Tubes - Actual Day of Question

ladun6

HI!  My DS is getting tubes on the 22nd, he will be 17 months old.  I definitely feel that this is the right decision for him but I was just wondering what your experiences were the day of.  The Dr. said it takes about 15 minutes and they are done.  So I'm just wondering how long are you actually away from your baby?  Are they in recovery for awhile?  Will I be able to hold him or will he have to lay in a bed/crib?

TIA:)

meganjoey0728

LO got his tubes in January. Here is a break down of the day:

 

6:30 arrive and paperwork.

6:45 taken to an inpatient room and LO got a gown. He had his vitals taken and was given tylenol for the pain afterward

7- my husband took him back to help the anesthesiologist and I was taken to the waiting room

 7:15 doctor came to tell us it all went great and he was already out (amazingly quickly right?!)

7:15 we went to the recovery room and held LO as he cried. He did pretty well waking up and could have juice/water right away. 

We left for home by 7:45. Our doctor gave us a timeline for the day and everything went really well. Hope your surgery goes really well too! 

njbride0603

you are with them right up until they take them in for surgery. I think I was in the waiting room for 10 minutes and they came out to tell us she was done. About 15 min later we went into recovery and waited for her to wake up. We were only there a few hours total. Once she was able to drink and eat a snack we got to go home..she slept most of the day and was completely fine the next day..went to daycare and everything good luck!

nikki_rob_weddingplans

Your experience will differ depending on where the procedure is done.  Ours was in a surgery factory, I mean center.  I believe it was about an hour and a half before they took her in as they do paperwork, vitals, etc.  Once they took her, it was only about 15 minutes and we were called back to recovery.  They said to bring snacks/drinks for recovery but they didn't even give us a chance to give DD anything as they escorted us out the back door (hence my sarcasm about it being a factory).  DD screamed for 45 minutes then she was totally fine.  The first hour afterwards is not great as they wake up from the anesthesia, but honestly, it is SO worth it.  DD has been much better since we had the tubes!  

JennaNAaron

We were away from LO about 15 minutes. When we went back to recovery the nurse was cuddling him while he drank his milk. He started crying when I got him dressed and cried/screamed the whole way home about 45 min. Then he ate breakfast, and played until nap. No more tears, etc. It has made a world of difference.

NYBride1125

Here is how it happened for my daughter...it was super easy. We arrived to hospital at 6:30. They took us to triage where a bunch of kids were waiting for different surgeries (tubes, hernias, etc.). Doctors, nurses came over to get my LO's vitals, etc. and then at 7:30 they let me take her to the operating room with the doctor. I sat with her while they put her under with the gas mask, and then went to the waiting room. About 10 minutes later the doctor came in and said she did great, and about 4-5 minutes after that the nurse came in and said she was waking up. A nurse was holding her as she woke up, so I picked her up and she was crying some, still out of it. She drank two sippy cups full of apple juice and eventually woke up enough to not be so disoriented. I had brought a bagel with me for her after the surgery and she ate that on the way home. She was very hungry. By the time she got home she was completely normal. Didn't go down for a nap until her normal time and ate and drank normally. I just kept thinking if there is a surgery I would want my LO to get it would be this one, all things considering. The day flies by and when I say it was less than 3 hours door to door and everything was status quo, I'm not making that up! Good luck!

sportsmomma

We were away from him for about 20 minutes total. He was still asleep when we went back to recovery. He woke up hungry and happy and had us fooled because about 15 minutes later as we're leaving of course he lost it and basically cried for 2 hours straight. I'll admit that day was worse than I expected but it has been good for him, he immediately started sleeping better, he was saying more words and started walking better. U fortunately here we ate about a month and a half later and he had a double ear infection. The drops seem to be doing their job along with the tunes at least.

iteachk

My DD got tubes the day she turned 16 months.  It went really well.  She was away from us for about 15 minutes - they came and got us as soon as she was out of surgery.  She cried and was very groggy when it was over.  It was hard to see her so out of it.  She slept on the way out to the car, but stayed awake all the way home, and asked for the iPad about 45 minutes after surgery.    She ate normally and was her old self the rest of the day. 

Mountaineers

 My DD was 6yrs when she got hers so Im not sure about an infant/toddler experience but she was taken and the doctor put Justin Beiber on in the surgery room and she said they doctor and nurses were dancing around, they gave her the anisthesia and she was out. 15 mins later the buzzer they gave me went off and I met the doctor in the "parent room" and he told me step by step how everything went and then walked to recovery with me and she was waking up. They taped her eyes shut and she had a reaction to the tape so her eyes were itchy but not terrible. She was a bit disoriented and scared for 10 mins or so. when she was fully awake we went to another room for an hour to make sure she didnt have any reation to anything and then we left and she slept for a while at home and was back to normal when she woke.

704bride

Our experience was similar to others'. We were probably away from DS for about a half hour though. I don't know if they mentioned it, but an anesthesiologist came in to give him something to relax him to make him relaxed and sleepy when I laid him on the OR table. A friend had suggested skipping that because the second tubes surgery she experienced with one of her kids had a faster recovery time because she skipped that. We ended up giving it to him. Unless you're really anxious about it, it's not that big of a deal for him to cry for a few seconds before they give him the gas to go to sleep. When he woke up, they had us go in immediately because he was so disoriented and they wanted him to see us right away. I held him and he was kind of loopy and crying, which they said was totally normal. After a little while, we went home.  I gave him Motrin that day and then didn't have to after that. Our lives were changed so much for the better!!  It was such a good decision.

ladun6

Thank you all so much for sharing!!! This really helps knowing what to expect!!! Can't wait until it's over and we can get past this! Hoping the ear infection he has now is his last one for awhile!!!