Caden's Surgery

It's done! Caden got tubes last week and we are VERY hopeful for a season of happy days! We are praying now that every virus that he picks up will no longer turn into a secondary bacterial infection and that this normally happy little boy will have even more smiles on his face. AND...now Mommy doesn't have to feel guilty about taking the paci away or working on getting rid of the thumb sucking addiction. 

Up until a few days before surgery, he only got to use his paci at naptime and bedtime, but the day of surgery I let him have it as much as he wanted. Therefore, the paci wound up in all of the pictures :-( He did not care for the gown at all and kept pulling on it saying, "Off!" but other than that, he had a great time playing with all of the new toys and entertaining himself with games on Mommy's phone.

Daddy getting some cuddle time in pre-op

I was able to go with him to the OR and stay until he was asleep which I have to admit was not easy to see. But I made it without tears until I walked out of the operating room and into the post-op room. Ben and I waited in the post-op room a total of 3, yes 3!, minutes until Dr. Herrmann came out to tell us that everything went great and they would be sending him in momentarily. When he did come in, he was still asleep. As soon as they started checking vitals he began to wake up, though. And, Oh My, was I unprepared! The nurses had informed us that he would wake up fussy and irritable. I was prepared for fussy and irritable, not angry and violent. My sweet little baby woke up hitting and yelling. As I held him, trying to calm him down, he continued to hit and scream. I did everything I knew to soothe and distract him and after about 15 minutes he eventually calmed down enough to drink something and eat a snack. Throughout this, I somehow didn't lose it, but was on the verge of tears the entire time simply because I was at a loss as to how to console him and I hated seeing him so upset. Every time the nurses walked by, they kept telling us that this was normal behavior and not to be concerned, but the emotional Mommy in me had a difficult time reminding myself of that in the midst of it all. Thankfully, as soon as he ate something, we were able to leave and by the time we got down to the car, my normal little boy had returned. As we were leaving, the nurses complimented us on the way we handled Caden throughout his episode. Ha! If they only knew what had been going through my mind, they wouldn't have said that. But it was nice to know that I appeared to have been keeping it together. Whew, what an experience! Hopefully, Caden will not have to go under anesthesia again, but if there is a next time I will at least know what to expect.

Now, maybe we can get back to regular life again! Here's to hoping for lots of fun new posts!