Kate-Before & After

Most of you have already heard about Kate's accident on Sunday night, but for those who haven't, here it is.  Kate fell off the couch ottoman.  We immediately knew something was wrong due to the amount of blood in her mouth, her blood curdling screams, and that her teeth were hanging much lower than they used to.  Thanks to a friend who happens to be a pediatric nurse practitioner, we decided not to take her to the ER.  The bleeding had stopped and she didn't seem to be in much pain, but her teeth were very obviously loose.  We went to the dentist first thing in the morning and after an exam and x-rays, he determined that they had been completely ripped away from the roots.  We had a couple of options:

1) Have them re-implanted.  They would likely fuse together and need to be extracted when her permanant teeth came in.
2) Have them extracted.  We had a couple of ways of doing this:
     a) Do it in his office with some novacaine.  It would be quick, but painful. 
     b) Go to an oral surgeon and sedate her.
Since I thought she'd been through enough trauma and I didn't want the dentist to be a place of pain, I opted for the second choice.

We went in for a consultation yesterday.  Bright and early this morning, we went in and she had them removed.  Other than some initial confusion and anger on the way home, she has been fine.  Once the meds wore off, she was up hopping around like usual.  She has enjoyed her non-chewing diet of bowls of chocolate ice cream, jello, popsicles, pudding, and oatmeal.  Hannah has been trying to "break" her teeth all day long because she didn't think it was fair that Kate didn't have to eat a PBJ at lunch or pizza at dinner.  Hannah has very much shared all of Kate's goodies so she hasn't been deprived.

So...what next?  We can just leave the space open or we can look into getting an implant device.  I am going to discuss it with her pediatrician tomorrow and with her dentist again.

For those interested in what Kate's teeth looked like...here they are.  These were pictures from Sunday night. 

Notice Hannah laying on the couch in the background.  She had a 24 hour fever and didn't feel well.

 Pictures from this morning, still a little doped up.

 Probably one of the only times eating ice cream on the couch is acceptable.  The doctor wanted her on the couch for the first 4 hours until the meds wore off.

All smiles.  She cried for a second when I showed her in the mirror, but I think she has accepted it now. 

A lot of you sent texts, e-mails, or commented on facebook and I wasn't able to get back to each of you individually.  THANK YOU!!!  I really appreciate all of the prayers and support.  God has blessed us with a beautiful girl and I am so grateful for His provision.  The night that this happened, I just layed with her and thanked God that my daughter had teeth to begin with.  Many moms around the world worry about their children's teeth falling out due to malnutrition.  My child fell off the couch (another blessing) and had an accident.  It happens.  Life goes on.  We are so blessed to have dental and medical insurance and that we have options!