On February 22nd Joshua had the tubes put in his ear. Our morning started off early since we had to be at the hospital at around 7:00 AM. I was very concerned that Joshua would be miserable in the time leading up to the procedure since would not be able to eat or drink anything past midnight. I woke Joshua up at 6:00 and changed him into his adorable SuperMan pajamas and brought him downstairs, my friend was coming with me since Chris needed to go to work that day. The first thing Joshua headed to was his high chair, he pulled a bib out of the pocket at the back of his high chair and tried putting it on. I quickly distracted him, put his coat on and rushed out the door. We were very careful not to mention and sort of food or drink in front of him so that we didn't remind him that he hadn't eaten. After we got to the hospital we waited around for about an hour until they called us in to get him changed in to his pink prison pajamas. The nurse gave him a huge syringe of tylenol and he got sleepy quite quickly. We went back to wait for them to call Joshua's name. My Dad arrived just when the called Joshua's name so they gave each other a quick hello and we went off to meet with the anaestheologist before heading into the Operation Room.
I was glad that I was able to stay with Joshua while they were putting him under, but it was probably one of the scariest moments of my parenting life. When we got into the OR I sat Joshua in my lap with his arms around my back while the anaestheologist inserted the IV in his hand. He cried the worst cry that I have ever heard come out of his little body, and the doctor warned me that he would scream for about 10 seconds and then he would just stop, and that is exactly what he did, with a horrible coughing sound in between. The nurse had warned me how he would go limp but I was still not prepared to see my little boy in that state. They whipped him out of my arms and on to the operating table and the doctor walked me out of the room.
I met up with my Dad, Wendy and my friend and we went and had a quick bite to eat before heading back to the waiting room where we waited for them to call my name. Once the announcement was made that he was in the recovery room and went back to see him. I walked into the recovery room and there he was sitting on the nurses lap looking quite content while another nurse checked his vitals. I picked him up gave him a hug and we sat for a while and cuddled, that was probably the best part of the day since I don't usually get many cuddles in anymore. The nurse offered him a glass of juice which he very happily guzzled back and politely asked for more.
We were able to take him home about an hour after he woke up and as soon as we got home he had a three hour nap, and as you can tell by the pictures below, he was back this normal self.
A huge thank you to my wonderful friend Megan, who came along with me to help keep me sane, not only is she a wonderful friend, but she will soon be a mommy to beautiful set of twins!