A Day at the Dentist. Part Two.

So, the day started like this:

As soon as I was finished getting ready (around 7:30am) I plopped Cami, half asleep, in her car seat so I could make an early morning Kroger run to get some change for parking. I decided to get me some breakfast from McDonalds too, since I knew I wouldn't have time to eat otherwise. Cami and I got home around 8:15 and I fed her. She finished around 8:30 and so I had 5 minutes to run around and get everything she'd need to go to Katie W's. Got to Katie's at 8:45 and it was one of the hardest things to turn around and leave my Cami with someone other than my Mom for the first time. I wanted to cry. I didn't really have time to waste though, so off I went. I got down to the school as fast as possible, found a relatively close parking spot on the street, and magically made it up to the 2nd floor of the Dental School by about 9:05. Blair was using me as a competency, so I couldn't be more than a few minutes late.

Blair got started by numbing me up. Surprisingly, this didn't hurt hardly at all. I've always been good with needles and shots and stuff, but I thought this would be a lot harder. Next was putting a rubber dam on my mouth. He wasn't kidding when he had told me how much of a pain those things are to get on. I think it was especially difficult that the tooth he was working on was way in the back on the top (#2 I think...). Anyway, it kept popping off and it took roughly 15 minutes just to get that done. When you only get 2 hours to finish a competency, those 15 minutes are crucial. Anyway, then the drilling began. Oh how I learned to hate the drill. See, my tooth had quite the cavity in it, and as Blair got closer and closer to the pulp of the tooth, I started to be able to feel the drilling. It felt like a stinging feeling like when your teeth are sensitive and you bite down on something really cold. Blair was getting super stressed as he kept having to drill more and more and get closer and closer to the pulp. Had he pulped it, I would have needed a root canal. From what I hear, that's no fun.

Since he was doing a competency, after every step, he had to send me to be checked off by the faculty. SO I had to make the trek across the two clinics WITH a rubber dam on my mouth (I wish I had had my camera...those things are pretty crazy looking). I did that 4 times during the course of the visit.

I have to say that the whole time, the hardest thing was sitting there watching the clock, counting the hours since the last time Cami ate, and thinking how she must be screaming. I was so anxious, and so it took a lot of effort to not feel a little clausterphobic with that rubber dam on. To cut this story a little short, Blair finished right at 12:00. He went over on his time by like...20 minutes, and so he should have failed his competency. Luckily, the faculty that were passing and failing decided to cut him a break since it was a hard tooth and cavity to work on, and passed him anyway. I would have been just a little bit mad at them if they hadn't.

As soon as I possibly could, I called Katie to check on Cami. When she answered, and I didn't hear Cami in the background, I was way suprised. She told me that Cami had been perfect (if you lied, Katie, Thanks...). I was so relieved, but still couldn't keep myself from speeding on the way home. I think I missed her 10 times more than she missed me. She probably forgot all about food when she had Anna and Luke to watch and listen to. It made me wonder if she'd be an easier baby if she had brothers and sisters. (She can be kinda needy as far as attention goes...maybe cause I give her too much? Nah...) So as soon as she saw me, and I started to put her in her seat, it was like she remembered that she was way past due for a feeding. She cried all the way home (which was luckily only a few minutes drive) and I fed her as soon as we got home.

While my trip to the dentist was definitely not all that fun, I really appreciated being able to experience a little bit of the stress that Blair goes through so often. I'm sure not every day and every procedure is that stressful, but now when Blair comes home from a hard day saying "Today was really stressful," I have more of an idea of what he actually means. I'm just so grateful that he's the one doing it, and that I can just be at home playing with Cami all day.