Recovering

Thing 2 had surgery this morning due to being born with chordee. We were supposed to be scheduled for the 1st surgery of the day as he is so young but someone scheduled a baby who is 1 month younger, so we ended up with the second surgery spot. The Mr. woke Thing 2 up at 11pm so that he could have one last bottle before midnight. I was concerned that Thing 2 would be cranky and crying due to hunger this morning as he is used to eating at 6am every day. He ended up being fine. No crying whatsoever.

When we arrived at the hospital at 7:15 for an 8:50 surgery time, we found that the first child that was scheduled never showed up. All of the staff must have been quite upset about this as we heard about it from everyone, even the desk staff. I was also quite upset about it as I was originally promised the first surgery spot. I told them that they could have called us and we would have been in sooner. I even called the office yesterday to voice my upsettedness (is that even a word?) at being bumped to the second surgery spot!

Anyway, since the first appointment didn't come in, they were quicker to get Thing 2 into surgery. The Mr. even went back to the operating room as they were putting Thing 2 to sleep. About 1 hour after The Mr. arrived back to the waiting area, the doctor came to tell us that Thing 2 was out of surgery, everything went well, and one parent was allowed to go and see him. Again, I had The Mr. go back. I'm not very good with these things. I learned that when I went through this same surgery with Thing 1. I would have been a wreck and not much of a caring parent to Thing 2. I did go back in the recovery area about a 1/2 an hour after The Mr. did. Thing 2 was doing well. He was very gassy and grumpy but recovering nicely. By 10:15 we were on our way back home.

Thing 2 has been doing well at home. He slept away the morning but woke up to have some Tylenol, formula, and oatmeal and then played for a little while before going back down for another nap. He has also had quite a bit of apple juice. Normally, I wouldn't give him the apple juice but he needs to have the fluids and the apple juice will also give him sugar (& doesn't go bad within an hour!). Tomorrow he will probably be back on to his normal eating pattern.

There has been a lot of differences between this surgery for Thing 2 and the one we went through with Thing 1. The surgeries were slightly different but the atmosphere and the friendliness of the hospital staff was so much different. Thing 1 had his surgery at Hartford Hospital, which is a good hospital, but the atmosphere sucked. We were put into a waiting room with other parents whose children were having surgery and we were not allowed to leave the area for more than 15 minutes at a time. (And let me tell you, it took almost 15 minutes to find the cafeteria). This hospital was much more comfortable and welcoming. We could leave to go to the cafeteria to get something to eat and come back to the waiting room without having to check in and out with hospital staff. We were given a pager so that if the staff needed us they could page us back to the desk. The nurses were very friendly and helpful as were the doctor and anesthesiologist. We couldn't have asked for better care.

It was still difficult to sit in the waiting room while my baby was in surgery but the atmosphere made it so much easier. I also knew my limits and didn't try to push myself to do something that would make me breakdown in tears. Occasionally I felt that maybe I wasn't being a good mother because I didn't sit with my child while he was drifting off to sleep before surgery or because I didn't go back to the recovery area first. I know, though, that I would have just gotten very emotional and wouldn't have been much help to my child. I am much better off when he has recovered a little (even if only a half an hour) and has calmed down. This way I can be the parent that he needs.