3rd Surgery Down-Palate Closure

I am exhausted. Originally, Tony and I were planning on Riley's surgery being next Tuesday. Tony called on our authorization yesterday to check if we had approval for Riley's palate surgery and was told it was approved and that they were going to do it today if possible.

After talking everything over given our work schedules and the fact my parents are leaving next week for vacation, we scheduled the surgery for today. Not much time for preperation but we scheduled it for 1 pm.

7:22 this morning the phone rings. Tony answered it as we were still trying to sleep. A lot of tossing and turning for both of us last night so we were trying to sleep in a bit. Our surgeon's schedule was being rearranged and they wanted us there immediately so they could operate on Riley earlier. We live an hour a way and that's if traffic is good. We got ready as fast as humanly possible and drove to the hospital.

We got call checked in and watched Cars from our pre-op room waiting to speak with the surgeon and the anasthesiologist. After all that was completed, they took him away and I think that was around 10:30 am. Of course I cried. Backing up a little bit, I've been a big ball of emotions. The poor guy just had surgery a week ago from today and it's just been stressful. A lot of mixed emotions running through me. A lot of tears and trying to be strong but feeling like I"m failing. A sense of feeling like i have no control over things. Anger has popped up because I hate having to put Riley through this and damn......can't help to wonder what it would be like to have a baby that doesn't have to visit drs on almost a weekly basis and have several surgeries. Anger at those people who take for granted that they have healthy kids and get upset when they can't have more. And thankful....thankful that he has nothing deadly or any severe mental issues. Thankful that I was even able to have a child in the first place and that he has such a wonderful personality.
For anyone reading this blog whose about to have a baby with any kind of birth defect or are just starting the process, it is one of the hardest but most rewarding thing that you will ever do. I was watching Oprah (i know laugh all you want) and she had talked about finding your calling. I'm thinking a calling is trying to find a profession or some way of helping others. But then she said that being a parent is one of the highest callings. And this is so true. I would agree from the bottom of my heart that God gave Riley to Tony and I because he is our calling. And hopefully someday we can take what we have learned from him to help others.
Anyways, the operation took 3 hours. In some cleft palate cases, the palate needs to be repaired in phases. Luckally for us, Riley was able to have his repaired in one shot. The plastic surgeon said 30% of his palate repairs go home that same day. We were prepared to stay at the hospital overnight but because Tony being an ER RN and feels comfortable with taking him home, the surgeon let us go home. Of course we had to make sure his pain was under control and that he drank fluids which we gave him through a syringe.
We are home now and he has been sleeping since we left the hospital at aroun 4:30 pm. We stayed a considerable amount of time in the PACU (post op area) to make sure we felt comfortable. So far, Riley is doing well and resting soundly. Tony is out picking up Riley's pain prescription and I think all will be well.

2nd Surgery Down

Waking up at 4:30 in the am and driving all the way across phoenix (takes about an hour at the minimum given traffic) is something I wish we could do without.

Yesterday, we did just that. Of course Tony and I got no sleep....not because we were nervous but it was just one of those damn nights neither of us could sleep. I hate that. We got sleepy Riley up and ready to go.

We get lost.....and finally found our way to the outpt surgery center at 6:45 with his surgery being at 7am. We weren't too concerned knowing that these things always seem to start late anyways. We got checked in, talked with the nurse who then took us back to preop where we met with the anesthesiologist and surgeon.

The surgery was easy, it was just to fix his tear duct that they believe was affected because of his cleft. It literally took 5 minutes and the dr was out to tell us everything went well before tony could finish syncing his ipad to their wireless network. I figured this surgery would be no problem but as soon as the nurse walked away with him, my eyes filled with worried tears. Knowing we have to go through this so many more times just sucks.

Riley felt fine after we got him in the car. Thankfully for us, it is a painless surgery for the most part. We never had to give him any pain meds though they have him rectal tylenol during the surgery. He was fine although his eye kept bleeding which is normal. It looked very halloweenish.

Today he is back to normal.....except for the tooth he had fell out. We have no idea why but we are thinking it wasn't a normal tooth. We just got our referral to the dentist and will be taking the tooth in for inspection. Hopefuly nothing else is wrong!

One Year Check Up

Well yesterday was Riley's 1 year check up. It didn't go as well as planned. Riley weighs 17 lbs which is what we weighed when he went to urgent care 4 weeks ago. He's 28 1/2 inches long so he's gaining height which is a good thing.

We had a long time with our pediatrician about how Riley isn't feeding himself at all and still refuses to drink anything but his morning bottle. Also, the dr felt that he should be at least trying to pull himself up to stand so she has ordered physical and occupational therapy for him. More specialists :( Mentally he seems to be doing well which is good. I would rather have physical problems than mental ones. He got 4 immunizations yesterday and took it like a champ. I'm so proud of him and he's so strong. He has eye surgery on tuesday wo we will keep everyone updated.

Riley Is 1 Years Old!!!

I can't believe it but my baby is 1 years old. I had no idea it would come so fast. We celebrated yesterday because Tony works tonight. We had a spaghetti feast and had a great turn out. For pictures, visit my facebook page. It was a wonderful day and I'm so thankful that we have such great friends and family who have been such good supports for us.

In other news, I found Riley's first tooth the other night. Everyone kept telling me how the bottom teeth normally come in first so that's where I kept looking. The other night, he stuck my finger in his mouth and I felt something sharp. Low and behold, Riley's top left canine tooth (or what looks to be where the canine would be) is coming in. It looks more like a fang, it's very pointy and sharp.

Sippy cup transition is going so-so. He still gets a morning bottle but all other fluids go in a sippy cup. The problem is i that he doesn't like to drink much so it's hard to guage if it's the sippy cut he doesn't like or if it's just that he doesn't feel like drinking. Who knows but we will keep trying. We know it's that time to have him drinking out of a sippy cup only.