Personal Rant

Since I started this blog last November, I’m yet to post anything negative. I’m not a downer, and even if I have something sad or ‘opinionated’ I always put an uplifting or inspiration twist on it.  After all there is almost always a positive lesson to be learned given any substantial struggle.  Even when I braved up and shared with the world my devastating traumas in becoming a parent, I did it to try and help/support other women going through the same hardships.

Unfortunately, there’s no uplifting twist or inspirational back end with my post today. I’m not looking for sympathy either, honestly I’m just ranting to vent and get it out. We all need to release a little steam, right?!

I’m sure you’re all familiar with what a pain in the ass dental care is! My husband and I were each blessed with good healthy teeth. I can count on one hand how many cavities I’ve had in my entire life, and I only had to endure the irritation of braces for two years in my youth. My husbands dental history is very similar to mine. Nice strong healthy teeth…

SOOOOO you’d think my children would have inherited this trait, right? 

…….. WRONG!!!!

Hopefully their permanent teeth are in better shape than their baby teeth, because wow. We’ve really been put through the ringer with the entire dental experience. 

The pediatric dentist we go do explained to me last year (just before the first surgery BOTH of my kids had) that when a mommy has troubles in the second trimester of her pregnancy, it effects the development of her baby’s teeth.

So here’s just a tiny little insight of how my second trimesters went. Trust me, you don’t want to know any more details, my pregnancies were hell!  With my son, I was thrown into pre-labor at 24 weeks. It was a bloody mess (literally) and I spent over 75% of the time on a very strict and tedious bed rest.  I had to be waited on hand and foot for months!  Any one who knows me can tell you how badly I hate being waited on. It drives me insane.

I was injected with all the steroids, pain killers, and labor stoppers medically available.  I even had my incompetent cervix stitched, as that’s where my problems rooted. (sorry if that’s TMI) But, I did it. I carried him through and he only came 4 1/2 weeks early.  He’s now a healthy guy, but his baby teeth are as weak as can be. Last year, a couple weeks after his 4th birthday he was put under and had SIX teeth filled, FOUR teeth capped, and a two month retainer put in to fix his under bite.

Now lets talk about my daughter!!!  My struggles with her pregnancy were much different than my sons, but not any easier. Because we now knew that I had a shotty cervix we took a different rout. My cervix was stitched sooner, I was restricted on physical activity from day one, and I was injected with a weekly shot in the butt to stop the pre-labor. The shots began at the first sign of contractions stronger than your regular braxton hicks. Sadly, I was only 20 weeks. Exactly halfway through is when my struggles began.

So, as if all of the above wasn’t enough, I was also low on amniotic fluid. Because I had to see a special doctor, the drive to his office was nearly 2 hours and I wasn’t allowed to take the trip alone in case I went into hard labor. So I had to be driven like an incompetent child every three days to have my fluid monitored. To make a long story short, every trip was an anxious one as we never knew if they would have to take her that day if my fluid was TOO low. She was even monitored every 3 weeks by a perinatologist (a pre-birth baby doctor) who hooked me up to a whole different set of machines to check her in more depth than what regular ultrasounds have to offer.

Kimber ended up being born 4 weeks early, and as healthy as can be. Thank God! But here we are, baby teeth affected just like her brothers! 

The same day last year that we fixed my sons teeth, we also put my daughter under (do it all in one wack, was our approach!)  It was a couple of months before her 2nd birthday, and even though she didn’t even have all of her teeth in yet, we still had to fix four of them and have an extra muscle removed from her gums!  SCARY!  Talk about a nervous wreck mommy!! It was one of the worst days of my life, to have both of the children that I fought so hard for to be put under anesthetic all at the same time!

AND HERE WE ARE TODAY. 

I spent half of yesterday on the phone with our insurance company, their dentist’s secretary, and two different surgical centers, comparing facility prices and setting up yet another procedure!!

That’s right! Less than a year later Kimber needs work on almost every one of her top teeth!  Her teeth that hadn’t yet grown in the first time around have now grown in fully. They’re shit, with soft underdeveloped enamel, and on top of their weakness, she holds food and drinks on them with her tongue! We can’t let it go any longer because she is in pain, and because if we let it get into the roots then her permanent teeth will be effected.

As much as I hate to say it, NEXT TUESDAY she will be put under yet again for another painful day of dental work. Practically every one of her top teeth will be drilled, filed, filled, wrapped, and coated, giving her a mouth full of porcelain.

So there is it! My RANT is complete, thanks for listening (ish).  Please wish my baby luck as well as my pocketbook as it is sure to suffer dearly! Hopefully we don’t have to do this every single year. Two is enough!!