The story I don't want to tell (again)

On a Sunday evening, about one hour before we expected my parents to arrive for their visit, Noah once again managed to smash his head open. Honestly, it's happened so many times now that there is no fear or worry over the amount of blood - just annoyance at the hassle it's going to be to get it taken care of.

The cause (this time)? Noah thought it would be a good idea to "surf" down the hallway on one of my couch pillows. He did a belly dive onto the pillow, expecting to slide down the hall - but the pillow didn't budge and so he slammed his face into the wood floor at high-speed instead.

The result? A cut and very swollen lip and bleeding gums. We weren't sure at first he'd done any harm to his top front teeth - we were just glad to see that they were still there.

He complained about his tooth feeling a little loose, but of course he wouldn't let us touch it. When he ate we had to break up all his food so he could stick it into the back of his mouth. But I thought it might just be his sore lip. But after 2 days of this I decided I'd better take him to the dentist, just in case.

Normally I wouldn't have thought this was necessary. It was just a baby tooth. So what if it was loose? It would just fall out right? No big deal. Except about a week previous to this one of our friends daughters knocked her front baby teeth on her brothers head and had to have them pulled.

So on wednesday, the day after my parents left, I called the Dentist office and they told me to bring him right in. Noah usually loves the dentist, but, knowing the story about his friends teeth, he freaked. When I told him we were going to the dentist he started screaming, "I don't want my tooth pulled!" I kept explaining that they just needed to look, we didn't know if it needed to be pulled. He was inconsolable. I had to drag him to the car, at which point he clamped his mouth shut and said through his lips that he wasn't going to let anyone see his tooth.

Same story when we got to the dentist. Dragged him out of the car. Couldn't get him to sit in the chair. I'm begging, bribing, threatening. Finally he's in the chair, but still wont open his mouth. FINALLY he let the dentist take a look. Sure enough it was loose. Which meant we had to x-ray it. That was an ordeal because biting down on the loose tooth was painful for him.

And the ordeal was just beginning. The x-ray clearly showed the tooth was fractured - and would have to be pulled, to prevent an abscess (infection) and other problems for the adult tooth. It needed to be taken care of ASAP, so when the dentist asked if I wanted him to take care of it right then I said yes.

This was not our usual dentist and (turns out) he was not very good with kids. So as Noah overhears this conversation he jumps out of the chair and starts freaking out all over again. It was a good 10 minutes till he was back in the chair again and he was still not cooperating. The dentist put a mask over his nose but Noah refused to breathe in the nitrous oxide. So me, the dentist and the assistant all held him down, applied a topical numbing ointment and the dentist attempted to give him a shot.

He attempted it about 6 times, with Noah screaming, crying, and trying to get away and then the needle broke in his mouth.

At which point the dentist threw his hands up in the air and said, "That's it! I'm done."

In the meantime, Alex has run over to the corner of the room where she is crouched down, eyes squeezed shut, hands over her ears and crying. I'm trying to keep it together, but not very successfully.

We all three left in tears, with the tooth still in place and a referral to a pediatric dentist in town.

Now the story gets really long and boring - the gist of it is, none of the pediatric dentists would see us or get us in anytime before December, the dentist office is telling me it's gotta be done asap, and Noah is leaving town in 2 days for Utah. After hours on the phone with way too many people the nice ladies at my dentist office got us an appointment for Friday morning with an oral surgeon.

Much more expensive, but they would put him to sleep, which was an idea Noah could handle. And as it turned out probably necessary anyways because the fracture was up in his gums and the peds dentists recommended an oral surgeon for that scenario.

Paul got the day off, which turned out to be so great. The experience was a little more intense than I anticipated and it was so good to have him there. And to have him know and understand what was happening.

Noah was nervous, but much more prepared this time. He cooperated. I was a little upset that they made us leave the room before they put him to sleep because I'd told him I was going to be there to hold his hand. But Noah seemed ok with it.

The procedure itself was over quickly and they took us back to him in recovery, where he was hooked up to some monitors and trying to wake-up. At one point Noah dozed off again and the oxygen monitors went off and the doctor was shaking him, trying to wake him - and it totally freaked me out. But then it was over and Noah was awake and crying again, which was a good thing. The poor kid was just inconsolable he was so disoriented.

We picked up Alex and got Noah home. It didn't take long for him to start begging to go to the Bounce House - his prize for being brave and cooperating. So that very afternoon that's what we did. He was a little tired and overly emotional but ended up having fun (and luckily NOT getting sick from the drugs).

Early the next morning he and Paul were off to Utah. It was a quick recovery.

And now he looks like this.

And he has a lisp : )

The big tooth wont be coming in for another year or so.

Way to go Noah!

You're one brave kid (and really cute too)!