Thor's Procedure

Aside: I've noticed that my posts have changed from all beginning with "my" to beginning with "Thor's ___." See what becoming a mother again does to a person?

Thor and I were having trouble with breastfeeding. The problem obviously was not that he wasn't getting enough food. But suffice it to say that there was considerable pain involved in the process. He was diagnosed with tongue tie. The best way to stop the problems was to snip the piece of skin holding his tongue down. Yeah, I know, ouch.

So yesterday I took him to Dr. Agarwal, a pediatrician that specializes in children's mouth problems, including tongue tie. I was asked to wait in the waiting room. Dr. Agarwal numbed Thor's tongue area with a shot, snipped the skin and cauterized it. Thor screamed bloody murder the whole time--I'm not even sure how the procedure was finished with that much screaming.

There was only one person in the waiting room with me--a cute boy about 14 years old. I just stared at some brochure about the national poison control hotline, the two of us listening to Thor howl, until the nurse called me back into the room.

Dr. Agarwal was trying to show me Thor's tongue, but Thor would have no more to do with him and I was so focused on calming Thor down I wasn't listening to him anyway. Nursing Thor helped soothe him and I could tell a difference right away.

When I finally walked out of the room, the 14 year old boy was in the hallway. "He's just a little guy," he observed, probably wondering how such a little guy made as much noise as he had heard earlier. I must have looked distraught with the memory. "Here, let me get that," he said as he opened the door to the waiting room for us. And then he ran ahead to the door leading out of the office and held that one open as well. "Have a good weekend," he said in parting. I'll never forget that boy and how he intuitively picked up on my stress. And how he kindly did what he could to alleviate it. I hope I raise a son like that.

Thor had a rough night--I just think he was traumatized, not hurting. This morning he is his normal self, laughing and talking his head off. Time will tell if the procedure was worth it.