Like any newborn who has to have surgery, the anesthesia is usually the scary part. They are just so little and vulnerable. It took him a solid two days to "come back to the other side." He was simply tired and not himself at all during that time. Since hours after waking he was eating pretty well though so we knew he would be ok! We had a scary moment in the middle of the first night when his blood pressure dropped pretty low during sleeping. He was hard to wake up and they were worried about fluid in his brain. This did not last long at all though because provacative tests and labs came back negative of any issue. He was just breathing really slow and still coming off the meds. The waiting area and recovery rooms were the worst. Lots of kids with much more serious issues headed into surgery, brain tumors, heart defects etc. Very scared parents and kiddos. It made us extremely thankful for our reason of being there.
Did I mention how amazing SHANDs is and our surgeon?! She did such a great job! Everyone we met was great. Thanks to close friends the Urbans for knowing a lot of the staff and watching out for us, the care would have been the same anyway I am sure but it was nice to feel looked after! Our surgeon was Dr Ching. We also were assigned to my dear friend Pam as our PICU nurse. But except for being disappointed in not having her as our nurse, we were happy we weren't severe enough for that floor. We ended up on the regular peds floor with a private room...Not tyoical. Again, big thanks to our friends and networking!
So, after a day of recovery from an extremely successful surgery, we head home. The hardest part of recovery is knowing by how fussy your typically happy baby is that he is in pain. He has a hard time eating and cannot nurse yet because of the power and pressure to suck, so pumping only and bottle it is for now. He must wear "no nos" which are arm splints to keep his hands from his face. This reduces chance of infection and also preserves the integrity of the surgery done. Being an OT and hand therapist, it is very hard for me to restrain his hands from all the touching and exploring he should be doing at this time of development...But I know that this is what's best so we continue to splint as directed for two weeks!
We are only 3 days post op and he's about 50% back to himself. We get glimpses of his personality after meds, feeding, and sleep. Some moments caught on the pics below! More to come about post op...But for now we will continue to recover and sleep, wound care, fuss, smile a little, and eat ;)
Doesn't he look amazing?!
