, but very, very groggy. They told him that they were going to make him snug and he said "okay." A Velcro blanket was wrapped around him and we had to go back to the waiting room. Mommy shed a few tears which motivated two different nurses to come out and assure us that he wasn't crying and that he was doing great. The procedure took fifty minutes. When we were called back, we found him sitting on the couch drinking juice. Everything had went perfectly and he only cried when we left without letting him play more in the lobby. He slept all the way home and didn't wake up until 3pm. I am so glad that it went well and so very glad that it is now over.