My heart belongs to her

This girl has my heart (along with her brothers and Daddy).  They are my everything.  Yesterday was the scariest day I've ever experienced as a Mom.  The boys had a sleep over with Grandma because Lauren had a routine tube placement with possible adenoid removal.  I had taken her (and Will) to an ENT about a month ago and her tubes had fallen out, she failed her hearing test and had fluid in both ears.  The doctor suggested tubes again since long term fluid in ears can affect long term hearing.  He explained that typically when they place a second set of tubes, they always take a look at the adenoids since they have found that these can often be enlarged and pushing on the ear canal.   Lauren and I arrived to the hospital early (6:30), and my biggest concern was holding her off of food. She kept asking for "cereal" and when I would say no, she'd say "oatmeal?" :)  She was easily distracted once we got to the hospital with all the toys, games, etc.  They even let me take her back to the room to helped mask her and put her under anesthesia, which was really nice since I know she would have freaked out if they would have taken her away from me awake.  I started to get a little nervous about 30 minutes in.  Both tube placements prior (Will and Lauren) were about a 5-10 minute procedure.  I knew the adenoids could take longer (20 min. per the doctor) but 30 minutes was making me nervous.  I was about to go find her nurse when the doctor walked in.   Surgery went great.  Tubes were placed with no problem.  Adenoids were huge, so they were removed.  Then he said, "but they were a bit of a problem with coming out of anesthesia".   My heart sank...I could tell something was wrong.  He kept assuring me, she's ok, she's fine, it's not a big deal but he said he didn't have all the details so the anesthesia team would be in shortly to explain everything.  After another long 20 minutes of waiting, the lead anesthesia doctor came in and explained.  Lauren suffered a laryngospasm while being moved from the operating room to the recovery room.  To remove the adenoids, they had to place a breathing tube because they access the adenoids through the mouth and had to remove the anesthesia mask used for tube placement.  When they remove a breathing tube, there is always a chance of aspiration, which I guess occurred.  A laryngospasm occurs to prevent that aspiration from entering the lungs. Basically the vocal cords seize up, blocking the flow of oxygen into the lungs.  They told me she turned blue, they tried a couple easy methods of treatment; rolling her to her side, manipulating the airway and bagging her to force the airway to open back up but they didn't work.  With no oxygen, her heart rate fell significantly.  They said they have found that starting chest compressions before the heart actually stops is better, so they typically begin those anytime someone's heart drops under 60.  Her's got down to 40.  So they did chest compressions until the medicine was administered (via iv) to raise her heart rate and they were then able to open the airway. They said as soon as the airway opened, she returned to normal coloring, woke right up and started crying (all good signs)  I was actually doing ok as he was explaining all of this to me, until he said chest compressions...then I lost it.  The doctors and nurses all tried reassuring me this is a complication they see frequently, they are all prepared to deal with this, they are all watching for it...no big deal.  But it didn't feel like no big deal, I was scared.    I have never been so happy to see Lauren and hold her in my arms.  The sense of relief when I took her into my arms was even greater than the day she was born.  She was freaking out when I got her because she had an iv in her foot and she wanted it "OUT!".  She kept yelling, "OUT, OUT, OUT" and finally after trying to distract her for a good 3-5 minutes I told them...just take it out.  They all agreed it probably wasn't necessary anymore and as soon as it was removed she was back to herself.  We cuddled, drank apple juice and popsicles for a good hour and a half while they monitored her and then came home.  She is doing great, totally back to herself and doesn't appear to be in any pain from the surgery or complications.  She has a few marks on her; under her ears (where they manipulated her jaw/throat to allow air into her airway) and she appears like she may have two black eyes.  I'm not really sure why the black eyes and will be calling the hospital today to ask why.  

I'm typically a pretty laid back person/Mommy, but yesterday was scary and I was definitely a little shaken.  I try not to think about what could have happened but it's hard.  I do know we're lucky she had a great team of doctors to appear to have reacted quickly and efficiently.  She's here...she's doing great and I know, not everyone gets that so we are thanking God for her and feeling blessed.