Post-op notes

Just a quick update to let you know how today went... we woke up bright and early this morning and gave Will his second Steri-soap bath and made it to the hospital to check in at 6:30a. It was nice to be the first scheduled surgery of the day, as once we checked in, we were immediately greeted by our surgery nurses, anesthesiologists, and then within minutes, the surgeon was ready.

We felt no fear going into this surgery, so the hour long surgery wasn't nearly as bad of a wait for us as surgeries-past. We went down to our regular surgery waiting spot, the UNC Hospital cafeteria, and got some breakfast.

We got back up to the pediatric surgery waiting area just in time to see our neurosurgeon - though of course, he wasn't there to see us!! We talked with the parents of triplets for a while, one of whom was being evaluated by neurosurg today. We thought having twins was rough! It was nice to pass the time talking about our children and various experiences that having preemie multiples share.

Within minutes, our surgeon was calling our name, and told us that everything went really well with Will's surgery. Nothing unexpected, and we could see him soon. When he woke up, I went back and saw him (only one parent allowed at a time)... he wasn't really a happy camper coming out of anesthesia. We sang "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore" about 800 times, and then Nate stayed with him until they had a bed ready for us on the 5th floor of the hospital.

So we've been up here for about 7 hours now, and Will's been having a rough go of it... he appears to be in more pain than we expected, and the order that the doctor wrote for Tylenol just isn't doing the trick. We tried a narcotic pain medicine, but Will was still huffing and whining, which is an indicator of pain. Every time we tried to pick him up, he would cry - I think because the new g-tube area is still very tender and no matter how careful we are, it gets a little jostled when we move him. Every time Will wants to move, he lifts up his legs in his normal pattern, but that pulls on his abdominal muscles, which hurts! So he catches himself with a painful start, and we know that he's about to get Old Man Face and cry. We feel so bad for him, but there isn't much we can do.

Now he has gotten morphine to manage the pain, and was finally able to take a nap. He just sneezed and that doesn't feel good, neither do the hiccups that he's gotten a couple of times today. Laughing and yawning also seems to be tough on his little body, so we're just doing our best to make him comfortable and get through the night.

Nate has gone home to stay with Luke and I am at the hospital. Will and I are about to bunk up and watch a movie... I wonder if his souped up hospital crib will hold my weight. I think he needs some mommy cuddling time.