The Most Expensive Nap Ever...

Happy Blogging!  Family Fun Quote for the Day

This morning, Monday, June 14, 2010, Alexander woke up at 6am with a smile on his face.  I lay in bed hoping for more sleep.  Michael got up with Alexander.  The first words I heard Alexander say were, "Alex awake!  The sun is out.  It is a beautiful day!"  Wow!  That was totally unprompted and too cute!  Daddy asked if he heard the birds.  Alexander replied, "Tweet, tweet!"

Little did Alexander know that today was not going to be so beautiful at the dentist office.  We found out a few months ago that he got his first 4 cavities (Ahhh! 4 cavities in a 2 year old... are you serious!?!?).  I postponed his dental appointment until Michael was on summer vacation and could take him, and he would have a few more months to mature and comprehend what was happening.  Basically, I was too big of a wimp to take my son by myself.  I would have also had to pawn off Isabella on someone at 7:30 in the morning for a few hours.  She doesn't do well with babysitters.  We had done all of the preparations we as parents can do for our son's dental appointment.  We gave him 3 months to mature.  We had many pep talks about the dentist.  We had prayed and fasted, and Michael even gave Alexander a father's blessing that he would do well with his dental appointment... In the end, Alexander's strong will and even stronger body decided what would happen.

Long story short... They give Alexander the special sleepy juice medicine that we prepaid $250 for when making this appointment.  It promised to work in 30-60min and make him loopy, groggy, out of it, and possibly fall asleep.  Michael sat with him in the closet of a waiting room at Little Smiles Dentistry for an hour, with no effect at all on him.  They watched the entire Thomas, Hero of the Rails movie, and Alexander was still hyped up and ready to go (but not ready for fillings). 

At one point we talked him into being a big boy and going to the dentist to get clean teeth.  Apparently he changed his mind when he got there.  They brought him into the room and put the nitrous oxide (laughing gas) on him (most likely another $100) and prepped his teeth for fillings.  Of course the fillings were on all 4 molars, all 4 quadrants of the mouth.  A tool was used to keep him mouth open. He didn't like that.  Basically, the laughing gas made him out of it and near sleep until each time the dentist came in to do the work.  He was fine with the dentist until he attempted to work on his teeth.  Then he was very alert and strongly protested everything.

An hour of kicking, screaming, and crying later, the cavities were filled.  They gave up on attempting a real cleaning (we have had no success with a formal cleaning yet, or x-rays).  Unfortunately, the dentist and his assistants had to strap Alexander down to a flat board and immobilize his arms and legs for his own safety.  In the end, the dentist spoke to my husband and said that he has only ever had a small handful of patients who react that strongly to dental work. 

Ironically, I had read and discussed the "behavior management" techniques with Michael the night before, and was strongly against any physical restraint.  I didn't want my son forever traumatized by his first major trip to the dentist at such a young age.  I hate going to the dentist, but that didn't start until high school when I needed a root canal.  The only other alternative was to pay $500 for general anesthesia which the dentist would not recommend for his own children, so... what else can you do?!!??  I honestly don't know any more!  Too bad the $250 sleepy medicine did absolutely nothing for my son!  At least the work is done.  I'm glad his Daddy took him, because I don't think I would have had the strength to do it by myself.  We will now brush and floss like crazy to try to avoid more cavities.

So onto the most expensive nap ever...  the medicine they gave him had no effect while in the dentist office for 2 hours.  But when he came home, he fell asleep on the bed downstairs within 5 minutes of watching Zoo Animals.  Pricey nap (he hasn't taken naps for about 6 months now).