Motherhood…Unprepared

Today was our 6 month family dental visit. I cannot express how much I hate the dentist, because there are not enough words for it. Back in the day, I had the first 6 teeth (3 on each side) of my upper jaw crowned. In a series of dental visits, I had six teeth ground down to little vampiric points and then had caps cemented on. This was in 1987-88. It was the most horrible experience ever in the world, ever. Now, every time I have to go to the dentist, I tense up and get nauseous. Maybe I’m just a wimp, because I’ve never even had a cavity, but after dealing with all the filing down - the high-pitched whine, the smell of burning TEETH, the blood - just the smell of the office makes me cringe.

Luckily, 2 of my 3 kids don’t mind the dentist too much. They don’t really complain, they’ve never had a cavity. They don’t love it and don’t want to go, but they just do it. Henry, on the other hand, does not much care for the dentist. People coming close to his mouth make him crazy. If you’ve ever seen mink mate…..yeah. His body kinda does that. So, I go in with him and I’m kneeling by the chair just talking to him calmly, trying to restrain his arms and baby is NOT having it. The hygenist can’t even really see in his mouth. They’ve never really cleaned his teeth, just looked at them & counted them and that. But he wants nothing to do with anybody at all today. Finally, I decide to have him sit on me. So, I get in the chair, and wrap my legs around his legs like a sloth on a branch, use my left hand to restrain his hands & arms and use my right hand to hold his head steady. It’s literally taking all my strength and patience. The whole time, he is CRYING and saying, “Let me go” in Henry-speak. Snot’s running down his face, he sounds like he’s choking on his own saliva and my inner thighs are majorly peeved.

Thankfully, the doctor came in quickly & checked him and then let us go. He was a complete mess. His face was splotchy red with snot everywhere and he’s looking at everyone in the room and, if we could have understood him, he totally would have been swearing at us. I took him back out to the waiting room where we found his favorite book in the world  - “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”  and read it 4 times before it was my turn. My mom was there & decided to take him back to my house while I and the other 2 finished up.

No cavities, praise the Lord, for anybody. Steven needs sealants next month, but otherwise, we’re good for 6 more months. I’m going to need that time to recover. Sheesh.

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