Our journey to a new tooth...

Last night we had dinner with some wonderful friends from our church. They had invited Kennan over for a slumber party so that he didn't have to wake up and go with us to the hospital this morning (2 cranky kids + a tired mom and dad = BAD). We took them up on their offer and dropped Kennan off last night for his first non-grandparent sleepover. Then we headed to the closest "big" town where the procedure was to take place this morning. It is an hour from where we live, so we stayed at our friend's parents house last night to make this morning a bit easier. We woke up at 5:15 this morning and were on our way to the hospital by 5:45am. Check in was a breeze and they called us into the "holding area" by 6:15. I'm not sure if "holding area" is the best name for the place we were, it sounds more like a room at a prison!!

Here are Kenny and Brayden in the holding area!

Anesthesiology was talking to us by 6:45 and the doctor was there by 7:00. We talked with both of them and got lots of questions answered. In the meantime Brayden got her gown on and drank some medicine to make her a little loopy and relaxed.

Waiting for the medicine to kick in!

As it started to work, she became like a sack of potatoes. She was fighting sleep big time and enjoyed playing with my hair!!!

Saying goodbye to her was hard, but made a little easier because she was so out of it. She didn't cry or fear being taken away from us. Don't get me wrong...it was hard! But we had a great peace and calm about us the entire time. Thanks for your prayers...they worked!

The nurse and anesthesiologist took her back at 7:10ish.

Kenny and I were in the waiting room by 7:15 and decided it was time for breakfast. Kenny went off in search for food and I stayed and watch the news in the waiting room. Kenny got back at 7:30 and by 7:45 the doctor was out of surgery and ready to talk to us. I am amazed at how fast it was!!! He talked with us about all that he did and what he found. We learned that Brayden had two tooth buds (the middle top tooth on the right and the one to the right of it) that had formation issues at some point in her short little life. He said that as the tooth was coming out of the tooth bud it geminated and tried to become two teeth. The tooth to the right was successful and what should be one normal shaped baby tooth is two skinny baby teeth. The tooth that had chipped and gotten the cavity was not successful in its gemination and what we got was her funky tooth. He said it looks like all her big girl teeth (my words, not the doctors :) ) should come in normally and don't look like they will germinate. After talking to the doctor, we called our parents and Kenny's mom said that Kenny had this same problem with his baby teeth. Interesting!!! Recovery took about an hour and then...

they called us back to see this sweet little girl!

"Off! Off!" She did not like the IV in her hand!

The only time she cried the entire morning was when we took off her gown and put on her sleeper. She had to let go of the juice for about a minute and was not happy about it!!!

Happy girl again!

Back at home, Brayden laid down for a nap and the second she woke up she was calling for a "affle". Of course I obliged since she hadn't eaten since 7pm the night before!!

Eating her "affle"

Relaxing out side with another snack!

I tried everything I could to get a picture of the tooth!! She was not having any of it, so I finally resorted to tickling her tummy while trying to hold her mouth open while trying to take a picture. This is as good as it is going to get until all her "loopy/relaxing" medicine wears off and she is back to feeling like herself!!
We are grateful for the wonderful experience we had today. Thanks to family and friends prayers we felt a great peace and knew that Brayden was in great hands. The doctor, nurses, and anesthesiologist were helpful and loving. She was such a trooper and I think she started off the day for the nurses great! They all loved her! Be looking for lots of pictures of her smiling face in the future!!!