Dental Details

I talked to a nurse at the pediatric day surgery center where Peeper's having her cavities filled, and she confirmed that she'll be able to nurse up until four hours before the procedure, then have other clear liquids (water, in her case) for another hour, and that one of us will be able to stay with her until she's sedate.

Since the hospital is about an hour and a half away, and we have to arrive two hours before the procedure, the timing should be just about right if I wake her up and nurse, then get her dressed and into the car. There's a possibility that she'll want to nurse when we get there, but assuming that there are toys and such to check out while we're waiting, she probably won't even think about it.

During that two hour wait, we'll meet with the dentist and the anesthesiologist. They will also give her some sort of a sedative at that point, which will make her drowsy, and will make her not remember things.

One of us will go back into the OR with her, where they'll use gas to put her under, and then they'll kick us out. After she's out, they'll put in an IV, and do the actual fillings.

When she's done, the dentist will come out and talk to us, and we'll be with her when she's waking up. I didn't ask whether we'll be able to hold her as she's waking up, but I don't really know why we wouldn't. She'll still have the IV in, but I would assume that would be it.

Once she's awake, they "want to make sure they're tolerating clear liquids before giving them anything else, in case they throw up" so they'll will want her to have some popsicle slushy before allowing her to nurse.

I don't really get that, because breastmilk is a clear liquid and is more likely to sit well on her tummy than anything else, and if she throws it up, I don't see how it's any worse than throwing up popsicle. (Better, actually, because it won't be red or purple or orange all down my shirt!)

I'm happy to offer her some popsicle if they want, but I suspect she's going to want to nurse as soon as she's awake enough to know who she is, and before she's awake enough to eat a popsicle, and I'm certainly going to want to nurse her as soon as she asks, and I'm afraid they are going to be hard-put to stop us.