"Wiggled" Out

Thursday morning Haley had an appointment to have her canine baby tooth extracted or "wiggled out" as the dentist put it.  I tried to explain to her what would be happening.  I asked her if she remembered when her other teeth had come out.  I have not been privy to that. 

I would notice occasionally that a tooth was missing, but I never knew when it had come out or where it went.  I don't know if she took them out of her mouth and put them in the garbage or if she simply swallowed them.  I told her that one of her teeth needed to come out and that the dentist was going to take it out.  I told her that she would have something over her nose that would help her relax and that the dentist would take the tooth out and then we would go home.

We got to go into a different room in the dentist's office.  It was still decorated with fish, but it had a door that shut.  Haley sat down in the chair and the doctor came in right away.  He explained to me what was going to happen and then he tried to get Haley to sit back.  She did really surprisingly well and then she sat back up again.  The dentist tried several different positions until they came to a mutually agreeable one.

They put the gas mask on her nose and asked her what it smelled like.  Apparently it smelled like cotton candy, she didn't say.  Haley took it off and put it back on many times.  I was afraid that she wasn't breathing through her nose.  It almost seemed like she was trying to get more air.  Eventually she relaxed and put her head back on the chair after much coaxing.  After a while she kind of got a little smile on her face.

The dentist put a swab in her mouth that would numb the area he was going to work on.  She put up with that really well.  Then he used the needle.  I hate needles.  Truth be told, I hate the dentist.  Not this one, but the whole experience in general.  My children are much better about going to the dentist than I ever was. 

Haley actually took the needle really well.  I saw her foot flinch a couple of times, but that was it.  The dentist took a long time with the needle, I mean a long time.  He was basically upside down the whole time and I was fully expecting his arm to start shaking, but he did it.  We all breathed a sigh of relief when it was over.

Haley actually kind of giggled.  Then she pointed at something on the wall.  Then she sort of waved at me.  I said "Hi, Haley." and waved back.  A little while later the dentist went through that whole process again.  The second time the hygienist had to hold her hand.  Throughout the whole thing she constantly told Haley what a good job she was doing.

The dentist had the hygienist squirt water in her mouth and run the suction, presumably to keep her distracted, while he "wiggled out" the tooth.  I rubbed her leg and prayed.  Soon it was out and again there was a collective sigh of relief.  The dentist said "We did it, Mom."  I was crying.

He tried to get Haley to bite down on the tube of cotton, but she wouldn't.  He told me it would be a few hours before her mouth would feel normal and that she needed to be careful not to bite her tongue, her cheek or her lip.  I thought to myself, what can I do about that and we were done.  Haley got to choose two "prizes" from the prize room, they had horses.  There were no horses on Tuesday.  I think they were there because of her (she carried Chelsea and Sandy to both appointments.)

I bought applesauce, sweet potatoes and rice cereal so she wouldn't have to chew.  She didn't appreciate her lunch very much.  I tried to give her a little coconut milk ice cream, but it seemed to bother her tooth.  I gave her Tylenol after some tears and she spent the rest of the day resting on the couch.

Again, my child has amazed me.  She did so well.