Bright and early yesterday morning I quietly crept into my baby boy's room to get him up, change his diaper, and put him in the car to head to the hospital for his surgery/procedure/tubes. Bless his heart. He was confused but he was calm and relaxed the whole time. Terrell stayed home to get Garrison up and ready for school and so he wouldn't have to miss work. It was a tough decision for me to go solo with Austin for his surgery but we knew it wouldn't take long and that it'd probably be crazy to ask one of our parents to wake up in the middle of the night to come over (or spend the night on our couch!) so we could arrive at the hospital before the crack of dawn. Plus, I felt pretty confident Austin's experience would be easier than Garrison's just because he's so much younger than Garrison was when he got tubes. And I was right. Whew. Thank you Lord!
So we got settled at the hospital and had a longer wait than anticipated in "pre-op" because we were actually second on the schedule even though we'd been told we were first. No biggie though. Austin did great. He had a few crazy, out of the blue crying spells before going back (side effect of the medicine they gave him) but was very calm when they rolled him back. I teared up but felt waaay more at peace about things having been through it with Garrison.
They put me in a waiting room by myself right outside of pre-op where I waited and prayed and texted Terrell minute by minute updates. I could tell pretty quickly it was taking longer than it should and I started getting uncomfortable. But I kept right on praying and a few minutes later the doctor came out and told me Austin did fine... but that his left ear was super inflamed (more than he realized) and that it took him a while to get the tube in that ear.... but all was well. The good news is that it was confirmed we made the right decision by going ahead with the tubes versus trying to continue to treat the infections.
I had to wait a little longer while they monitored him and then once he woke up they brought him to me. I could hear him screaming long before I could see him. Thankfully the second they handed him to me he relaxed and laid his head on my shoulder. He had a few bad crying spells while we waited to be released... he would fall asleep, wake up crying and throwing a fit, then fall back asleep, then suck down a ton of apple juice, then cry, then sleep. He was WAY easier than big brother though. Another huge praise. As soon as I got him home I put him to bed and he slept until lunch time. Baby boy was wiped out.
After his long nap, he was good to go. Back to normal and just being Austin. In the meantime it had been a bit of an emotional and draining morning for me. I was sort of all over the place. THEN, my husband arrived with my big boy from school and I knew right away that Garrison was in trouble and didn't have a good day.
Oh no. As a parent and teacher (double whammie) a bad day at school is sort of devestating. It's disappointing. It's stressful. It's embarrassing. It's awful.
Apparently my firstborn had gotten into trouble multiple times at school for being too rough, not keeping his hands to himself, not listening, etc. He even had to have a time-out away from his class. Gasp! Needless to say, I was pretty upset. Not angry, just disappointed and shocked and sad. (And wishing I would've gone with my "gut instinct" to have Terrell keep him home and then go into work once I got home with Austin. Things at school have been cuh-razy with no outside time this week,)
Terrell told him in the car on the way home that he couldn't have his usual after-school snack and that there would be no play time before naptime. I added to that... no dessert and no Letter Factory (his daily "movie") for the remainder of the day. Garrison was very remorseful and sorry. He sounded so sincere and sad when he said he didn't know why he had a bad day and why he didn't listen and that he was sorry. And he never protested his consequences. Almost broke my heart. In a good way. I think.
So the afternoon was yet another emotional roller coaster for me. THEN, Terrell had a Chamber of Commerce thing to go to last night so we were on our own without daddy. Thankfully, for the most part, things went pretty smoothly and we all survived. Mama was drained.. physically and mentally... but I survived!
And today has been good. We're all home from school because of Austin and just taking it easy. I plan on giving Garrison a good long break from school (with the long weekend we don't have to go back until Wednesday) and trying to work on an apology to his teachers... without nagging and re-hashing and making a bigger deal out of things than necessary. We don't know if he had a rough day because of built up energy... or if he was acting out because of me and Austin not being home when he woke up and that throwing him off/adding stress... or if it was just a matter of poor self-control and bad choices. Whatever it was, we want to learn from it and move on. No reason to obsess over it. Or stress over it. (Preaching to myself here...)
Anyway... it was an eventful day. And while it definitely wasn't stress-free, it was a gift. One that I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for the tubes and a speedy recovery. I'm grateful for a remorseful almost 4 year old admitting to his mistakes. I'm grateful for a supportive husband and the extra long weekend we're looking forward to.
God is good all the time. Giving thanks in everything isn't easy, but it is doable. Just takes practice. (#1,000 Gifts...)
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