Bye-bye Bubbas!

(We still have to celebrate one more time and then I'll try to get a Christmas recap post done.)

As you know, we have been trying to get rid of Isaac's bubba (pacie) for a while now. When I say try, I really mean we've meant to try:) Every time we say we're going to take it away, he gets sick or something else happens and we feel too bad taking it away. This has been going on for 2 years now!

I took him to his first dentist appt this week and it wasn't good. He doesn't have any cavities, but his mouth has already been damaged from the darn pacie. His palate is not forming right and his teeth are spaced/coming in all wacky. The dentist also said that his speech is being affected (which we already knew) and so has his swallowing. Yikes! He also is very "oral defensive." Anything they put into his mouth, he immediately tried to suck on. (I have noticed this when I brush his teeth, but never thought it was because of his pacie.) He'd open his mouth for a second when they asked, but then he was back to sucking on their tools and fingers. Double yikes!

So Dr Steve had a discussion with Isaac about getting rid of his bubbas. He got so sad. His little lip came out and tears were in his eyes. He didn't start crying until we were leaving the building. Talk about making me want to cry! Poor baby! But, I knew that this was the perfect time to get rid of them since Dr Steve told him they were "breaking his teeth."

When we got home, we gathered up all the pacies we could find. (I know there are a bunch more that we couldn't find.) He wanted to take a picture of them and then we "mailed" them to his buddy Baby Tristan. He was actually okay with it, but my parents were still in town so that was a good distraction. The first night went okay. It took forever for him to fall asleep and he was up several times, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. He was thrilled the next morning then Baby Tristan "mailed" him back a new DS game. I really thought we may be in the clear.

He started getting a little stuffy on Tuesday and by the evening he was coughing. I never would have taken the pacies away on Monday if I had known he was going to get sick! Tuesday night was pure misery. He just could not settle down because he didn't have his pacie to sooth him. It was like he was a drug addict withdrawing from his drug (pacie). He was screaming, sweating, shaking, inconsolable, wouldn't let me touch him, yelling for his bubba, etc. It serisouly broke my heart. I wanted so badly to give it back to him, but we already went through the whole thing about Baby Tristan and I knew if we gave it back to him, we'd never be able to get rid of it. It was a LONG night to say the least. I don't think we slept for more than 30 minutes at a time and then he'd be up, realizing he didn't have a pacie and start the whole screaming/shaking stuff again.

He was much more sick yesterday (croup cough and lots and lots of snot). He wouldn't take a nap though because he wanted his bubba. I dreaded putting him to bed because we were all exhausted and I didn't want to repeat the night before. But, it acutally went really well. It was probably due to the fact that he was completely exhausted or he was knocked out from the Benadryl I gave him. He woke up a few times, fussed, but then put himself back to sleep. He still has his maymee (blanket) and now snuggles with a stuffed "ducky" as well. Although he seems like he's feeling worse today, so we'll see how tonight goes.

(Disclaimer: I always give him Benadryl when he has a cold now because I have noticed that when I do, he hasn't gotten ear infections. So, I didn't just give it to him to knock him out...although maybe I should have thought of that Tuesday night! However, now that I know he can sleep without his bubba, maybe the thought has crossed my mind to keep giving Bendaryl to him every night until he's consistently sleeping through the night without it. HA!)