One Less Tooth, A Little More Wise

Yesterday was a huge ordeal.

About two weeks ago, I managed to chip my upper left wisdom tooth (apparently tooth #16) by eating a piece of baked chicken. I don't know. My dentist was closed for the entire week of the fourth and so I had to wait and wait. Went in, finally, got it checked out and he told me I would have to get it pulled. Not my favorite thing to do, but I had already had one pulled so I didn't think much of it.

Unfortunately, I did not realize that the first wisdom tooth had been cut out by an oral surgeon, not pulled by a general DDS. He tried. He tried very hard. He pulled on my tooth so much I thought he was going to rip half my face off in the process. Suddenly, crack! My wisdom tooth decided it was too cool to just be pulled. The top half broke right off leaving the roots and what not still intact. My teeth are apparently as stubborn as I am.

No problem, they said, we'll just send you to the oral surgeon down the road and he'll finish it up. Problem: I couldn't get in to see him for two hours. My mother, who was thankfully still off for recovery from her own surgery (ACL - nasty stuff), was acting as chauffeur and toddler-watcher for this whole ordeal, took us to Sonic for lunch and ice cream (Oreo blasts = delicious) and then we stopped by the Fountain City Duck Pond to feed the ducks and one random, obnoxiously loud goose.

This is the duck pond. Yes, it is in the shape of a heart.

This was the first time my little boy had actually gone down there and fed the ducks. He was so enthusiastic that he ended up throwing most of the little pellet food at the ducks instead of to them, but they didn't really seem to mind.

After picking up my pain meds, we headed to the surgeon and, bless them, they worked me in ASAP (an especially good thing since my anesthesia from the first attempt had worn off and I was very aware of my open mouth wound). Another shot, more tugging, and a few grunts from me and out it went! Thank. God. It just gets to a point where no matter how nervous you are about it happening, you just want the damned thing out of your mouth.

Now, my mother is the sweetest mother ever. Even though she is still using a crutch and has a leg brace, she watched my son for me so I could rest.

This is her holding Addison at his 2nd birthday party earlier this year. You can't really see her, but it's obvious he loves his Nana.

My not-tooth refused to clot for the longest time and so I just continued to bleed and drool. Whenever it would stop, I would quickly eat something so I could take my medicine before it started back again. When I would do the saltwater rinse the doc told me to do, the bleeding would start up all over again. I went to bed and slept maybe four hours due to the fact that I was drooling on myself so bad it woke me up. Isn't that gross? It is.

Today, though, I feel much better. The left half of my face resembles a chipmunk more than a Mommy, but it's not oozing blood anymore so I consider that a fair trade. My mother brought Addison back this morning on her way to her therapy for her leg and what, do you imagine, is the first thing he does?

Yep. Haven't even had him back for half an hour and he grants me such a marvelous gift. It just planted the notion even more firmly in my mind that stay-at-home mom's really don't get sick leave (unless you have an awesome mom like I do who helps you out as much as she can). I am in pain and extremely tired, but I can't just lay around on the couch all day like I want to. I still have to get up when Addison needs or wants something that he can't do himself. I still have to take care of him and play with him and watch him. It's rough.

I am better off than most, I think, because Addison is such a great kid. He's content to play with his cars or puzzles by himself for longer than I think the average two-year-old is and he is generally well-behaved.

I don't know what this post is about now. Ha! I was going to complain about my wisdom teeth, but when I stopped and really thought about it, there's not much to complain about. I have insurance and the ability to have my teeth fixed when I need to, wonderful family members who help me out as much as they can, a great child who doesn't nag me constantly for things when I feel like crap, a sympathetic child who understands that Mommy doesn't feel good and he needs to not yell and throw a tantrum, and a wonderful husband who goes to work five days a week so I can stay home with our boy every day.

It's kind of hard to feel really down about having a swollen cheek and an uncomfortable mouth when I've got so many awesome things in my life.

I hope you all have awesome things in your life, too, because...well...awesome things are awesome. (I'm going to go before I get really profound...)

-Mommy Michelle