Chet has had a runny nose for most of his life. We noticed this within his first year. For awhile we thought it was due to getting teeth, having an ear infection, or just from a cold. When he was about 18 months we started noticing and worrying about his sleep. He would snore. He wouldn't breath normally and it would scare me. It was when we lived in Michigan during the winter. I remember a few times about a month apart where I would be running to Meijer to buy a humidifier in the middle of the night, or to a friends house to borrow a diffuser. Anything to help him breathe better. I was on the phone with the on call pediatrician often to calm down about his irregular breathing patterns. They reassured me that he was not going to stop breathing.
We saw an ENT in Michigan. He had me try Flonase to see if any of this was allergy related. I didn't notice any change from his runny nose or snoring. He then recommended removing his tonsils and adenoids. Chet was so young and little--the thought of putting him under for surgery scared me. A friend recommended waiting through the summer and then seeing how he did in the coming winter. (It all seemed to be worse in the winter.) Plus we knew it was a possibility that we were going to move and we would rather put all of our bills from having a baby and this potential surgery on one insurance. So we decided to wait.
During the summer, the problems were still there but not as bad. Or we were too busy to really notice with vacations in St. Louis and California, along with getting ready to move to Ohio. We moved to Ohio and it seemed like his runny nose went away for about a month. Then I thought that maybe it had been somehow connected to allergies and that this new environment was helping. After a month of clear nose, it came back again. I scheduled an appointment with an ENT in Westlake. He left it up to us to decide whether or no we wanted to have the surgery.
I still did not like the idea of having my little baby do this procedure. It scared me. I put it off. It seemed as we continued into the winter, his breathing while sleeping was getting worse. He would hold his breath and then gasp for air. He would snore so loud that we could hear him throughout the house. He was waking up often in the middle of the night either crying or climbing into bed with us. He would snore so loud in between me and Eric. When family would visit, they were concerned with his sleep. I realized that I although I was scared to do the surgery, I was also scared to not do the surgery. Watching him breathe at night was scary. I mentioned this to Eric at church one Sunday in October and he said "I think we should just do it." And I said "OK." And that was it.
We were approaching my due date of November 11th. We preferred to have the surgery done before the baby came so that he could recover before things got too crazy with a newborn in the house. The only date that was available at this point was November 4th. I scheduled it for that morning. Marita was going to be here that week so she could help with kid watching while Chet was in the hospital.
I ended up being at the hospital November 3rd ready to have Cal, so I called and cancelled his surgery for the next morning. I later rescheduled it for a few weeks later.
I could not go to the hospital with Chet with a newborn. Eric took a couple days off work and he was with Chet throughout his time at the hospital. I think it was for the best that I was not there. I would have worried more, especially seeing him in the tiny little hospital gown. I told Chet the night before that he would go with Eric in the morning to the hospital and see some doctors. He said "Yay!" While they were gone and especially when I knew Chet was in surgery, I was very anxious. I tried to be calm and get some stuff done around the house. I waited for Eric's text to say he was done. And it all went well. Not long after the surgery, Chet was eating popsicle after popsicle. Eric said that when he slept he had to walk over to make sure that he was breathing because he couldn't hear him. We were so used to listening to him snore, it was odd to not hear it anymore.
Ty, Cal, and I drove downtown Cleveland to the Rainbow Hospital to visit. We only were able to stay a couple of hours. But I just wanted to squeeze my baby. I read him a couple of books and held him while he watched a movie. He seemed just fine. Eric did a great job taking care of him. I think it helped them bond and was good for Eric to get a chance to be the primary care taker. I was so glad that it was finally over and was anxious to see how it would help him.
Here is Chet the night before his surgery. Runny nose and all.
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