I am guilty of a parental attrocity
As the carmom readers may be aware, our kids had surgery a couple of days ago. I am officially guilty of my first true parental act of sinister deception.
Most parental deception is harmless or inane (i.e. The S.C. Christmas "miracle"). This one was so bad, Carmom and I knew it was wrong right away.
As we were in the prep room at the hospital, we had both kids together. They had stripped from their clothes into their neat "pajamas". The nurses came with a wagon to get Abby. Abby, being extremely intelligent, knew this was not a good wagon ride. She looked leary, and was not eager to ride. The nurses sensed this immediately and picked her up and carried her to the operating room. She went quietly, but not happily. This was as it should be and caused us no more than the normal amount of "our child is going into surgery" apprehension.
Gabe on the other hand, started saying "I want to ride in the wagon!!!" almost immediately upon Abby leaving. We tried to calm him. We told him his ride would come soon enough. I was already thinking, Uh-Oh, he's in for a serious wake up call on this one. Sure enough, 45 minutes later, the nurses come for Gabe. He's literally jumping up and down with excitement. This is all fun and games and HE gets to ride in the WAGON! He runs out of the room and takes the nurse back to the station to show her the one he wants to ride in. As he's loaded up to be drugged, intubated, have his tonsils sliced out, his adenoids sliced up and his ears tubed, he is smiling from one ear to the other and waving "bye!" back at Mom and I. I walked back into the room repressing shudders of guilt.
When we were in the recovery area with Abby they brought Gabe down. We weren't supposed to see him as he first recovers. According to the nurses, it can be very "distressing" to parents. I heard his moans and shouts. They didn't make sense to anyone else, but I knew what he was saying. "That wasn't the fun wagon ride! You tricked me!"
He's doing better this morning, but he's still grumpy. We're having some difficulty getting him to drink enough, but we're getting him to take some sips. Hopefully, we won't take him in for hydration like some relative of mine had to have after her surgery.
Most parental deception is harmless or inane (i.e. The S.C. Christmas "miracle"). This one was so bad, Carmom and I knew it was wrong right away.
As we were in the prep room at the hospital, we had both kids together. They had stripped from their clothes into their neat "pajamas". The nurses came with a wagon to get Abby. Abby, being extremely intelligent, knew this was not a good wagon ride. She looked leary, and was not eager to ride. The nurses sensed this immediately and picked her up and carried her to the operating room. She went quietly, but not happily. This was as it should be and caused us no more than the normal amount of "our child is going into surgery" apprehension.
Gabe on the other hand, started saying "I want to ride in the wagon!!!" almost immediately upon Abby leaving. We tried to calm him. We told him his ride would come soon enough. I was already thinking, Uh-Oh, he's in for a serious wake up call on this one. Sure enough, 45 minutes later, the nurses come for Gabe. He's literally jumping up and down with excitement. This is all fun and games and HE gets to ride in the WAGON! He runs out of the room and takes the nurse back to the station to show her the one he wants to ride in. As he's loaded up to be drugged, intubated, have his tonsils sliced out, his adenoids sliced up and his ears tubed, he is smiling from one ear to the other and waving "bye!" back at Mom and I. I walked back into the room repressing shudders of guilt.
When we were in the recovery area with Abby they brought Gabe down. We weren't supposed to see him as he first recovers. According to the nurses, it can be very "distressing" to parents. I heard his moans and shouts. They didn't make sense to anyone else, but I knew what he was saying. "That wasn't the fun wagon ride! You tricked me!"
He's doing better this morning, but he's still grumpy. We're having some difficulty getting him to drink enough, but we're getting him to take some sips. Hopefully, we won't take him in for hydration like some relative of mine had to have after her surgery.
posted by Mattdaddy | 9:01 AM
<< Home