Anesthesia and Me

So today I had the common privilege (common to me) of seeing one of my children go through the “anesthesia metamorphosis”. It is a great experience; one I have come to realize is unique to every child and oddly enough reflects their own “unique” personality. I shall explain:

You see I have in my 5 years of mommy-hood gone through this “metamorphosis” with my children 4 times, yes you read that right, FOUR! I have seen different sides of the “anesthesia metamorphosis” with each child and now with just going through this with Rebekah I truly believe a person can predict the outcome with a child by simply evaluating their (the child's) everyday behavior. The following is an over view of my study with each child.

Name: Brittany
Current Age: 9
Age(s) at time of study: 5
Personality: Quiet, Pleasant, easy going, a “Miss Priss”, and VERY dramatic (no idea who that’s from).
Synopsis of experience(s): We get the call she is out of the OR and the surgery went well, she is starting to wake up. So we file into ICU and peek at her. This is what we see: a “gown” and blankets draped upon the royal bed and in the midst of these “royal” garments we see pale, fragile, weak little Brittany and as she starts to awaken her eyes flutter once, then twice, and yes, yes even thrice, and then she smiles ever so slightly and asks in a low and weak voice for a drink, “yes we shall get it for you is there anything else” the royal nurse subjects ask….”some flowers would be nice” she says with a voice so faint you have to hold your head just right to hear. And that is how we spend the next two days. No drama there.

Name: Justin
Current Age: 8
Age(s) at time of study: 5 & 6
Personality: Goes from sun up till I tie him to his bed at night, loud, Fun loving, and energy like you will never believe.
Synopsis of experience(s): The first time with Justin we get the call that the surgery just ended and we can come back to the recovery room. 10 minutes later, no joke, 10 minutes later we walk back and he is standing beside his bed and the nurses are laughing as he has just told them a joke!! 10 minutes!!! Later we find out the anesthesiologist had to more than double the dose he gives a child of his size!

The second time I was with him when the anesthesiologist started to “do his thing” he asked me what was Justin’s last experience was like, I told him he has a very high pain tolerance and he had to be given WAY more drugs than normal, he scoffed and 4 hours later apologized and said he has NEVER seen it take that long for a child to react! And once again by the time we got to recovery he was sitting up in bed hamming it up with the nurses.

Name: Rebekah
Current Age: 3
Age(s) at time of study: 3
Personality: The queen of Sheba, her way or the highway, Takes her own sweet time, dramatic (NO idea where that comes from!), and a hypochondriac.
Synopsis of experience(s): We get the call that the procedure went well and that we can go back, she is laying in bed like she has a hangover, and is drifting in and out. About 20 minutes later she says “I need you Mommy” so I pick her up and hold her as she continues to “come out of it”. About 30 minutes later she starts screaming and throwing up, this continues for the next 2 hours!! And then like flipping a switch she is fine, ready to go home and move on with life. We do however still experience whines and "clingingness" through out the day.


Yes the “anesthesia metamorphosis” is an incredible thing. I am pretty sure I could just put MD at the end of my name. Yup, this is THE Bethany J. Bennett - MD. Gotta go my editor is calling...

The Evolution of the "To Do List"

I don’t know about some of you but “To Do” lists are the glue that holds me together. They are the Icing to my cake, the jelly to my pb&j, the gas in my tank, the toast to my jelly, and the green olives to my pizza. I feel that without them I would not know what to do. I wake up each day and start thinking about my list, I get excited as I am making it, excited to start crossing things off, and I even find myself putting the mundane things on my list just for the thrill of crossing it off! Yes, you may think me a little OCD, I think that of myself at times as do my husband and children. More so in the past few years than before you see my “To Do” lists have evolved in the past few years; this is the evolution of the “To Do” list…

Typical 2000 to Do List:
~ Go to bank
~Get Milk
~Mail Package

Typical 2004 to Do List:
~Sweep Kitchen Floor
~Take Kids to Play Date
~Get a Massage
~Pick up Package from Post office

Modern Day to Do List:
~Work Out (Time)
~Shower
~Make Bed
~Do Dishes
~Bank
~Groceries (list of them included)
~Post Office
~Sweep Floors ALL OF THEM
~Vacuum EVERY ROOM
~Take (child’s name) to Appt (what appt)
~Wash Laundry
~Put cloths in Dryer
~Fold Cloths
~Put cloths away
~Make Lunch (what I am making)
~ Make Dinner (what I am making)
~Do more dishes
~Put Dishes Away
~Clean off Table
~Face book (just kidding)
~Kids School work
~Plan out Meals For a week On.....you guessed it, another list! ;)
~Dust (what room)
~Call (person’s name)
~Call (another person’s name)
~Call (yet another person’s name)
~Make (such and such)
And so on and so forth….

Ah, yes, the evolution of the “To Do” list is a beautiful thing, sometimes, at times it just makes me feel like I am loosing my mind, hence why some of this is not just merely for the thrill I get when checking it off…it is so that I don’t forget to do it!!! Yes, “To Do” lists are the glue to my craft project, the yogurt to my smoothie, the orange in my O.J., the a in my DAY, and the tooth paste on my tooth brush. It is a beautiful thing! Just thought you should know. Join the ranks of the OCD and make your list today!

Underwear, Caffeine Trucks, and Baseball

I am new to this whole blogging thing and I thought to myself....you don't have enough things to fill your day. I mean its not like being a wife and mother of four, a teacher, a doctor, fitness instructor, a chauffeur, a cook, a referee, a cheerleader, a coach, a house keeper, a mail carrier, bill collector, banker, personal shopper, and a play toy take up that much time, right? So why not start blogging, I need filler in my day. And so here it is, our very own blog. (try to contain your excitement.)

Last Thursday was a day like many others, a day spent trying to convince Rebakah that she is NOT the queen of Sheba, a day spent telling Justin "yes, the answer book IS right and you ARE wrong", and letting Brittany's creative juices flow even though my kitchen pays the price.

One thing I have learned is that I need to find the humor in my day, it helps me stay sane and helps me be a little less of a "fun-sucker" for my kids. Some days it is easy and some day I have to work REALLY hard at finding that moment, last thurdsay it was from start to finish an easy day to find these moments.

It started with Rebekah getting dressed, I told her after breakfast it was time to go get dressed and off she went, 10 minutes later she comes out with a clean pair of jammie's on and no underwear. I told her "Rebekah, it is not bed time go put underwear on and then get dressed in clothes, not jammie's" so she goes off her shoulders slightly slumped with the depressing news she has to wear underwear. I know what a mean mom I am! She came out about 10 minutes later with a her bathing suit on and underwear on top and proudly proclaims to me "See Mommy I am wearing u(mm)erware!" As I stifle the laugh coming up I tell her "Yes I see that but u(ND)erwear needs to be under your clothes and not on top, please go try again." I then receive the lip treatment and the shoulders slumped and she says to me "but I like it this way Mom." she did go back and finally had underwear "under" her pants. Yes, it is a sad day in the royal highness's world when she is told to put underwear on her bottom, a conversation that we have almost daily.

The next moment came when we were driving to Brittany's baseball practice. I was in desperate need of some caffeine so I told the kids I was going to get some coffee on the way. When we came around the building to go though the drive through there was an oil truck filling the tank at the coffee shop. Justin sees this and turns to Michael and says "Oh, that must be the caffeine truck Michael." Yes the caffeine truck came and filled the caffeine so that their poor mom could get an energy boost.

So in short, Praise God for underwear & caffeine trucks! ;)