Ears, ears, ears.

Aside from sweet Harper being able to point to her ears when asked (which is so cute!) she has had a myriad of problems with hers since she was six months old. She has only had three ear infections since then, but they've all been double and have all lasted longer than one month.
She's allergic to Omnicef, so that eliminates an entire class of antibiotics used to clear infections, thus making it more difficult to treat. Since January she has had an ongoing double ear infection. That's right, folks. My poor baby has basically been in pain to some degree for nearly FOUR months.
In all, we have tried four different medications which she has not responded to (two of which we'd tried unsuccessfully during her second infection.) After the third one (Augmentin) gave her a yeast infection I was ready to throw in the towel and just sign her up for ear tube surgery. Heck, I was ready BEFORE we even went down that long road of pharmaceuticals. But as we all know, health insurance sometimes dictates the type of treatment you can or can't have. In her case she'd had too few infections to warrant surgery approval, so we had no choice but to try other medications - you know, to "prove" to them that we'd tried other medical solutions. (Sounds great, right? Pump my child full of useless antibiotics which haven't worked in the past all because you don't want to pay for her surgery since she doesn't meet your criteria.)
That aside, we finally were able to schedule a surgery date (took two weeks of phone tag to nail down) which we then cancelled the day before because she had developed a wheezy cough and was using breathing treatments. We were afraid she'd have to wait another month, but luckily she was squeezed in to the following week.
That brings us to today! She was the first kid on the schedule at the surgery center. Taylor and I woke up at 4:45 in order to get ready and be there before 6:00. (Know what's awesome? ZERO traffic on GA400. We got there in about ten minutes! Totally overestimated the trip time.) 
They were still closed when we walked in so Harper got to roam the halls. Nothing better than a ton of space for an independent toddler to have all to herself! She ran up and down the hall over and over in her cute little lime green PJ's. Once we got in I signed lots of paperwork and was given a name badge. A very cool name badge, might I add.

Read it and weep.

And Harper was able to enjoy a plethora of new toys to play with! She did a lot of running around and exploring. We tried to get her to settle down to watch Henry Hugglemonster, but anyone with a fifteen-month old knows that our efforts were in vain. 

Shortly after this they called us back and took her vital signs. She wasn't so sure about the blood pressure cuff on her leg, but she got over it quickly. We were sent to a small room and were advised to change her into a hospital gown. There was also a gown and "shower cap" for whichever parent took her back to the operating room. I asked Taylor if he minded letting me do it and he said no. He told me knew I wanted to be there with her. I married a great dad and husband, y'all. I know he would have liked to take her but it was sweet of him to let me go.

She did such a great job with her pre-op medication that they let her go to the "toy closet" to choose a toy. She picked a neon, stuffed caterpillar seen in the photos above. Cool concept, CHOA!

Around 7:15 she became pretty cranky. I think the hunger and exhaustion were starting to set in. Meltdowns started occurring one after the other. Poor girl. 

And finally, we were ready. I put on the gown and cap and walked my baby bear to the operating room. All of the nurses loved the stuffed monster she brought with her.

Thanks for my monster, Nama!

I laid her down and the anesthesiologist placed the mask over her mouth and nose. She cried initially but her cry slowly turned into a whimper which then turned into blissful (I hope) sleep. I walked back to the waiting area and within ten minutes they wheeled her in. All done! Her doctor said it went well and that she had a lot of fluid in her ears. He gave us a prescription for ear drops and we need to follow up in two weeks.
Waking up was rough for her. She was disoriented and cried hysterically for at least ten or fifteen minutes. I think that was the hardest part for me (and probably her too.) Once we got in the car she happily enjoyed juice, fruit snacks, and animal crackers. I sat in the back with her and sang her songs for the first few minutes since she was still so emotional. By the time we pulled off at our exit she was almost back to normal and babbled relentlessly. She has the sweetest little voice, you guys.

Still taking it all in.

We put her down for a nap after a quick breakfast and she slept for almost three hours! Way to go, baby!

And now, I'm off to finish lunch with my girl. Thanks for reading! We appreciate everyone's love, texts, and prayers. We certainly have wonderful family and friends.