Metal Mouth

Parker may not have braces yet, but his mouth is already full of metal. His Dentist Appointment was last Wednesday & they were able to fill all of his cavaties & he now has 3 silver caps on 3 bottom molars:( I feel like it is all my fault. We have brushed his teeth for the past few years, but obviously not as well as we needed to.
Hopefully we have learned our lesson & Ryler's mouth won't cost us that much by age 3!

He wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight the night before, which I didn't think would be a big deal, since he is asleep by then & I figured I would have to wake him up for his 7:30am appt. The nurse REALLY STRESSED how important it was that HE COULD NOT EAT OR DRINK.
She said, "Even if you are on your way to the appt & he reaches down in his carseat & finds a fruit loop & puts it in his mouth, then you need to call us and reschedule."

That fruit loop comment made me paranoid & I couldn't sleep all night. I kept imagining I heard him waking up & walking into the bathroom for a drink. At one point, I woke up and our door was opened. We ALWAYS sleep with our door shut, so I decided that Parker must have came in while I was sleeping, got a drink off of my nightstand & went back to bed. Not being able to sleep, I went back and forth about what I should do. Should I call in the morning, explaining that he got up for a drink...or should I play dumb and pretent I had no idea???
The next morning, Matt told me he had opened the door.

So...on no sleep, we went to the Dentist office,
Parker begging for a drink the entire drive.
I told him they would give him some juice when we got there.

We signed in and they took us to a small room with a movie playing, where we are to hang out for the next hour. She took him from me, around the corner, all ready to coax...beg...bribe him into drinking the liquid sedation stuff. He practically grabbed the "juice" from her hand & swallowed it as fast as he could. She was shocked & said she has NEVER seen a 3 yr old do that.

he was thirsty:)

They explained that he would probably doze off in the next 20 minutes to 1 hour...every child is different. We hung out in our little room, while Parker FOUGHT exhaustion.
He is REALLY...REALLY good at fighting off exhaustion...as we have discovered on MANY LATE nights. He fought & fought & when the hour was up, he was still awake. They came to take him anyways & said they would get him on some laughing gas & he would be out. They took him from my arms crying & I had to go wait in the waiting room:(

I sat worried that he would "fight" through the entire procedure, so I was grateful when the Dentist came out 10 minutes later & said he was fast asleep, they had taken X-rays & they were going to start the work.

They said he slept the entire time & did everything they asked. He was still "conscious" so he could open his mouth when they asked,etc.

When they were done, I was able to go back to the room, where we had to wait another 20 minutes or so, until they checked his vitals before leaving. He cried the whole time, saying his mouth hurt. I'm sure it felt WEIRD from the numbness & he did NOT like it.
He kept crying, finally falling asleep before picking up Ryler from Rob & Julie's house
(thanks for watching him!!!)
When we got home, he woke up and cried...
and cried...
and cried...for the rest of the day.
Ryler was also very cranky & they both wanted me to hold them & it was a
REALLY
LONG
DAY.

I hope I can look back and remember that day & it will REMIND me to BRUSH BRUSH BRUSH my kids teeth...whether they like it or not.

My sister Heidi brought us frozen yogurt after school...the only 30 minutes of sanity I had all day. Parker continued crying the whole time, but at least she played with Ryler & made him happy!

Towards the evening, we finally convinced Parker to take some Tylenol & he FINALLY stopped crying.

The next day, he was back to his normal, HAPPY self!

& I was SO GLAD that day was over...