Recap

So for those who remember, this has been a long and winding road. I started seeing my orthodontist in April 2006 after spending the entire Easter weekend with my jaw locked shut. That combined with my sister having successfully come through braces and jaw surgery spurred me into doing something about my jaw problems. So here's a basic timeline (as best I can remember it) of what we've done to date.

May 2006: Began treatment and received a splint to relax my muscles and improve my bite.
**From my understanding, most people have braces on for about a year, the "big" jaw surgery and then braces on for another year. I was going to need the splint in for as long as it took to improve my bite, surgery to split my pallet and an appliance to gradually widen it, braces for about a year, the "big" surgery, braces of another year or more.

Dec 2006: SURPRISE!! A baby is on the way! No changes in anything for a while (they wouldn't even put the braces on to start the work of straightening my teeth. We continued working the splint, which took until after Isabel was born, in August 2007, to complete anyway.

Nov 2008: Bottom braces go on and appliance for widening my pallet goes in, in preparation for surgery on Dec 19th

Dec 17th, 2008: I catch the mother of all flu bugs and they won't perform my surgery :(

Jan 9th, 2009: Pallet-widening surgery is finally completed. Such lovely bruising:

January 10


January 12


January 17


Jan 2009: Top braces go on. I look like this on my 30th birthday:


March 2009: The appliance came off because my pallet was the right width and healed properly.

April 27, 2009: I go for a routine check with my orthodontist and, just as I had since my surgery in January, confirmed that we were still on course for the "big" surgery in the summer. He looked at me like I had 3 heads and said, "Oh, you are still 6-8 months from surgery. I know I must have looked shocked. Because I am a teacher, my plan was to have the surgery in the summer, which meant that I was still over a year away from surgery because I wouldn't be having it done until Summer 2010.

Heartbroken doesn't begin to describe how I felt. We had plans to have another baby right after I was recovered from surgery. This wouldn't be happening for another 1.5 years. That meant there would be 4-5 years between Isabel and her sibling and we didn't want that. Dave and I spent the better part of the next week talking about this and decided to try for another baby right away. If it happened, great. I would just get them to keep me in a holding pattern for a little while longer and have the surgery at Christmas 2010, weaning the baby early and using some vacation time. If not, we'd stop trying in August-September, go ahead with surgery the next summer and play it by ear.

Well, it did happen right away and on June 2nd, I got a positive pregnancy test. On June 7th, I went in to see my ortho and was surprised and...dare I say irritated...when he said that he was going to put in for a surgery date for July or August. I believe my words were, "I don't think you are." He was visibly annoyed by my news, but what the heck did he expect?!!? I have felt "guilty" for extending this to such a degree many times over the last 2 years, but I refuse to do so anymore. He absolutely brought this upon himself.

Anyway, things with Orin were more complicated than anticipated, so there was no way I was weaning him in December since he had only just started eating solids reliably in November. This meant that surgery was, once again, put off.

July 2011: Here we stand, on the precipice of what I expect will be a lot of pain and a lot of distress for me. I am worried how the kids will react. I've tried to prepare Isabel in a kid-friendly way for the fact that I will be going away briefly and will be at the hospital. I've told her that I won't be feeling well when I get back, so she will have to be *very* gentle with me and I will likely be tired. I am not sure what else to tell her. Orin is still nursing once/day (bedtime...monkey). I don't think our nursing relationship will be able to continue beyond my surgery. I am prepared to try if he is interested and once I am well enough, but I am coming to grips with the fact that this part of our life is probably over. Leaves me a little sad, all in all.

That said, I am told that it will be worth it. I am told that the aesthetic improvements to my face and smile alone will be amazing. I am not really in it for that though; I really just want the headaches and jaw pain and struggles with chewing and even hearing sometimes to be done. *fingers crossed*