post-op update.

man i have a lot to catch up on.  as usual.  first and foremost, i just want to update on emme's surgery on monday.  she did amazingly well.  while mom and emme and i were in minneapolis, i got several calls and got everything scheduled, so we headed to the surgery center with her at 6:30 on monday morning.  yikes, that is early to be dressed, functional, and operating outside of your home, at least for our family. 

there were a few other kiddos in the waiting room with us, so emme investigated them while we waited to be called.  when we went back, there were 8 or so little hospital beds lined up on either side of a room.  we got situated in our little area and had several nurses and orderlies come by to verify information, check on e, etc.  the anesthesiologist came by and let us know that he'd be able to knock her out with just the gas, no iv or anything, so i was super relieved.  emme kept asking for milk - that was probably the hardest part, since they can't eat or drink from midnight until surgery time. 

anyway...while we were waiting for our doctor to show up, they took a few other kids back, all of whom screamed and cried when they were taken from their parents, which flipped me out completely.  finally, dr. w arrived and he answered the couple of random questions i had.  the anesthesiologist came back to our area and picked emme up himself to take her back.  she did not cry a bit - i was so proud.  she seemed a little curious as to why she was heading somewhere without us, but not panicked at all. 

a nurse walked justin and me to the consulting area and we had just enough time to grab a cup of coffee before the doc was back with the report.  so fast!  he said she'd done great, explained the drops he was prescribing, and answered a couple more questions from me, and that was that.  we had to hang out in the main waiting room until she woke up, which was about 5 minutes later.  she didn't cry waking up, either!  we hurried back there and i crawled in to bed with her.  she gulped water and then got the ok to eat something.  i had brought her some strawberries and she proceeded to shovel them all into her mouth as fast as possible, to no ill effect.  they made us wait just 10 or so more minutes to make sure everything was peachy, then we headed home. 

once home, emme ate a bagel thin with strawberry cream cheese (a special treat) then hit the hay for a FOUR HOUR nap.  awesome for me, since i got to do a little work catch-up after being out a few days for our minneapolis trip.  when she woke up, she and i had a lunch date, picked up her ear drops, and had a leisurely costco adventure.  haha. 

since the surgery, she is repeating every word we say like a little parrot.  i don't know if i'm just projecting, but she seems to be hearing and feeling a LOT better.  she also is trotting and scampering about much more steadily than before, it seems, but again, i may be projecting. 

anyway.  as everyone told me, it was way easier and way better than i could have ever imagined, and i'm so relieved that we got it done and that my little bug doesn't have to have these hurty ears all the time anymore.  cheers to good health. {pics of ek cuddling with dad pre-surgery, and a couple of post-nap shots.  will add the other non-phone shots later.}