More Post-op!

Friends~
Thanks so much for all of your emails and calls! We are finally home after an unexpected hospital stay, although this had nothing to do with Owen's response, but more to do with the caution of our anesthesiologist (she keeps all babies under 5mos. overnight for observation and O is 4 mos). We waited quite a while this morning for the "orders" to go home to come through, as the dr.'s told us we were going home at 7:30am on their rounds, but then went into another surgery forgetting to submit the order that we could in fact head home. Alas, such is life in the midst of a busy hospital! We were very grateful that everyone at Children's was so nice and helpful- the nurses so gentle and supportive of us and the doctors very communicative and understanding- esp. the 2 female anesthesiologists on Owen's case! Our craniofacial surgeon looked like he was going to the circus the morning of the surgery. Brian and I both laughed that he had his "game face" on and when talking with us appeared to have tons of energy and just couldn't wait to get started- the mark of a good surgeon, I suppose, on a Monday morning at 7am! :)

Again, everything went very well- Owen is very swollen and recovery will take a while. He has nasal stints in his nose to hold the shape (one of his nostrils was flattened as a result of the cleft lip and they moved it up a bit) that are supposed to stay in for 4-6 wks., yet he is already frustrated with them and trying to figure out how to breathe with smaller openings in his nose. He did nurse once at the hospital, but hasn't since (they had him on an IV), so we are hoping he will soon begin to nurse regularly and would ask your prayers for that as well.

We will post some pics of our brave, brave boy before surgery as soon as we rest a bit- they woke us every 2 hrs. last night in the hospital to check his vitals and we are all exhausted. Thanks again for your love and care- we are new to this adventure of parenthood and the fact that our heart now walks around outside of our bodies! We are anxious for him to be more comfortable and literally "breathe easier". That is the hardest thing for me- watching him struggle to breathe normally with the stints. Brian struggled yesterday as we heard him screaming and wailing in agony after he woke up and spoke of the pain of that moment. I, rather, was overjoyed to hear his cries, which in my heart meant, "he is awake (my biggest fear was that he wouldn't wake up) and thriving and wants us to know his pain!" ;) I suppose that is one of the beautiful things of parenthood together as married people- one of us holds the other in weakness and those times , thankfully, often don't coincide, but offer us each the opportunity to care and uphold the other. Thank you, too, for upholding our family- we appreciate all of you! In thanksgiving...Megan