Ryan's Surgery

My day started this morning at 4:45am when my alarm went off. We needed to be to the hospital at 5:15am for Ryan to get surgery on his blocked tear duct. One of my biggest concerns about the surgery was that Ryan couldn't eat anything after 12 midnight last night. For the past three weeks or so he has been sleeping through the night, but every now and then he will wake up for a 2am feeding. I was so nervous all last night that he was going to wake up that I ended up waking up several times on my own! As it turned out, I had to wake Ryan up at 5am. It was strange to have the tables turn. He is usually the one waking us up at all hours of the night. I can say this much though, he handles being woken up a lot better than I do. In fact, he was thrilled to be awake!

We made it to the hospital right on time and got all checked in without a problem. He laughed and smiled and played while we waited to be called back. It wasn't until we got called back and were dressing him for surgery that his hunger hit and he started to get a little fussy. He was great once the nurse took him. There were so many things to look at and play with once the nurse had him. The nurse walked him down the hall and out of sight and Ryan didn't take a second look our way. I guess it's good that I have such a well adjusted baby, but a little protest would have been nice. I'm pretty sure our separation was more traumatizing for me than it was for him!

Zach and I waited in the waiting room during the procedure. When it was done the nurse came out and got us and led us back to where Ryan was. I had read that when babies and small children come out of anesthesia they usually cry. It's just such a weird feeling and they don't know how to handle it. So, I was expecting tears, but nothing could have prepared me for how inconsolable he was. Knowing that he was starving, I tried to feed him and he would eat for a couple seconds and then just scream and cry. It was heartbreaking. He cried for a good ten minutes or so before he threw up all over me. I don't know if it was because of the anesthesia or because he was crying so hard but I felt so bad for him. It is amazing how there can be so much going on around me but when my baby is crying, that is all I can focus on.

Ryan finally settled down and fell asleep. We put him in his carseat and went home. He stayed asleep for another three hours when we got home and woke up with a smile on his face, back to his old self. I was so happy to have my baby back! I will keep him on baby Tylenol today and the doctor gave us some eye drops to use for the next two weeks, but after that he should be as good as new! I'm so grateful that everything went as well as it did. Thank goodness!

Today we are just going to take it easy. Packing can wait.



Sorry the pictures are such bad quality. Zach took them with his cell phone. I don't know what I was thinking by not bringing my camera! Oh well, lesson learned.