February 2012

I can't say that February was my favorite month of all time. As I mentioned in a previous post, Sailor had developed a cough in November that persisted until mid-February. I had been to the doctor once in January and was told by her pediatrician that it was just allergies. She was put on Singulair at that time, but her cough only seemed to get worse. She would be up all night coughing and crying and her naps weren't any better. She would cough so hard that she would throw up. It was so hard (and SO frustrating) to see her this way. All I wanted was for someone to tell me what in the heck was wrong with my child. She was also very congested and seemed to have been that way since she was a newborn.

I took Sailor to see her pediatrician again during the middle of February and she decided it was time for Sailor to see a specialist. The specialist thought it best for Sailor to get tubes in her ears and to have her Adenoids removed. I was so thankful for an answer from a doctor that seemed like it might actually be a permanent fix, that I didn't ask many questions. "Ok, yes! When can we schedule the surgery?"

The surgery was scheduled for the following week. Sailor wasn't able to have anything to eat or drink for several hours before her surgery, which I'm sure was really hard for her. We dragged Sailor out of bed early in the morning, went to the hospital, and waited for an hour or so before we were taken back to a room. Sailor was put into a itty bitty hospital gown (which was probably the cutest thing I'd ever seen in my life) and, once again, we waited. Finally the nurse came in the room to get her. We were told that she'd be put to sleep with a gas mask, following which she would be put under anesthesia. That moment that the nurse took her from us to take her back to surgery was one of the hardest moments of my parenting career. Sailor was crying, but only because she wanted to walk back there instead of be carried by the nurse. She's so funny.

Glen and I waited nervously in the waiting room while friends and family so thoughtfully texted us for updates. It seemed like hours (although it was probably only about 45 minutes) before the doctor came in to talk to us. He said that Sailor had done just fine (apparently she stopped crying after she left the room that Glen and I were in and laid perfectly still on the table while they gassed her). More importantly, he said that the surgery had gone really well. The tubes went in smoothly and they found that her Adenoids were, indeed, very large and needed to be removed. We were SO relieved. To anyone who has had a child undergo major surgery, I'm sure I sound like a total wimp. But anesthesia is scary. And that is my baby.

Glen and I waited for another half hour or so before we were taken into the room to see her. All I kept thinking about during this time was how badly I wanted to see her, hold her, and be there for her when she woke up. She would be so confused and so scared. We finally got to see her and she was, in fact, confused. She was furiously drinking some sugary drink from a bottle that one of the nurses had given her. She was so dehydrated that she drank about 4 of those little bottles. She was SO mad when each one was gone.

It took her a little while for her to snap out of it. She would cry, have a few snacks, nod off for a second, cry, have another snack, nod off again, etc. It was sad to watch. After about a half hour, she fell asleep for good and napped for an hour or so. The nurses were so nice and couldn't get enough of her. They told us we could stay as long as we wanted, but I was ready to get out of there as soon as Sailor woke up and we knew she was feeling okay. Glen had left for school right after he saw that she was okay, and I was done being in the hospital.

Once Sailor was awake from her nap, she was MUCH better. Almost completely back to normal. She slept about the same as she'd been sleeping that night and the next few days. The doctor told us that she'd continue to have the same symptoms she'd been having (cough, congestion, etc.) for the next week or so, which she did. We were just thankful that the procedure was done and that Sailor was hopefully on the road to recovery.

On a brighter note, I got called to be the second counselor in the Primary presidency earlier in this month! I have never been so excited about a calling.

A few more reasons from this month why I think Sailor is the cutest little girl in the world:

• I started testing the effectiveness of timeout with Sailor. She did something naughty one day, so I put her in her room, told her she was going to be in a timeout for a few minutes, closed the door and left. A few seconds later, I hear the door handle moving (we have the lever-type handles), pops her head out, and says, "Hi mama!" I had no idea she could open those doors. What a little stinker.
• When I would say, "I love.." she would say "you!"
• When I asked her what the doggy says, she would say "woo woo" and when I asked her what the cow says, she would say "moooo."
• Sailor LOVES to read. This month she started to memorize parts of the books we read frequently and repeat them. For instance, one of the pages of her Barnyard Dance book says, "Scramble with the little chicks. Cheep, cheep cheep!" I would say the first sentence and she would finish with the "cheep, cheep, cheep" part.

My family decided to start a health competition during the middle of January of this year.  For me, this meant running in the cold some mornings. Sailor didn't seem to mind though!

Watching TV with daddy, no doubt. It's the only time she ever cuddles.

I was loving her new outfit from Grandma K and wanting to get a good picture. Unfortunately, that was not high on her priorities.

Sailor LOVED animals at this point. What better place to bring her than Petco?

Glen had to be on campus from 6 AM to 9:30 PM on Valentine's Day, so I got these roses from him to keep me company. As much as I love to look at roses, I like looking at him more ;).

"Daddy better not see you with his headphones again. Ah but it's so cute. Say cheese!"

It's hard to be sure, but I'm thinking she loved that Ravioli.

Complete relaxation.

Waiting for her surgery.

We just couldn't get enough of this gown.

Right after her surgery. Poor baby :(.

The one good thing that came from this experience was that I actually got some cuddle time.

A few hours after leaving the hospital, Sailor and I went to the park to play. She seemed well enough to do so and I wanted her to have a distraction from the aftermath of the anesthesia.

If only this puppy liked her as much as she liked him.