Happiness is playing peek-a-boo at 4am
Playing with toys in the waiting room before they called him back for surgery.
As usual, he is the center of attention, especially with the grandparents.
Sportin' a stylish hospital gown and socks. He still has no idea what is going to happen. The anesthesiologist came and talked to us for a minute, then took him back to the OR and we went back out to the waiting room to wait.
After the surgery was over, the surgeon came to talk to us and told us everything went very well. Joshua was in the recovery room for a couple of hours. In the mean time, we were able to go to his hospital room and get everything situated for when he would come, and also eat a little lunch.
They finally wheeled him into the room, and as soon as he saw us, he wanted no more of being stuck in his crib. He still had bloody mucus coming out his nose and bloody saliva oozing out his mouth and dried blood crusted in his ears. It was a little gruesome at first. He just needed lots of cuddle time, though. The splints on his arms keep him from putting his hands in his mouth. He is supposed to wear them for the next two weeks or so whenever he isn't being directly supervised by us.
His lips were really swollen, too.
Poor little guy! I think his face says it all. The red sock is covering his IV so he can't pull it out. He was able to drink a mixture of Pedialyte and glucose water, and once he held it down for an hour the nurse said we could start giving him formula. He drank a little, but wasn't really interested in it.
He was pretty agitated when he got to the room, so the nurse gave him some morphine. He slept fitfully for the rest of the afternoon and evening. He didn't like it in his crib because he would wake himself up and start to cry. I held him in the rocking chair for most of the time, and then my mom held and rocked him for a while while Adam and I took a break and went out in search of ice cream.
My cousin Ben and his family live near University Village, which is just down the road from the hospital. They were out of town this weekend and offered their apartment to us if we needed a close place to stay. I was planning to stay in the hospital with Joshua, but Adam is not a fan of hospital pull-out couch/beds and was planning to go to Ben and Cami's house for the night. When it was looking like the only way Joshua was going to sleep was being rocked in someone's arms, we quickly realized I couldn't do it all night by myself. My mom was willing to stay, but Adam decided to tough it out on the uncomfortable bed and stay with me in the hospital. Ben and Cami, we really appreciate the offer of your house, even though we didn't end up using it. Thank you!
After that first dose of morphine, his pain meds included Tylenol with codeine that he got every four hours, and later they started an IV form of Motrin that he got every 6 hours. He finally was able to sleep restfully in his crib at about 9pm and it looked like we were going to be able to get a little sleep after all. He woke up a couple times during the night and each time I would rock him and try to get him to drink a little formula. He would drink an ounce here and there, but not much. When he woke up at 3:30am, things were starting to change. He drank, and kept wanting more until he had drunk 5 ounces. Yay! He was also smiling and playing peek-a-boo after he was done, and I knew my Joshua was back. He fell back asleep until the morning and drank 4 more ounces of formula and ate some baby cereal and some other baby food. His temperament had improved dramatically, as well. He was back to being a busy body, which is a little difficult when you are attached to an IV.
He played in his crib while we waited for his surgeon's resident to come check him out and determine if he could be discharged.
The doctor came around 8:15am, and Joshua was not a fan. I think he recognized the surgical scrubs and didn't want any part of it. It was good in a way, though, because he started to cry and that was just what the doctor needed him to do so he could look in his mouth and check things out. He said everything looked good and since Joshua seemed to be eating fine, we would be able to go home.
We were out of there a couple hours later. We swung by the hospital pharmacy on the way out to get his pain meds and antibiotics. He has Tylenol with codeine for the pain, and amoxicillin to fight against infection, I guess.
I'm really surprised by how well Joshua is handling the recovery process. Yesterday he ate pretty well and was pretty good natured, except when we had to give him his medication. He HATES taking medicine orally. Today, he was a little more grumpy and out of it.
He cuddled like this with Adam for a while, just staring into space. He's not eating as much today, either. I think yesterday he realized he was starving because he hadn't really eaten all day Friday. Now he's not starving anymore and doesn't want to eat very much. I know it's only been two days since his surgery and things are probably still pretty tender in there. I try to get him to drink and much as I can so he can at least stay hydrated. We'll see how things go in the next few days as he continues to heal.
We are so glad he was able to have this surgery to repair the cleft palate and get tubes in his ears. Now he won't have hearing loss and he will be able to eat better and be able to make more sounds as he learns how to talk. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate all the support!!
I am so glad that everything went well and that Joshua is doing better- he looks great so soon after surgery! I understand, though, about a baby not wanting to take medicine- Audra had to take this horrible medicine that tasted like seaweed with her GERD, and the only way we could get her to eat it was mixed with rice cereal or applesauce. That might help Joshua!
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Thanks for sharing with so many pictures and words. It made me feel like I was going through it with you. I am so happy that Joshua is recovering and feeling a little better. He should be a little bit better every day. Modern medicine is a true blessing! Love, Aunt Pam
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He is such a stud. It breaks my heart to see him having swollen lips and tell he's been crying but I am so glad that he is doing so much better now and is almost back to 100%. You guys are awesome parents.
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