A Bouquet of Blessings

BEFORE SURGERY

Delivering the crew!
Our room at the Ronald McDonald House
Kai's amazing surgeon!
Doing pre-op blood tests....looking for a vein, even in his feet.
Found it!!! (Poor baby!)

Feeling better with a good "last" meal, since he'll be having pureed foods for 4 weeks now.

Fun with Disney characters in the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital lobby.

I love that sweet little face....no, not the piggies!

Kai ADORES Mickey Mouse!

Too cute!Outside the hospitalGoing back to the house, right next to the hospital

Pushing the stroller down the hallways of the RM House.
Hanging out on the steps with Daddy.5 a.m. on surgery morning....giggly away with Daddy.
Playing outside the pre-op room before going in
Kai won over the anesthesiologist. Here he is listening to the Drs. heartbeat.
Giggling with Mama before being taken back to surgery
Hmm...does Daddy's elbow have a heartbeat?
Checking out the wiring.

Does the doctor want his stethoscope back? I hope not, I got lots to listen to!
Aaahhh, yes. The good stuff. His big 'ole dose of Versed to make him loopy before going back.
Whoa....who's moving the bed?
The hand off. Daddy had to do it because Mama was gonna cry.

Although, I was having a great time with my new toy.Off he goes. :sniff sniff::


AFTER SURGERY

Shortly after we first saw him

Do they have to touch me?
One of the few moments right after we held him, that he wasn't crying.


Watching Thomas the Train with Daddy....the Tylenol 3 already kicking in.

Well, it's over. It's been rough on our sweet angel, but he is such a trooper. He awoke with us at 5 a.m. and was his normal self, all laughs and giggles. We were at the hospital by 5:45 and in the pre-op room by 6 a.m.

We had taken some of Kai's favorite DVDs so he was entertained for quite a while with those, until the anesthesiologist came in. Kai immediately charmed him into giving him his stethoscope. Right after the doctor handed it to him, Kai (being a smart cookie) put it in his ears and starting to listen to the doctors heart. The doctor kept telling us how adorable Kai was and then pulled out his cellphone for Scott to take a picture of Kai listening to his heart. It really was cute and a great photo op for camera happy Mom.

Kai then proceeded to listen to whatever moved and didn't move (his pillow). Shortly afterwards, we met with the surgeon and Kai was given his much desired cocktail of happy juice. I LOVE seeing him on this stuff...heh. He gets so giddy and cute! Just hilarious. He had everyone cracking up.

About 10 minutes later was parting time. My heart began to race and I gave him to Daddy for the handoff. He quickly turned to me as if to see if I was following, and I just said, "Kai, the doctor is gonna show you something really neat!" He smiled and waved bye and the tears rolled down my cheeks. Scott and I then hung out in the hallway doing a rosary and praying.

The staff here has been wonderful. They called us twice during the surgery to let us know that all was well and that they would be finishing soon. From the time they took him to the time the doctor came out was exactly 2 hours. Much faster than what I anticipated.

I asked the doctor how he was, and he said, "As long as you don't touch him, he's fine." He then told us everything went great and he thinks there will be no issues or complications. I just know that it's because of the huge amount of prayers that have been said for our sweet baby boy. THANK YOU all for storming the heavens with prayers. They were heard. He's not even snoring, much less having breathing problems!!!!! Thank you, Lord for answering our prayers.

That said, he's in a lot of pain. As soon as the Tylenol 3 starts wearing out, the crying begins. At first, he wanted nothing to do with the crib, but after Mama holding him for 5 hours in the same position, I needed to get up since my back was killing me. He reluctantly let Daddy hold him while for about an hour and then I went back and held him again.

He was very uncomfortable and was literally exhausted between the pain and lack of rest. So, I finally decided that although I knew he'd cry a bit, he really needed to rest and wasn't doing that on me, so he had to go in the crib. I promised him I would hold his hand the entire time and not leave him. He pouted a bit, but layed down. Within two minutes, he was sound asleep and slept for about an hour before he awoke with pain.

So, for the most part, he's been in and out of sleep. When he's awake, he's been crying, which is to be expected, but is getting better. I've written this in spurts and am THRILLED to say that just a few minutes ago, I coaxed him into eating a little container of jello and three spoonfuls of chicken broth. Up to now it's only been a sip of water here and there! He's a tough little guy.

Please continue to hold him in your prayers that we don't have any complications, since we really aren't out of the woods yet. If possible, please pray specifically for his palate to remain intact. He will remain in ICU and we'll see how he does tomorrow.

Thank you and God bless,

Ohilda

To my little ones (and big ones) at home.....WE MISS YOU GUYS SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!! Can't wait to see you.

THANK YOU TO MY WONDERFUL, TECHIE HUBBY FOR SETTING ME UP WITH INTERNET SERVICE....AND PICTURES!!!!