The Jennings' Jabber: Palate Repair...

So, we are home and recovering from palate surgery, and a minor lip and nose revision. Calder's surgery was Monday morning (early), lasted about 4 hours, and he came through like a champ. We thankfully spent one night in the hospital, up pretty much on and off throughout the night, but it was nice to have the nursing staff there to support and help us. He was one UNHAPPY little man, cried and whimpered almost nonstop for that 1st 24 hours unless he was fitfully sleeping...that first afternoon/night/morning were the pits! Part of getting to go home is how much they will drink on their own. OH, there were many moments we thought we might be there for at least another day, but he finally started to drink some orange juice out of a little cup, tears of joy--thank goodness he kept it up and we were able to go home that next afternoon.

He was hooked up to an IV, oxygen, heart, and respiration monitors, and had to wear arm restraints...so I don't really know what was making him the most angry!? I know he was in a little bit of pain, but the tylenol with codine knocks most of that down enough...if only it didn't taste SO BAD! He hated taking that medicine more than anything. It took 3 of us to give it to him--he is one strong cookie! Shane has been recovering from some back pain, and my arms are finally starting to recover (4 days later), but this little boy just wanted to be held, so holding him is ALL we've been doing. It breaks your heart not knowing exactly what you can do to make them feel better...at least he can communicate through pointing and shaking his head 'no'...

Grandma is here for another day from Maryland, and Mamma has been here helping so they have been a God-send! He is now starting to regain his energy, and get back to his normal busy self! He can only have a liquid diet for the first week, so that has been a struggle, but he is starting to figure out that he needs to eat to feel better. ;) Took him off the tylenol with codine yesterday...it's notorious for causing constipation and we could tell his tummy was giving him some problems. So now, we just have him on regular tylenol and motrin, they seem to be doing the job. Our biggest hurdles now are getting him to "eat" as much as possible, and sleeping. I'm not quite comfortable yet putting him back in his crib so he's been sleeping on a bed with one of us, or in the bouncer...neither of which are my 1st choice, or really giving him good spurts of sleep either, but it's what's working for now. I don't want to put him in the crib because of the arm restraints...he can flip over but not well, and the last thing I need is for him to flip right on his face! He has always been a snuggler too, so I don't really know if I want him smashing his face into the blankets! I can probably use socks on his hands to keep him from putting fingers in his mouth, but I'm going to wait until next week after we see the doctor on Monday. We are almost there... :)

So I'll put a few pictures up of the process...still waiting to get a good picture of his new "Frankenstein-ish" palate!