Braces at three?

Oops, she did it again. I don't know if I have the most accident prone children or what. I've still never had stitches (outside of surgery) or any major accident, but my children just seem to love whacks, bonks and bumps! Saturday, Aubrey ran full speed into my closet, tripped over a shoe and smacked her face on the shelf. The worst thing is, I was putting on my makeup and saw it all happen in the mirror. It was awful. I scooped her up and she was a bloody mess. Her bottom lip was split in four places and her front tooth was up in her gum and bent all the way facing the back of her throat. It was really sick. Her mouth was full of blood and white chips. I thought she shattered all her teeth! Luckily (sort-of) the white bits were pieces of the shelf! We had Dr. Mattinson (an awesome dentist in our ward, and a good friend of Ben's) come over to our house to check her out. (Ben and I were in a heated battle over whether or not we needed to rush her to the Urgent Care or not, we settled on agreeing with whatever Mattinson said). He said we need to wait and see what happens with the tooth and they won't stitch lips so that'll just have to heal. My poor baby. Her top lip started to swell. By Monday morning her top lip was very swollen and her nose was HUGE! I called my dentist and he said I have to take her to a Pediodontist. I took her to Dr. Wall in Syracuse. (I know it's not a direct reflection of his work, but he did have a really cute office that was painted in Dr. Suess. All the techs wore matching scrubs in Suess colors and the office was very fancy and kid friendly, I was impressed). He x-rayed it and said it was pretty bad and needed to be worked on tomorrow. So, Tuesday we went back and they put my little darling under. First, they gave her a shot that separates the brain from the body. It totally sucked. I was holding her in my arms and her little eyes glazed over and started to twitch. She was awake, but totally non-responsive, I hated it. I don't have medical bravery and I thought it was really sick. When they took her from my arms to give her the IV and start the procedure I was just sick. It was so awful to see her carried away from me. I don't know how people with kids with really serious medical problems do it. I knew everything would be fine, but it made me queasy. When I saw her again she was laying on a beanbag (picture). The dentist had "saved" her tooth, did something with the nerve and vein and bent her tooth back to place. He also had to bond the tooth to the other teeth so that it heals in place. To do this, he glued a wire from K9 to K9. (she basically has braces). Braces aren't cute on anyone and she looks kind of funny, but it'll have to do. She only has to have them for six weeks.

When we came home from the dentist I wanted her to look in the mirror. She never would, she was just too tired and worn out. I asked her many times to come and look (because I didn't want her to be scared and I wanted to be there to explain what the doctor did). She never wanted to see. My neighbor Lisa and her girls Grace and Ava brought over some puzzles and a mylar balloon for Aubrey. Aubrey was playing with the balloon and turned it over to the silver side. When she saw her reflection she joyfully exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, I have sparkly teeth! Mom look! Holy Cow! How'd they do that? My teeth are so sparkly!" Much to my relief she seems thrilled with her new look. (I'm sure I'll have to remind her of the thrill of sparkle teeth when she is thirteen and gets the real thing). So, for now, my sweet little rambunctious three year old has braces! Joy.

The cute dentist office. My sweet baby totally knocked out after surgery. (so does it mean I'm a bad mom because I took a bunch of pictures with my camera phone when I was bored waiting for her to wake up?)Wow! Look at those awesome sparkly teeth!