Surgery

Gabriel had surgery last Thursday for his mild hernia & communicating hydrocele. I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised at how well he has done. He last nursed on Thursday morning at 7:30 am & then we were allowed to give him Pedialite or water until 10:30 am. When I first gave it to him, he was very confused. He cried a little but continued to suck it down until it was gone. I was very worried that he would be very upset & very hungry when we arrived at the hospital let alone when he was finally taken back by the nurses. He took a nap that morning, and we headed up to the hospital to be there promptly at the 12:30 pm check in we were scheduled for. We then were routed to the waiting area where people wait while their relatives are in surgery or before they are checked in and taken back. We proceeded to wait there for the next 45 mins. Gabe wasn't really crying at all, just his usual restlessness. I spent most of that time bouncing him up & down as we walked back & forth down the hallway.

We went back to a smaller prep room where we were to wait until the surgeon was ready to take him back. It was 1:15 pm at this point & I just kept hoping that it would be soon so that Gabe wouldn't get too upset. We settled in to wait, David sleeping on the hospital bed with Gabe in his lap. Gabe took his pacifier so extremely well & even got a little drowsy. I held him & put him to sleep just as the surgeon came in to mark the correct side for the surgery. We got Gabe dressed into his gown & yellow booties. He was a very cute little boy! He continued to just suck on his pacifier & be amazingly quiet! I was so proud of him for behaving so well. Mom, Dad & my sister Jenna then came to the hospital to wait. We all packed into this small room waiting for surgery. The anesthesiologist then stopped by to answer any questions & go over putting Gabe to sleep. At this point it was around 2:30 pm when the surgery was scheduled. We waited and waited and waited, but no one came to get Gabe. Dad finally went to ask the nurse and was informed the surgeon was about an hour behind & hopefully someone would come get us around 3:30. I was not very thrilled with this answer, but gladly Gabe was still doing great. He even took a quick nap on while laying on the bed between Dad & I. He was a little fussy when he woke up but we just passed him around the room until he was taken back. The nurse came to get him finally around 3:45 pm & took him back to surgery. This is the only point of the day that I teared up. I was worried about him, but he wasn't upset so that made it easier for all of us.

We went down to the cafeteria to grab some food & then back up to the waiting room. Surgery was over around 4:30 pm, & we went back to speak to the surgeon. He said that everything went well. There was no hernia on the left side, & the one on the right side was easily removed. Gabe went into recovery, & David went home to sleep. I stuck around with my parents & my sister waiting for him to wake up enough to go home. I went back to recovery after a while & found Gabe just waking up. He wasn't crying at all, just laying there with these sleepy eyes looking adorable. I got to hold him while he woke up slowly little by little. I tried to nurse him but all that did was put him back to sleep. :) We took him home & he still didn't want to wake up so I put him in his crib to sleep.

At 8:40 pm, he finally woke up. After eating & some baby tylenol, he passed back out. The next day went rather smoothly. He was a little fussy, wanting to be held most of the time or be in his swing. He also slept quite a bit more than normal. I'm very proud of Gabe for handling everything so well. He hasn't taken tylenol past the first 24 hours & seems to be his normal wiggly self. He doesn't even flinch when I touch his incision. Things could have been a lot worse & I am very thankful God has seen us through.

David & Gabe sharing the bed.
Gabe in his pink gown & his yellow booties.