Pillow Talks with Nurse Nancy

By Guest Blogger: Nurse Nancy

A trip to the dentist

‘There was never a child so lovely, but his mother was glad to get him asleep.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Look Mommy! Look Mommy!” yelled Sarah as she rounded the door to the kitchen. “Look at what” I said as I crouched down to her level.

“My tooth, my tooth, it’s coming in!” she said.

Sure enough there was the first sign of a new tooth.” We have been waiting a long time for this.” I said and Sarah nodded her head. As Sarah jumped up and down in excitement I could not help but reflect back onto what could have been a traumatic and expensive chapter in Sarah’s and our family’s lives.

Sarah has been independent from the start. One day when she was nearly two, I was working in the kitchen when I heard Sarah crying from the next room, where she and her brother Michael were playing. I checked on her and discovered she had hurt her mouth from a fall, but there was no sign of an injury. I comforted her for a bit and then sent her on her way to play hard again with her brother Michael. The next morning I discovered part of her lower front tooth was missing; it had fallen out in her sleep. A quick call and an afternoon spent getting to the dentist found that there was nothing to do at this time. I could only wish this was the end of the story.

After her third birthday Sarah once again came to me. “Mommy, my mouth hurts,” she said. With a little poking and prodding a small abscess was found at the root of her chipped tooth. It was very sore. The dentist confirmed my suspicions that the root had been damaged and the tooth would have to be removed. The dentist said she would try extracting the tooth in the office, but that many children Sarah’s age were unmanageable in the chair. If Sarah would not cooperate the tooth might have to be removed in the hospital under anesthesia. As a nurse I knew that with anesthesia and surgery there would be increased risk of complications for Sarah, and I wanted to avoid surgery if at all possible. Knowing that hospital visits associated with dental procedures were not covered by our insurance helped with the urgency of making sure Sarah became the perfect patient. How could I possibly tame an energetic 3 year old for such a procedure?

At this point in our family’s life I had been successful at getting our children through many situations by talking to them in their sleep. But this was just the beginning of my development with the Pillow Talk methodology. There were questions. Could it work on such a stressful situation? Could it work with needles, pliers, and grinders involved? Could it work in such a foreign and strange environment to Sarah? I could not think of any other solutions so it was going to have to work. This was going to stretch my creativity and ability to new limits.

I spent the whole next day working on what and how I would talk to Sarah the next couple of nights. Each night I went to Sarah in her sleep and used carefully planned words to assist her with the visit. These words were directed not only for a calm visit, but also at the problem of excessive bleeding. I gave my best Pillow Talks ever. The appointment was two days away, so testing the number of nights to give a Pillow Talk would have to be at two.

I took a heavy sigh as Sarah was called to the dentist chair. In the back of my mind I knew that even if the Pillow Talks didn’t work this time that I would handle the time and expense involved with a hospital visit. And, most procedures with anesthesia go without any problems.

Sarah walked in and sat down with great confidence. She was so brave through her whole appointment. She gave one small whimper for a moment when she saw the needle, but she sat still and behaved very well. When the dentist was done, she put a cotton ball where her tooth had been and told her to keep it there tight. She then commented that Sarah had been one of her best patients and the procedure went flawlessly. Getting out of the chair, Sarah dropped the cotton from her mouth, there was only a speck of blood on it, and she had absolutely no other bleeding. I didn’t want to make a show in the office, but in my mind I was jumping up and down like a child yelling “YES, YES!” I knew then that I must share the secrets of Pillow Talk.

I share this moment with Sarah’s and my family’s life to demonstrate the power of words and expectations delivered while a child sleeps. I have documented it well in my book Pillow Talk: Loving Affirmations to Encourage and Guide your Children so you can repeat my results. I hope you can see the impact Pillow Talk can have in your life for your child.

I thank Steve Diamond for understanding the importance of Pillow Talk and getting the word out. I hope you enjoyed my guest blogging, and that I have opened your mind to the power of words.

For more information on Pillow Talk, including research information on sleep suggestions and the 5 step method of delivering a successful Pillow Talk (STARS), go to http://www.NurseNancyTalk.com.

PS. I love to hear your success stories.