Dental Distress!

Emma has the unfortunate luck of inheriting my horribly cavity-prone teeth. As such, the poor kid had some major work coming up and we ended up being able to schedule it for during Thanksgiving break. Originally it was supposed to be a 12 noon appointment which would have been horrid, trying to tell her that she could not eat breakfast, or even drink water, all morning long. Luckily the office had a cancellation and was able to move her up to 8am. So we showed up at 8 and had to wait another hour while they kept working on the last appointment. We finally got called in at 9 and went over the pre-op info.
Basically, we went in knowing that Emma had one large cavity in a rear tooth and it was starting to come out in chunks, along with another cavity in the tooth behind that one. So the dentist wanted to put her under general anesthesia since it would be impractical to expect her to sit still for an entire procedure like this with only laughing gas. Additionally, we had not been able to get any xrays of Emma's teeth as she keeps gagging on the bite wing and spitting it out. So they planned to do that as well while she was sedated.
So I held Emma in my lap as the anesthesiologist gave her a shot in the arm to start a "twilight sedation." The funny thing is Emma already had 4 shots and a blood draw last week at her doctor appointment so I figured she would not be happy about this. I didn't tell her until we were on our way to the dentist. But she just sighed and asked why. I let her know it was something to help relax her before the dentist worked on her teeth. She sighed again and just said, "okay, fine." So I really didn't expect any issues. Well, when the Dr. comes in, she buries her head in my chest and starts whimpering. He is trying to coddle and cajole her with little "It's just a little pinch" and "It will only hurt for a minute honey" platitudes. But then I looked down and the little stinker was smirking while she fake-cried! I exclaimed "Emma Grace! Are you faking?!" and she just giggled and said "okay. fine. Give me the shot" and stuck her arm out! She is too funny!
After a few minutes she started telling me ( I think) that her hand was falling asleep. But she only got out "my hand... my hand... sleep... my..." and was gone. Her eyes were still open but she was completely unresponsive and that is, apparently, exactly what they want to see. So the doctor picked my girl up out of my arms and carried her into the OR while I returned to the waiting room. For a long time. A long, long, time. They ended up working on her until almost noon. Turns out, the one (crumbly) tooth had to be pulled and they inserted a spacer in it's spot. 2 of her rear, lower, molars both had to be crowned, and there were 6 other teeth that needed fillings. *sigh* So much work for such a (physically) little mouth.
Around 11:45, they called me back and Em was starting to come out of the anesthesia. Not pretty. She was crying, and incoherent, and flailing around as I tried to hold her and listen to the post-op directives... Rest, soft foods, clear liquids to start, motrin for pain, etc. Luckily Mom had come with me to keep us company and help if needed so she was able to gather all our stuff while I carried Em to the car and we headed home. The whole drive she kept whimpering.
So when we got home I carried her into my bed and laid her down and she slept for another hour. When she woke up, she was a bit groggy but wanted to go see her cousins (Matthew & Tim were here playing with TJ that day) so I carried her down the hall. In about 10 more minutes she was off my lap and sitting with the boys, showing off her new silver teeth. Apparently each of the older boys have a silver tooth too and it became a badge of honor for Emma. In fact, later that day, TJ was complaining that his tooth was hurting and he thought he should go get a new silver one. Lol. Um, no. I tried to tell them that this was not a good thing and that TJ should be glad to have strong healthy teeth but I think he still wants to be a part of the dental decay club!
Within a few minutes the boys wanted to go play outside and, of course, Emma wanted to join them. I hesitated and asked her if she would rather watch a movie with me. She declined and went to get her shoes on. She did let us know that she was still a bit "Wobbly" so I told her to be careful playing and to take it easy. So how does Miss Emma "take it easy?" By hula hooping! Yep, there she is an hour and a half or so after major dental surgery shaking her hips and hula hooping her heart out. I love this tough little girl I have been blessed to raise...