Poor Ava had to have a tooth pulled this week. She was very brave and rebounded like a champ. Had I known how well she was going to handle it I would not have stressed about it for weeks. There is something about knowing your child will be in pain that drives a mom crazy. I stocked up on soft foods and dinosaur movies and in the end I think she spent less that 8 hours on the couch.
She only took two doses of pain medicine after the anesthesia wore off and was eating cereal the next morning. Amazing. Still I thought I'd take a few notes in case we have to do this again.
I'm glad I...
- Did not tell her about the appointment. I woke her up at 6:00 a.m. for our 6:45 appt. We changed clothes and brushed our teeth and were out the door in 15 minutes. She had very little time to get anxious about what was going to happen.
- Got the first appointment of the day. She could not eat or drink anything before so I'm glad we were the first ones in. By the time we left (8:00) there were 3 more kids waiting in the waiting room. Next time I should remember to park by the exit. I had to move my car around to the back because the don't want to send bleeding kids out the waiting room door.
- Rented 8 hours of dinosaur DVD's. There were a couple of movies on Netflix she wanted to see so I ordered them a week before her procedure. I also got a few from the library. As soon as I told her she was getting her tooth pulled I also mentioned the DVD's and that we could spend the day on the couch watching movies. It gave her something to look forward to and distracted her all day long.
- Spent the day with her. She got some quality time with her mom and I got a bit of knitting done. I also gave her the sick bell so she could call me when I wasn't right there. She gave me a ring once so I would not miss the best part of the dinosaur movie. So cute.
- Shopped ahead of time. I was well stocked on jello, chicken broth, breakfast shakes, pudding and ice cream. The tooth fairy was also ready with a gift (and some cash) to make the next morning easier.
- Had a cold pack in the freezer. The rice bag I made last year was perfect to lay across her cheek. We also had extra gauze, a garbage can and a washcloth within hands reach.
3 comments:
I'm so glad she handled it so well! I had to get two teeth pulled when I was a year or two older than her, and I was miserable. I have a terrible memory, but I *do* recall how awful I felt afterwards.
You're such a good mama! So well prepared and caring. Keep the stories of Ava coming, I love hearing them!
Hugs to Ava and to you! I'm so glad everything went well.
One more thing. I drew a small heart on Ava's left thumb so she could look at it when they were putting the IV in her right arm. That way she could think of me and have somewhere else to focus her attention. I drew it with a sharpy which she thought was a little crazy, but fun.
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