Up Three Sets of Ear Tubes, Down One Set of Adenoids

Yesterday morning, the three girls each received a set of ear tubes.  Because she snores so much, the ENT checked Rosemary’s adenoids and found that they were obstructing her nasal airway by 75-85% and so her adenoids were removed as well. 

Nana and Papa drove down to be with us for the procedures.  Because she is the youngest, Penelope went back for her procedure first.  Before she came back, Rosemary went back for her procedure, then Piper went back for her procedure.  Penelope was back in my arms about 15 minutes after she left my arms and wanted to nurse.  Piper was back with us about 15 minutes after that, then Rosemary about 10 minutes after that.  Because Rosemary also had to have her adenoids removed, she had to have an IV and a longer recovery time.

Penelope was a little fussy once she was back with us, but after probably 10 minutes or so, she literally went back to normal very abruptly.  One minute she was fussy, the next minute she was smiling and acting like her normal self.

Piper was pretty confused when she came back to us, and actually asked to lay down on the bed.  After a few minutes she was back to normal, too.  For the highlight of her day, she received a book of stickers and a popsicle.  She quickly decorated herself with stickers and started enjoying her popsicle.

If you know us, you know that we typically don’t let the kids have sugar for the sake of sugar.  We don’t prohibit sugar or desserts, we just don’t have sugar on a daily basis just for the heck  of it.  We try to teach the kids to eat healthy, but we try to balance it with some good fats because the kids could stand to gain some weight.  Anyway, the nurse brought the popsicle back upside down in a styrofoam cup.  Because she’s only had one or two popsicles in her life, Piper’s response was to try to suck on the wooden popsicle handle like it was a straw.  Poor kid.  But she figured it out in no time and downed her popsicle.

Rosemary took a little longer to come around.  The first thing that she wanted to do was take off all her wires and her hospital gown.  Then she just wanted to sit with her daddy for a while.  Rosemary’s asthma started acting up on Thursday night and continued into yesterday morning, so she had to have two breathing treatments after her surgery.  Thankfully, she hasn’t had to have a breathing treatment since then.

After the procedures, the anesthesiologist dropped by to laugh with us about how different Piper and Rosemary are.  Once the girls were back there for the procedure, they kept asking Rosemary if she wanted a mask, a hospital gown, etc. and she repeatedly answered every questions with a resounding “NO!”  Piper was apparently a little more agreeable.

When we met with the ENT after the appointment, he told us that Rosemary and Penelope in particular had a lot of really thick fluid in their ears.  Piper also had fluid, but it wasn’t as thick as Rosemary and Penelope’s fluid.  I just hate that these poor kids have dealt with persistent fluid for as long as they have and I’m glad that they are going to be getting some relief now. 

Before we left the outpatient center the girls were acting almost normal.  By the time we got home, they were starving.  Rosemary ate more in one sitting that I believe I’ve ever seen her eat.  Then she followed it up with a huge lunch.  She’s been eating very well ever since the surgery. 

Today everyone has been doing great.  Rosemary had some Motrin this morning, and Penelope had some Tylenol.  Rosemary has two little black eyes from having her adenoids removed, but other than that everyone seems back to normal.  We even went to a birthday party today.

Hopefully, this will put an end to the ear infections and help with the speech delay. 

P.S.  We are still adjusting to the to toddler bed thing, but tonight was the easiest bedtime yet.  I hope that in a couple of weeks we will be back to normal on that front too.