Teeth Trouble

We took Olivia to her first dentist appointment back in January. It was supposed to be just a normal cleaning with nothing exciting to report. Well her dentist noticed her back teeth looked like they were breaking down. After feeling like the worst mom in the world, the dentist assured me that it was nothing I did or didn't do, she just had weak enamel on her teeth. They compared it to using chalk...the more you use it, the more it wears down. The dentist told me that it was just the way her teeth formed, and they are not sure why. Now this does not mean we will have the same problem with her permanent teeth. We then took her to a pediatric dentist, and they told us that we needed to have her teeth capped, and because of her age, she needed to be put out completely. We decided to have a second opinion because we weren't totally OK with that option. We went to a second dentist who told us the same thing except he gave us another option of doing it in the office where she would have two separate visits, and she'd be under a local anesthetic & laughing gas. We were pretty conflicted about what to do. After lots of prayer and discussion, we decided to put her under. We felt this was the best option because Olivia is almost always happy, but she definitely has a stubborn streak. The dentist's office called me and told me that our insurance didn't cover the hospital visit, (which is strange since I had three kids in a hospital!) so we'd have to do it in the office after all.

Her first appointment was awful. There were lots of tears and resistance. I had to physically hold her down and fight back tears myself. I was not looking forward to having to do that with her again, so I told Jason he had to do round 2 with her. Today we went back to the office for her second appointment. She chose me (again!) to go back with her, and I of course obliged. She did great! There were still tears, but no resistance at all! Olivia was so brave and we are so proud of her! She got some special presents from Mom & Dad, those really made her happy. You can't go

wrong with a Princess doll and chapstick! :)

It was really hard for me to sit there and see my child in pain and know that there was nothing I could do about it. I had to totally give it up to God, and know that she was being protected by Him.

It also really made me think of how God must have felt to watch His only child suffer and die for me. From the bottom of this mommy's heart, I thank God for his sacrifice, and also for keeping my baby safe today!