My newborn needs help

On the morning of the procedure we arrived at the hospital very early in the morning. A nurse showed Sophie her bed, and wrote her name in big letters above it - which delighted her. We were told we could play with Sophie until 9:15am, when we had to change her into her own pyjamas and put on a clean nappy.

At 9.30am my husband carried Sophie down to the theatre. A nurse and I went with them. I found it hard not to be able to go into the theatre but I was pregnant and I was told that if the anaesthetic couldn't be administered by drip, gas would be used instead, and that could prove a risk to the unborn baby. I said a cheery bye-bye to Sophie, gave her a kiss and she went happily into the theatre with her daddy while I shed a few tears outside.

When my husband returned with the nurse they both said that Sophie had been very calm, while having the drip inserted (so I could have gone in after all), chatting to the surgeon and his team. We waited about half an hour on the ward and then went to the recovery room where we found Sophie half sitting up, playing peekaboo with a nurse. A porter wheeled Sophie back to her bed, where she asked for a drink. The nurses bought her an orange squash, which she gulped down and asked for more.

The nurse suggested she try some food. We opted for rice crispies which Sophie devoured although she did struggle with biting her tongue. We checked Sophie wasn't wobbly on her feet and she went off to play with some toys and seemed very happy. At 1pm the nurses said she could go home and told us to give her pain-killers from then on. We came home feeling very tired; Sophie, however, was full of energy.

Today, Sophie is like any other happy, little girl. She eats normally and speaks well. She loves to show us her tongue and happily pokes it out of her mouth as often as she can. It can take several weeks for an older child to learn to poke her tongue out fully and I know when she does I will take a whole roll of film. I am so proud of her and happy that we managed to have the procedure done. It was her right after all.