Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Baby's Surgery

So sorry it has taken me over a month to write about Baby's surgery. My days fly by and my nights get sucked up in other things too. I wish I could say I've been too busy working, but I haven't been very successful at finding work. It's so hard when I think about trying to leave the baby who will not, for anything, take a bottle. I just need to get more creative here and try and make something work so I can make some money.

Some things that have been keeping me busy: Garage sale-ing the past few weeks. I've been finding clothes and things for the kids and me. Yes, I have an extra 15 post baby and it's not really budging so I needed clothes badly. I have lists of things I want to bring back to Honduras, and of course I want to see if I can find things at garage sales. I've also been scouring Craigslist too. We just bought a bike from there and now I'm on the hunt for a good used printer I can take back to Honduras. Other things keeping me busy have been trying to teach myself to crochet (again). I hope to have something actually made sometime soon. Who knows what I might end up making, but I will tell you, it won't be scarfs or hats. I have also started researching info on homeschooling for Sister next year. After a lot of thought and waffling about what to do. Yes, I will try homeschooling my kids. Somehow, I feel I can make it work and it could be the best thing for my daughter. I hope to be able to try and hire someone to come to the house in the morning to do light cooking and cleaning while also watching Baby and Sister and I will do school. Brother will continue to go to preschool in the morning and if all goes well with homeschooling Sister, Brother will join us in schooling next year for Kindergarten.

I'm off track here so...back to Baby. She had her surgery on April 3rd and she did wonderful. I felt confident in what needed to be done. Minneapolis Children's Hospital is top notch and the treatment we got was wonderful. One thing that was interesting, was that the cyst in her neck had decreased in size very rapidly after I got back to the states. The doctor said this was normal with the cyst Baby had. Turns out though, that it had burst. When they went into do the surgery, they only could take out what was left of it and then they did the repair of the bone that needed fixing so the cyst won't come back.

I'll share some photos to tell the story. She is simply a happy, smiley, light up the room kind of baby.

In the waiting area before going off to surgery in her cute hospital pj's

Once Baby went off to surgery, we went to another waiting area and they have this computer screen where you can see exactly where they are in surgery with little explanations like "starting surgery" or "leaving OR". Really cool and helps a lot with nervous parents.

Sister waiting reading a magazine. I tried to read, but I just sat there and stared at the computer screen with the status of the surgery.

Just after surgery. She was really groggy but breathing and eating well.

She had an IV for fluids. It was in until she wet her diaper so bad the bed had to be changed. She slept A LOT until the next morning when she woke up and seemed to be much more alert. I was the nervous mommy watching her breathing and comfort level all night. The nurses kept her hooked up to the oxygen monitors so I could rest easier, but I still seemed to want to keep one eye on her.

This is Baby a few days after surgery. She had some swelling in her neck tissues. She had a triple chin practically.


It was hard to see the wound because of all that chin under there.

The stitches are disolvable and they are painted with a waterproof glue type stuff. The wound healed so well the doctors commented on it at her 4 week post-op appointment. She did great! I am so grateful that we were able to come to the states to take care of this.


8 comments:

Kelly said...

I'm glad to hear that you, baby and your other children are doing well. I wanted to offer my help in the future, I homeschooled my children for 16 years, which I actually taught K3-12th grade. If you ever have a question or just need support, please feel free to ask me. I'd love to help! My kids are all grown now and it truly paid off...

~Kelly

Crystal said...

I am so glad she is doing good. Good thing it was done while she was young and not later on. Why does she not want the bottle? Is her throat still a little sore?
She is so cute! When are you going back to Honduras

Cindy in California said...

Wow! What a cutie! I want to squeeze her cute little cheeks!

Thanks for posting about Baby Spout's surgery. I'm glad it all went well. It was probably harder on you than it was on her and she will definately not remember it.

I imagine the lilacs are coming out soon. Enjoy some for me!

Grimfairy said...

I am so so so happy she made it through surgery without any hitches. Just look at that smile!

My husband, who's Honduran, tells me all the time that he is shocked by all the stuff people throw away in our neighborhood. He says in Tegucigalpa, if you put a chair out on the curb, you'll blink and it will be gone. I can't live without my Craigslist!

Live Simply Love Strongly said...

I can't believe I'm just finding this post, somehow it escaped me! As far as the not taking a bottle, have you tried a spoon, a medicine syringe, or even a sippy cup? I have friends that were able to feed through alternative ways when they didn't want to give a bottle, or baby wouldn't take a bottle.

Honduras Sprout said...

Kelly - It will be interesting to see how I wade through things. I am going to use the Sonlight program as so many in Honduras that I now know via the internet are using and also a family who we are friends will be starting the program for the next school year too. I'm excited to give it a go!

As far as baby not taking a bottle, she decided that she didn't like it anymore and just got angry every time I tried. I did spoons, sippy cups, about 4 different kinds of bottles and nipples. Nothing seemed to work. Now I am trying to introduce solids - rice and bananas so far - and she is not the most interested in that either. She licks a lot, but won't eat. She loves to chew on her fingers and her toys though. She'll probably go straight to the sippy cup when the time is right.

Trish said...

Oh, I'm glad to see the baby doing well, and also glad to hear that you're going to try homeschooling! I can't imagine how hard it must have been on you and your daughter to be apart for so long!

Sonlight is a great program, and it's good that you're going with something so well put together as you start. Sometimes, to save money, people use materials which almost assure their failure. Anyway, I think you've made a great choice! Let me know if you have any questions, need any help, etc. Also, make sure you sign up for the Sonlight forums once you've bought your materials, as there is an incredible wealth of helpful info there - almost any question you ask, someone will have already dealt with the same thing!

Canexicana said...

How are things going for baby (and you and the other children)? You haven't blogged in awhile. Hope all is well.