Baby Rachel's wild ride

A couple of months ago Rachel got her wisdom teeth out...

Carly was pretty quiet when she came out of the anesthesia.  She was a little worried about her puffy cheeks but was overall pretty quiet and sensible.

Not this girl.......

 She was VERY emotional when it was over.  She alternated between Laughing and crying all the way home. As we started up the car to leave she pointed to a girl running down the street and started crying hysterically.  I asked what was wrong "that girl, that girl" what's wrong with that girl?  "sob… her pink shorts"  is there something wrong with her shorts???   "I WANT SOME!!!!!!" 

Then we drove a couple minutes down the road. She looks at the wadded up tissue in her hand and asks hysterically in a frightened sobbing voice "what is that??? what is that??" i answered it's just a tissue baby to which she cried "BUT how did it get there????"  

As we drove down the road, she sobbed until she caught sight of herself in the outside mirror and started laughing loudly exclaiming "I look funny" and then more crying as she saw a boy riding a bike on a bike path next to the road exclaiming "that's scary".  

She is taking sign language at school this year and she kept signing things to me.  I asked her if she wanted a jamba juice and she said yes but NO BANANAS and then started making the sign for bananas and then spelling it out alphabetically in sign.  Then  she pointed to a truck and proclaimed in a disgusted voice " THat is stupid"  what" "THAT! factory parts express (she read off the truck) that's stupid!", then more crying as she touched her face and said it was fat and she didn't want to be fat. I told her it was just numb and she said no, she could feel it, and it was fat.  

Then more laughing as she saw a liscence plate "LANALE" saying Lana, Lana, Lana Lee  over and over and laughing. THen it was pointing at the spinning golden arches at Center street stoplight saying "that's cool! can you see it spinning mom? I want to ride on that thing and go around and around and …… that's stupid" what? (pointing across the street at the burger king sign) "BURGER KING!!! it's stupid" why? "Cause it's just sitting there"   Then more sign language spelling out jamba juice as we turned in to get her a smoothie.  

There was more crying at the pharmacy when she couldn't get the mirror to open, more crying and screaming when we pulled out onto the street and she was sure that a car almost hit us that was not anywhere close to hitting us and she cried and said "it was that (pinching her fingers) close, we're gonna die, I don't want to die"  I don't want to die either Rachel, your eyes are just playing tricks on you, I'm driving carefully.  I have lots of things I still want to do.  

More crying  and "I don't want to die, I have stuff I want to do too like go to dances and stuff!"  

Finally we were home. Phew! 

Her fears were alleviated later that night when she was 

asked to Prom by a very tall, handsome runner....

Her friend McKay came over and knelt in front of her on one knee holding out a jamba juice and said 

"now that you've lost a little wisdom... will you go to prom with me?"

She said YES and if she coulda smiled bigger.... 

she woulda!

Living the HIGH life: part deux

More Fun at the dentist again today with Mason!

We WERE going to do things the same way today as we did them 2 weeks ago.  It all started out according to plan.  Last night I was able to get the nighttime dose of the sleepy stuff down him without too much hassle.  We decided to try mixing it with a little juice to see if it helped it go down better.  BIG MISTAKE!!! It still tasted bad and now it took a lot longer to get quadruple the liquid down him.  He must have drunk about a quart of water washing down each mouthful of medicine.  I really was expecting to wake up to a child who had wet the bed but, happy day, he kept it contained til morning. 

I woke him up, put some socks on him and we drove to the dentist.  I handed over the drugs and a cute little blond dental assistant person mixed them all up and it was time for Mason to cooperate and drink it down.  I said "he does better if we put it in a syringe and squirt it to the back of his throat."  Well she put it in a really big syringe, not the small ones we had used three times before, and tried to squirt too much at once.  I almost asked if I could do it but I'm never assertive enough in these situations. 

He gagged & spit it all over the poor girl.  sticky drippy medicine.  Embarrassed smile, "sorry" I offered.  She smiled too, a small, tight smile that superseded her verbal "It's okay" and assured me it was anything but.  

She left to clean herself up and talk to the Doctor about our "options" at this point.  I grabbed some paper towels, wet them, and cleaned up what I could of the mess on the floor.  She came back.  "I'm just sure he didn't swallow any so we can try another medicine"she said which I'm pretty sure is annoyed tight smile speak for "Just Look at me!!!! I'm drenched in Demerol and it's only 7:24am, can you and your son get a grip so we can try something else!!!!"

The something else was Verced.  The small syringe she brought out held a very small amount and worked quite quickly, within 20 minutes.  We talked to Mason for a few minutes trying to cajole him into being responsive to taking this new medicine.  "Look what a tiny bit you have to swallow!"  "it's red"  "It tastes sweeter than the other medicine"  He wasn't having it.  We finally held him down and while I held his hands and body still she had his head in her lap and forced the syringe in and then squished his lips around the syringe so he couldn't spit it out and held him like that til he swallowed.  Brave girl.  I was impressed she was willing to have another go at him.  And let me tell you He TRIED to spit it out.  He was spitting before she even got the syringe into his mouth.  These trips to the dentist are just racking up the proud mother moments for me.  Oh wait... Dr. Lund said to accentuate the positive.  I need to work on that.  

That Verced did work fast.  We went out to sit on the couch in the waiting room to watch the movie of the morning.  His eyes were drooping and then he got in stubborn drunk idiot mode and insisted on going to play the video games like last time.  He was more stubbornly insistent attitude-wise on Verced but weaker too which was nice.  He really couldn't fight me physically so I could get him to settle back down quite easily.  

When they called us to go back for treatment he was a limp noodle.  I laid him right down on the chair and he had no resistance in him at all.  He would try to talk to me but his words were slurred so badly I could understand very little of what he wanted to say.  His eyes would roll crazily as he looked around and he would grab at nothing in the air.  The dental assistant said "umm.. The Verced has some mild hallucinogenic side effects"  That would explain the grabbing.  He pointed to a teddy bear hanging in the corner "is that dog real?"   "No mason, it's a teddy bear."  A male assistant walked in, Mason's face broke into a smile and he exclaimed with arms thrown open in an airy embrace "DADDY!!!"  The assistant laughed and said "I'm not your dad but you can call me buddy"  

During the numbing injections and drilling and filling last time he settled right down but this time he sobbed throughout the whole thing.  They had warned that the Verced makes them less able to reason situations out in their mind and they are much more emotional.  Sometimes they cry, sometimes they laugh uncontrollably.  Mason definitely went the sad route.  

He cried while they worked. He cried when they finished.   He cried while they made him a yellow sword balloon.  He cried while I wrote the check.  When we got out to the car he stopped crying and asked if we could go to McDonald's right now.  When I said it was still breakfast time, they weren't making hamburgers so we'd have to wait til lunchtime he cried some more.  Halfway home he started waving and yelling "Hi Carly" while looking out his window.  I said "she sees you!  Look, she's waving at you!" and he settled down.  I was really afraid he might try to unbuckle & open the door or something.  He slept for a few hours when we got home and then we went to McDonald's for the promised happy meal.  I didn't send him to school although he was pretty normal by then.  I didn't know how long the emotional side effects would remain.  All a Kindergarten teacher needs is to have a child sobbing uncontrollably over making a crooked "C".   

Dr. Lund sent me out the door with this advice "The Verced has an amnesiac quality as well so he'll only remember what you tell him so please ... Accentuate the positive"  

What's the positive again???? Oh yeah... We're finished!!!!!!!!!!  (and if I can get a hold of some of that Verced for myself who volunteers to tell me a happy story of going to the dentist when I wake up????)

Living the HIGH life

Today Mason was scheduled to have several cavities repaired.  When we went to the dentist last week we discovered he had 6!!!!!! We have a fabulous pediatric dentist named Dr. Lund.  He does not rush to fill cavities.  Most of the time with my kids he will show me where one is starting and encourage more active brushing and flossing and prescribe "Prevident" which is a high flouride toothpaste and can actually reverse those small cavities. It has always worked with my kids.  Well, Mason's were so advanced and his teeth so young that his advice was to drill and fill them.  

Even now, a week later, when I talk or type about it, I do the "guilty mom cringe". You know... It involves hunching the shoulders, lowering chin into left shoulder, teeth clenched, eyebrows furrowed in a convincing wince .  Body Language that screams "I KNOW that I could have done better here".  It's that whole tired mom with the youngest child deal.  You know with Carly, Rachel for sure and probably even Jacob I was right there brushing them myself til they were kindergarteners and then checking their toothbrush every night. With Samantha I relaxed some and with Mason I relaxed more.  Now it's "go brush your teeth Mason".  I usually ask later "did you brush?" and lately I've been checking his toothbrush more or asking the other kids if they saw him do it because I started to get suspicious he wasn't doing it. There's my silver lining! The 6 cavities prove my mom instinct was correct.  It's tired & sluggish, but it's still working.  

The dentist asked me how we should proceed on filling Mason's cavities.  Would he be able to handle the shots outright or did I think we should go with the sedation route.  I went right for sedation.  Samantha and Rachel are able to be pretty objective about anticipating pain and uncomfortable things.  They can be reasoned with but Carly, Jacob and Mason go into serious FREAK OUT mode.   They can't be reasoned,  bribed, cajoled, praised, hugged or threatened into anything when they are anticipating something fearful.  Dr. Lund asked me if Mason fought against going to sleep when he's tired or if he'll just go to sleep.  My answer: He just goes to sleep.  

And he does.  At home.  Apparently not so much at the Dentist's office.  

I was given 4 prescriptions to fill for 4 different liquid medicines. I think my Dad will be interested to know what they were with his medical training so this is for you Dad! Atarax 10 mg to be given at bedtime w/no food or water after dose.  He is to go to 7am appt w/o eating or drinking.  800 mg chloral hydrate, 25 mg Atarax & 20 mg Demerol to be combined and given at dentist's office.  It cost about $25 for all that.  

He took his night time dose pretty well.  When we got to the Dentist's office he had to be bribed with a promised visit to McDonald's for a happy meal "if he was good" to take the larger dose but he did it without too much trouble.  Now for the fun part-  Mason on drugs!  We went back out to the waiting room to wait for it to take effect.  We watched some of the movie they were showing and he was getting really sleepy.  Then all of a sudden he wants to go play the free video games in the next room.  He gets up from my lap and starts across the room. He leans to the right, whoa... he leans to the left... whoa... I grabbed him before he fell and pulled him back to the couch with me.  He kept fighting to get off my lap.  He just HAD to go play those games.  I walked with him, supporting him under the arms, helping him walk straight.  I held him up on the stools as he played video bowling and Ms. Pacman.  He was talking a mile a minute and wobbling all over the stool.  

It brought back memories of Mason on Morphine after he burned the bottom of his foot severely on hot coals last summer.  That time after the drugs took the pain away he was talking incessantly and he'd look at me, pull back his head and refocus his eyes and announce "I have two mommies" then look at Mark, make the same attempt to refocus "I have two daddies"!!!!!!

He was pretty funny.  

Mark had a break in his work schedule and stopped by the Dentist's office about that time. Mason had tired of the video games and we were back cuddling on the couch with his Curious George Blanket watching Tarzan.  Mason was so excited to see Mark and started waving his arms and saying "daddy come and sit with us okay"  His speech was slurred and he was weaving about like the bobblehead toy that came in his happy meal! 

As soon as Mark got to us Mason had to get up and go to a new place.  He just couldn't settle down or stick with one activity.  He wanted to move to a different couch and lay down then he wanted to look at the fish and then he wanted to play Legos.  I laughed so much I started to cry. I had a sneaking suspicion that my laughter was egging him on more but I couldn't help it. He was so sideways and slurred and silly. 

I imagine I have a good idea now of how I was acting one night many many moons ago when I had too large a dose of Codeine after getting a tooth pulled and my sister Christy was exasperated with me.  I can remember being aware of how I was acting to some degree but it was so detached.  I was out with my friend David earlier in the evening and I remember laughing a lot and feeling really uninhibited.  Don't worry He was practically my brother and I don't mean THAT kind of uninhibited.  Just... really un-self-conscience, free to say anything, hang out the car window & yell things, etc.  Pretty much just like all my high school friends on Friday nights after about 11pm when they got drunk and I had to drive them home.  I was a handy sober friend, their favorite designated driver. 

After I got home I remember sitting on the floor in the family room laughing hysterically at everything and my sister Christy calling me a happy drunk and telling me it was time for me to go to bed.  She walked me down the hall to her room.  I suppose trying to get me up the stairs seemed like way too much to handle.  I remember laying in her room thinking my eyes were wide open staring out her window when these little vicious gremlin like creatures started climbing up my legs.  I tried to scream but my jaw was clamped shut and I couldn't open it to scream.  I tried kicking them off but they kept climbing.  A  sound like a train whistle kept ringing inside my head whenever I tried to scream.  All of the sudden the light flashed on and Christy was there shaking me awake.  I realized my eyes were shut tight and I was facing away from the window I thought I'd been looking out of.  It was really trippy.  It had seemed so real.  I can remember her helping me walk up the stairs to my Mom's room but that is all I remember. My mom tells me that I curled up in fetal position and rocked and sobbed for hours afterwards.  I have never taken Codeine since. I list it as an allergy on all medical forms.  That is not a trip I wish to take ever again.

Back to Mason:

Pretty soon it was time to go back to the treatment room.  The assistant wanted him to lie down so she could put a little mask on him to give him some of their knock out gas but he refused to lay down.  He clamped his hands on the armrest and refused to lie back.  He couldn't be reasoned with,  bribed, cajoled, praised, hugged or threatened  to lie back.  The Dentist came in and said to just back off a little and see if he'd fall asleep as he was practically nodding off.  So I moved back away from him.  Mark sat next to him to keep him from falling off the chair when he nodded and weaved to the side but still refused to lie down.  Why is it so hard for me to keep quiet and not try to fix/solve the problem.  It really was eXXXtremely difficult to sit there and not DO anything to try to get him to do what he was supposed to do.  *control issues* 

The backing off didn't do a lot of good either.  Finally it was time to get serious, no more waiting for him to do what he needed to do.  The dentist asked us to leave and g0 into the hall while they got out their "indian blanket" it was like a papoose board that they slid under him and then strapped him inside to immobilize him.  We were able to see from the hall so it wasn't like they were trying to keep us from seeing what they were doing rather just taking us out of the power  play for Mason.  Dr. Lund was amazing. He is so soft-spoken and was firm and consistent with Mason.  I wonder if he can keep it together like that with his own kids because if he can He's got to be an amazing Dad. 

Mason finally calmed down and half the cavities were filled.  We will have to do this again in 2 weeks for the rest because they are limited in how much local anesthetic they can give small children.  

Dr. Lund asked us to please accentuate the positive and not say much about his negative behavior and said that it had gone really well even though we probably didn't feel like it.  

I didn't feel like it.  Situations like that bring out all my insecurities as a parent.  I wish I could stop those feelings from raising their ugly heads.  When I offered him a happy meal for complying did they think I shouldn't be bribing him? When I threatened to take it away did they think I was mean?  WHY DO I CARE??????? I really need to get over that.  It's a fine line. My choices as a parent really do help shape my children but they definitely have their own unique personalities that are as much a part of them as my training.  I can't take responsibility for all of their successes or their failures.  I am trying to remember that.  It's hard. 

We were home by 9:45 and Mason fell asleep on the way home.  I got him upstairs to bed and he slept it off for a couple of hours and then we went to McDonalds for a happy meal and he was so sweet and grateful.  He shared his french fries with Mark and I and was so sweet to us all day.  When I told him we'd be doing this in 2 weeks again he asked if he could have a happy meal again after and I said yes and he said "Okay!" He did tell me he wouldn't lay down because he was afraid they were going to give him a shot.  He doesn't seem to remember that they actually did give him a shot so hopefully it will go smoother next time.