Tubes

Oliver had his first ever surgery last week, to put tubes in his ears. He's had ear infections most of his life (or it feels that way) and especially since Christmas (actually since the first day he started daycare) he's had a chronic ear infection. So, after 4 rounds of antibiotics, we saw an ENT and Children's Memorial who immediately said intervention would help. We had to wait a whole month for the actual procedure (still dealing with sick Ollie), and finally last Tuesday happened. Ollie actually loved the attention at first - the nurses with toys, ALL those anesthesia residents, and the awesome baby hospital gown!
The surgeon let me carry him into the OR to calm him down and even hold him in my lap while they put on the gas mask and he fell asleep. He fought it hard, but it was quick. It was very strange to feel my baby go so lifeless in my arms.
But within 15 minutes of getting to the waiting room she came back out with a successful report and we were heading back to recovery. He was already up, in the arms of a sweet nurse, and he said, "Mama!" with some tears in his eyes. I held him and he seemed about 97% back to normal immediately. He drank some juice, ate some crackers, and we went home. Easiest surgery ever!

But more importantly, we flew to CA two days later and he seemed a bit more at ease on the plane - less pressure perhaps.
He hasn't woken up with a mask of snot all week, finally breathing easier!
And - I already notice more words exploding out of him! The surgeon told us there was a lot of think fluid in his ears, so of course he can hear better now.
Over the time in CA he popped out "elephant, on/off, Meeka (Mickey Mouse), flower, street" and most importantly, he sang "Happy Birthday to You" for my mom, over and over, dancing included.

It was definitely the right choice for him, but I genuinely hope he doesn't need to go back to any hospitals for a very very long time.