Today Dominic, our four year-old, had to be put to sleep. No, like you put a pet to sleep, but sedated with anesthesia so some dental work could be done.

Vickey had him at the dentist in November/December for an exam and then an appointment to fill some cavities. But Dominic wouldn’t sit still for the dental work. Even with Novocain and laughing gas, he couldn’t stand the drill.

And who can blame him? I think being a dental patient is an unnatural experience. (No offense, dentist friends.)

Since Vickey’s teaching junior high school, the job of taking Dominic to the dental office to be knocked out and worked on fell upon me.

The anesthesiologist had me hold Dominic’s legs and arms while he gave him a shot in his hip. A nurse also distracted him with a jar full of toys. But once the shot happened Dominic started screaming and trying to hit and kick all of us. That kid sure doesn’t have a very high threshold for pain.

Within just a couple minutes Dominic fell asleep and was carried into the dental chair where his work is being done as I type. He has seven cavities that are being filled. I think he inherited his mother’s teeth, or at least oral bacteria.

All this to preserve baby teeth? Good grief!

And, although we have insurance through Vickey’s employer, we’re still out of pocket a heafty sum for this little procedure. Health care is certainly expensive.

So, back to the title of my post: What to do while your kid’s unconscious?

It is weird, as a parent, knowing your child is unconscious. It’s the first time since we’ve had kids that either of them has been totally unconscious.

Dominic was kind of in and out when he broke his left femur, but even when they put a cast on him he wasn’t knocked out with anesthesia. And yes, that experience was far more traumatic for me as I was there trying to console him while he was in so much pain. Then I had to deal with the police and social workers in Henderson who assumed, incorrectly I’ll add, we were guilty of child abuse. That was quite an ordeal (which you can read about here if you’re interested).

Rather than fret and worry, which I’ll leave to Vickey, I brought my work with me and have been very productive while they’re working on Dominic’s teeth.

In fact, I just took a call from a new client to make arrangements to begin our work together. Good. Now we can pay for Dominic’s dental work!

I’m sure the rest of my day will be spent caring for a sleepy, perhaps grumpy four year-old. Won’t that be fun?

And since he’s been fasting since last night at 10 a.m., I’m certain he’s going to want to eat something, a lot of something, at some point today.

Shortly after we arrived today, the pediatric dentist’s 7 a.m. patient was carried out by her father, still pretty sound asleep. It’ll be interesting to see how sleepy Dominic is after the procedure.

I’ll let you know how it goes.