Short version:
Surgery went well - no complications. The hospital staff was lovely. Recovery is hard.
Long version:
It turns out that it was safe to breastfeed Conrad at 3am. So we sleep nursed from about 3-3:30. I tried to get him as full as possible, so he wouldn't be starving by the seven o'clock surgery appointment.
We arrived at St. John's Health Center at a couple minutes past 5 o'clock. There were a lot of grim faced adults in the surgical waiting room. I felt sad that Doug couldn't be there with us. (It's hard to find child care for our other kids at such an early hour.) I was pretty emotional and anxious, but tried to behave like a "normal" person.
Conrad slept cozily in my Beco carrier through the hour in the waiting room and fifteen minutes in the pre op room. Finally the nurse made me wake him up and change him into his hospital gown. He played happily for some time with the tiny TV that was affixed to the hospital bed. I met with the anesthesiologist (Dr. Rho), both surgeons (Miller and Grogan) and the OR nurse that would be with him during the procedure. Everyone was absolutely wonderful. I am pretty sure that the OR nurse was an angel. She was so sweet and lovely with him.
The pre op nurse gave him some oral sedative, and after Conrad was really relaxed we made the long walk down the hall to the surgical suite. I was holding him, and Dr. Rho said it was time for me to hand Conrad to him. He went into the doctor's arms completely willingly. I kissed my baby and then went next door to the waiting room.
I chatted with a nice lady whose husband was in for cataract surgery. Finally (after about an hour and a half) Dr. Miller (the ENT specialist) came out and told me that things went well. He said the hardest part of the surgery was getting the IV in his chubby little arm. Dr. Rho couldn't do it, so Dr. Miller took over and made it happen. Soon Dr. Grogan (the orthopedist) came out and made his report. He said Conrad was awake and fine and that everything went great. Now I just had to go back to the recovery room.
When I got to recovery, Conrad was sound asleep with an oxygen mask on. They said he had woken up, but he didn't look "awake" to me. Sara, the incredibly sweet OR nurse, said that he didn't cry one bit as he fell asleep, and that she had never been with a sweeter baby. He was hooked up to an IV, blood pressure cuff and heart rate monitor, but they brought me a rocking chair so that I could hold him as he gradually became aware of his surroundings.
The waking up was tough. He was really upset and in a lot of pain. They said it was too soon to nurse him, but after about fifteen minutes he latched on for a little bit. He was really frustrated with all the monitors and the IV in his arm, and fought the nurses tooth and nail by continuously taking the heart rate monitor off. After a while they gave him some morphine and he drifted back to sleep. Poor little guy.
At this point, I hadn't eaten or slept since 3am. I was so relieved he was okay, but not sure how many more hours we would be in the hospital, and I was fading fast. I really wished Doug was there with me.
He slept in my arms for about forty five minutes, and then woke up in far less pain. At this point he was acting almost like his normal self. The recovery charge nurse reached her arms out to him and he went right to her and planted a big kiss on her mouth. She thought she had died and gone to heaven. Everyone in the recovery ward was coming by and peeking in and fawning all over him.
Before I knew it (within the next hour) we were checked out and on the very short drive back home. We made it home just past 11 o'clock.
I think the morphine was still working, because he seemed okay for a little while, just really groggy. Soon though, the pain and misery kicked in. I gave him Tylenol throughout the day, but it's been long and pretty tough for him. None of the normal things make him happy. I finally just got him to sleep, hopefully I can get some rest tonight, too.
Later in the afternoon, Kristen dropped off a beautiful healthy dinner for us, which helped out so much. Thanks so much for all of the prayers and good wishes. I really felt sustained, and I am so grateful that all went well.
