His Hat Says: "My First Thanksgiving"
Mesmerized by the Parade
Our turkeys. The one on the left weighs 3lbs more.
A week after Thanksgiving, we went to University Medical Center at 5:30am for Alexander's cleft lip surgery. When we got to our holding room, they gave Alexander a funny hat to keep his head warm. We had two hours to wait for Dr. Rowley to get there. Alexander laid in his bed and listened to Antonio Vega, which always calms him down. We were visited by our anesthesiologist friend, Greg. And then he walked Mommy and Daddy to the waiting room while the nurse took Alexander to meet with Dr. Rowley.
Mom and Dad had it pretty easy compared to the last surgery where the "30 minutues" took 2 and 1/2 hours just waiting in a quiet waiting room. We were expecting about 2 hours this time and had some nice distractions. After the anethesia had set in, they called and we headed down to the cafeteria for breakfast. If you are in the area and have never eaten at UMC, you definitely should. It is great food at a great price. We had some free food vouchers from our lab tech on Tuesday who got Alexander's blood and urine samples all over Jason's pants. Also, since Alexander is a Children's Miracle Network Miracle Kid, they came by to visit and pay for our breakfast. After breakfast, we had more time and went to visit the pediatrician that had help Alexander his first two times in the hospital and who recommend Alexander to Children's Miracle Network. It was great to see her and show off pictures of Alexander. She promised to stop by our room later when we checked in, and she did get to see Alexander in person.
So, we got back to the waiting room and just as I pulled out my Christmas cards and wrote a couple, the phone rang for us. Alexander was in recovery and "wants his mommy." So, we headed down to recovery. This is by far the worst part of surgery days for Mommy. Seeing your baby fresh out of anethesia, still groggy, bloody and obviously in pain, is not an easy thing. I sat and rocked him has he moaned and whimpered. It was also hard because only one parent could be in the "room" at a time. So, I asked the nurse if he could at least come by to see Alexander. I think this was even harder for him because he saw his moaning son for just a second but couldn't do anything about it. Our room on the pedi floor was ready so he went to sit in it alone until Alexander and I could go.
We stayed the night in the hospital. Nana and Bumpa came to visit in the afternoon and had lunch. Children's Miracle Network came to check in with us again. Then people from Jason's office stopped by a couple differnt times and one of Stephani's friends came by too. It was a good night. We took turns sleeping and taking care of Alexander and surprisingly we got quite a bit of sleep. We were home by noon on Friday. Nana and Bumpa said their tearful good-byes at the hospital and headed back to Tennessee. Alexander didn't need any pain medicine the rest of Friday.
Grandma and Grandpa Simpson and Great Grandma Ruby came in to town Saturday for lunch. Grandma Ruby stayed when they headed back to Booker. Grandma Gayle came back on Monday to help out.
His lip looks great, but definitely different. I had to ask him a couple times on Thursday who he was and what he had done with my baby boy. Of course now we are getting use to it and it almost seems like he has always had a lip. At first I was a little sad that his smile had changed and he can't move his upper lip, but now his eyes and bottom lip do all the work and his smile is great! He's been in a great mood. A little different than before with a new schedule and a new way of eating that he is slowly mastering. But, his personality is still great and fun to watch everyday.
We had a great Thanksgiving and now we all have something to be very thankful for. Hopefully, Alexander will be back to sucking for Christmas. All he wants for Christmas is his two hands for his mouth.
No comments:
Post a Comment