I will honestly say, I really underestimated the severity of a tonsillectomy and what it would entail for Allison and me as a mom! I think a big part of this stems from the 'mask of motherhood' where we as mothers are not always completely honest with each other about the challenges we face.
Allison's first day consisted of mass liquid vomiting that soaked many couch blankets. I thought she'd be sleepy and we'd just be on the couch as if she was sick. Not quite. She was in and out of sleep coupled with the vomit issue so I was on high alert! She kept throwing up within a half hour of giving her pain medicine, which I was told to not get behind on or I'd really regret it! I didn't want to give her too much to make up for the lost medicine that ended up on my pants and/or on the couch. That day was filled with laundry, doctor phone calls, and wide awake eyes.
For the next ten days, Allison would need pain meds around the clock. Every fourth hour she would become cranky due to the pain in her throat. She became incredibly cuddly and for the most part I secretly loved spending all that time on our couch entangled in blankets and kisses. There came a point, after a week, where she literally needed to be touching me all the time or she was a wreck! I didn't know if that was my fault for being so accommodating the week before or not. Mind you, I was happily spending lazy hours on the couch with her because she did not sleep through the night. When she woke up in pain it took quite a while to get her back to sleep only to do the same thing within four hours. She was also going to bed late since we were trying to limit the amount of times we'd have to get up and give her meds throughout the night. By the way, that funky breath thing they mentioned is true! Only the breath a mother would love to be cuddled up next to...
The nights were rough, very much so like that of having a newborn. I slept in her bed a few times and she also crawled in with us toward the end because well I was lazy and at that point in this whole process I didn't even want to get up and go downstairs. She has only slept in our bed when John is away and so she was loving it. I am also dealing with the aftermath of that too because all she wants is to sleep with us now and although she is all healed now will not sleep through the night because of wanting us.
I did try to get out of the house and do things but the other part of this whole process that I failed to read about was the fact that since kids don't eat much or have much activity they usually become constipated. Well, Allison suffers from this already and so that compounded with the popsicle only diet was hellish! By the time we'd thought she was getting back to normal (day 7) she was so stopped up from not having pooped in over a week she was in a lot of pain... again.
After taking her to the doctor and finding out that Miralax wasn't an option since she was too dehydrated and that we had to do a suppository of glycerin (and by we I mean me). I decided to take this on without John because he tends to get frustrated easily when she is being stubborn. She had every right to be scared and less than cooperative. Luckily she was in so much pain that she was able to wrap her head around the idea that the pain was worse that her mom sticking a funky shaped object up her butt hole. She kept saying, "just wait Mom. Give me a minute." It was so sweet and I exercised all of my patience. It probably took 20 minutes of coaxing before she'd let me do it. That was not fun but I will say I did a stellar job lubing it up and accurately sending it to the right orifice. Too bad she was already so scared because she kept saying to me afterwards, "You poked me in the butt hole and it hurt!!" Now that sounds funny but I really did feel guilty and second guessed doing all of this on my own.
The next couple days consisted of a lot of accidents and laundry but we did manage to get back to a normal schedule and take advantage of the beautiful weather and lake. All in all, the whole recovery took days. Mind you, she and John had been sick the two weeks before the tonsillectomy so I was nursed out! I had no idea it would actually take her that long to be her bubbly self again. Whenever you see a range of days for recovery you tend to fare toward the smaller number for some reason. I am not sure if she had it worse than normal or if most moms just won't take about the process, but I will say I earned some tiger stripes and although they are invisible to the world they are evident between me and Allison. She adores me in a different way after that. She constantly rubs my arms or my legs and says how I'm so warm and smell like flowers. She says I love you multiple times a day. She looks at me with such adoration that I melt and all of that has made those 10 days worth it. We are closer now than ever. A huge part of that could be that I felt I was a good mom during most of that. That's not something I have been able to say freely. I have overcome a lot of my insecurities lately with my brand of motherhood and I can honestly say that thanks to the tonsillectomy I am sporting my most brilliant tiger stripes yet!
Allison's first day consisted of mass liquid vomiting that soaked many couch blankets. I thought she'd be sleepy and we'd just be on the couch as if she was sick. Not quite. She was in and out of sleep coupled with the vomit issue so I was on high alert! She kept throwing up within a half hour of giving her pain medicine, which I was told to not get behind on or I'd really regret it! I didn't want to give her too much to make up for the lost medicine that ended up on my pants and/or on the couch. That day was filled with laundry, doctor phone calls, and wide awake eyes.
For the next ten days, Allison would need pain meds around the clock. Every fourth hour she would become cranky due to the pain in her throat. She became incredibly cuddly and for the most part I secretly loved spending all that time on our couch entangled in blankets and kisses. There came a point, after a week, where she literally needed to be touching me all the time or she was a wreck! I didn't know if that was my fault for being so accommodating the week before or not. Mind you, I was happily spending lazy hours on the couch with her because she did not sleep through the night. When she woke up in pain it took quite a while to get her back to sleep only to do the same thing within four hours. She was also going to bed late since we were trying to limit the amount of times we'd have to get up and give her meds throughout the night. By the way, that funky breath thing they mentioned is true! Only the breath a mother would love to be cuddled up next to...
The nights were rough, very much so like that of having a newborn. I slept in her bed a few times and she also crawled in with us toward the end because well I was lazy and at that point in this whole process I didn't even want to get up and go downstairs. She has only slept in our bed when John is away and so she was loving it. I am also dealing with the aftermath of that too because all she wants is to sleep with us now and although she is all healed now will not sleep through the night because of wanting us.
I did try to get out of the house and do things but the other part of this whole process that I failed to read about was the fact that since kids don't eat much or have much activity they usually become constipated. Well, Allison suffers from this already and so that compounded with the popsicle only diet was hellish! By the time we'd thought she was getting back to normal (day 7) she was so stopped up from not having pooped in over a week she was in a lot of pain... again.
After taking her to the doctor and finding out that Miralax wasn't an option since she was too dehydrated and that we had to do a suppository of glycerin (and by we I mean me). I decided to take this on without John because he tends to get frustrated easily when she is being stubborn. She had every right to be scared and less than cooperative. Luckily she was in so much pain that she was able to wrap her head around the idea that the pain was worse that her mom sticking a funky shaped object up her butt hole. She kept saying, "just wait Mom. Give me a minute." It was so sweet and I exercised all of my patience. It probably took 20 minutes of coaxing before she'd let me do it. That was not fun but I will say I did a stellar job lubing it up and accurately sending it to the right orifice. Too bad she was already so scared because she kept saying to me afterwards, "You poked me in the butt hole and it hurt!!" Now that sounds funny but I really did feel guilty and second guessed doing all of this on my own.
The next couple days consisted of a lot of accidents and laundry but we did manage to get back to a normal schedule and take advantage of the beautiful weather and lake. All in all, the whole recovery took days. Mind you, she and John had been sick the two weeks before the tonsillectomy so I was nursed out! I had no idea it would actually take her that long to be her bubbly self again. Whenever you see a range of days for recovery you tend to fare toward the smaller number for some reason. I am not sure if she had it worse than normal or if most moms just won't take about the process, but I will say I earned some tiger stripes and although they are invisible to the world they are evident between me and Allison. She adores me in a different way after that. She constantly rubs my arms or my legs and says how I'm so warm and smell like flowers. She says I love you multiple times a day. She looks at me with such adoration that I melt and all of that has made those 10 days worth it. We are closer now than ever. A huge part of that could be that I felt I was a good mom during most of that. That's not something I have been able to say freely. I have overcome a lot of my insecurities lately with my brand of motherhood and I can honestly say that thanks to the tonsillectomy I am sporting my most brilliant tiger stripes yet!
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