tear duct surgery

Emily had surgery for her blocked tear ducts on Tuesday.  Everything went fine (I was a mess) and she is recovering well.

I was so worried before hand, I didn't sleep for a week.  The day before the surgery the nurse called to tell me not to let Emily eat after midnight and that her surgery would be at 10:00am the next day.  Emily normally eats at 7:30 so I was trying to figure out how I was going to get away with not feeding her.  She did better than I thought she would, no major melt downs until the nurses and anesthesiologist started poking and prodding her, taking her blood pressure, all the fun stuff that has to be done before surgery.  Then we put her in her little hospital gown (my heart almost broke) and she got to go play for a bit.

Then they called her name to go back to surgery and it felt like my heart stopped, I gave her a kiss and hug and told her I loved her.  Steve took her back to the operating room and got to stay with her while they started the gas to put her to sleep.  Then they sent him out and put her IV in for the stronger anesthesia.  They said I couldn't go with her because I'm pregnant (heart broken again) but that was probably for the best because they might not have gotten me out of the OR.  When Steve came out, he looked pale and I barely made it out of one waiting room and into another before I started crying.  I was so worried my little baby would be scared and I wanted to be there with her to tell her it would be ok.

We waited for what seemed like forever (40 minutes) and Emily's surgeon came out and told us everything went fine.  She unblocked both tear ducts and put stents in so they wouldn't re-block.  She told us we had to wait a little longer for Emily to wake up and then they would come out and get us so we could see her.  Our names were finally called and when we walked into her recovery area I saw three nurses trying to control our little honey badger while she screamed and kicked. She had a rough time coming out of the anesthesia and I felt so helpless seeing her like that.  The first thing her nurse said to us was, "She is STRONG"  then she proceeded to tell us that she tried to rip her IV out three times during the surgery (while she was asleep) and that parents don't normally get to come back until the babies are awake and calm but they needed us to help calm her down. It took a long time for Steve and I to get her to stop screaming and she eventually fell asleep on me.  She had a bloody nose and bloody tears, and her face was puffy, it was awful. I don't think I had ever been happier to have her in my arms.

Her physical recovery seems to be going well.  She has only had a small amount of drainage from her nose and she is in good spirits most of the day. Her eyes are clearer and she hasn't been rubbing them as much as she used to.  The hard part has been an increase in her separation anxiety.  She screams and cries so hard every time I put her down for a nap or if I leave the room.  My poor baby girl.