How the heck did my mom survive the 3 of us?

My 20 year old had surgery yesterday for a torn ACL. Yes, for those of you paying attention, I did just write "20 year old". For the super-sharp, I was 19 going-on-20 when I had him in a short-lived marriage. (When I think about the age I had him and the age he is now, it gets quite scary!) 

This is the second time in 6 years he has had this surgery; guess he wanted to even out both knees. My mother jokingly told me the first time "at least he waited until his teenage years before hurting himself too much." Or maybe that was when he had to have stitches in his elbow... Either way, she's right - my first injury-related hospital trip was around 1 years old when my naughty older brother distracted her while I managed to break a Coke bottle and slice my pinky. Teamwork fail. Not a big deal though since the doctor informed her my pinky was too small for stitches and instead cleverly used butterfly band-aids to hold everything together. I waited till I was 2 before actually needing stitches.

Even though I have previously dealt with this surgery with him before and he went through it well, I still got butterflies in  my stomach while sitting in the waiting room. Not too bad, but still, you always worry. Not enough to freak you out, but enough to realize you need to think positive thoughts. Or distract yourself. Of forget to eat and let your tummy rumble really loud so you get weird looks from other people. 

It helped that we all had a light mood prior to the surgery. He is great at making people laugh. Even better when he is given loopy meds. Everyone will be sure to tease him for a long time with some of his ramblings. 

My mom gets very nervous when anything goes wrong with any of us - which is ironic since she never tells people when something is wrong with her. Likewise, I get very nervous when something happens to my "baby". He's fine now, but I guess the cliche is true, they are always your "baby boy" or "baby girl". He let me take care of him, which made me feel better. By this afternoon, he was doing MUCH better already. By his request, we stopped at the game store today while he hobbled on crutches. 

And now I am starting all over again with my incredible husband. We are that rare couple that checked in with each other on the whole "having kids" discussion when we first started dating. Was a weird convo at the time, but I am so glad we did. Took a lot of pressure off knowing where we both stood and the complications we would face. 

But starting over is scary. I see my IVF blog friends writing about NICO and I get nervous. I see my close friends whose baby made his appearance at 25 weeks and I wonder how they seemed so blissfully calm. Nothing is scarier than a sick child. I guess it's one of those things everyone handles differently, and for me I have to not let the worry creep in too much. Just stay logical and calm. Actually, now that I think about it, I handle these things well. I'm guessing most people do when it really comes down to it.

To all of you parents out there - this hat tip is for you. *tips hat*  

Now I need to go hunt down an awesome Mother's Day gift...