Eli's surgery

Eli had his heel cord lengthening surgery Monday, 3/26.  It went so well.  The Dr even said that he probably didn't need his left tendon clipped but he wanted to do it just to be safe.  He was only in surgery for about 20 minutes and came out perfectly well and starving!  He will be in a cast for the next 3 weeks in order for the cuts to heal and then we will move on to his braced shoes to bring his feet back in and keep them straight. 

before surgery

Wordless Wednesday - Eli Progress

Wordless Wednesday - Eli's Progress

Eli and his Great grandparents

If you have been a long time blog follower of mine you know that my granny has severe Alzheimer's.  She's been sick for many years but every time we brought Aiden around she perked up and seemed to be herself again.  She loved babies and kids and she always would talk baby talk to Aiden and try and hold him.  I feel soo lucky that she is still here and can experience her second great grandson.  My papa lives in the same facility, but in the apartments area.  We took Eli to visit them when he was just a few days old. 

As soon as my granny saw him she lit up.  She smiled and talked baby talk.  She said "Me and Kerm {my papa's name is Kermit} always wanted one of these - thank you".  She even tried to kiss Eli unprompted.  It was the most wonderful reaction.  She may not always know who we are, but when a baby is around she comes back to us.  I feel lucky that even though my boys may never really know her, they can look back and see how special they were to her. 

And of course my papa just adores his great grandsons.  He just loves telling all the nurses and his friends about them. 

Emma - the Filipino nurse who adores us

Eli's first cast

last photos of toes before casts

Eli got his first set of casts on February 28th.  We had never been to Shriner's Children's hospital before, but it was wonderful.  I am so glad we were sent here for his care.  The people are spectacular.  I really did feel at home there.  Eli is a lucky boy!

His Dr. was impressed by how much he was able to rotate his little feet right away when he examined them.  The usual treatment of casting is for 5-10 weeks worth of casts.  Dr. Bower said that because Eli's feet look so promising he thinks we will only need 5-6 casts - {that's 5-6 weeks - a cast per week}.  What wonderful news, I was expecting 10-12 weeks going into this process.  He will most likely still need the minor Achilles tendon surgery after his casts, and then he will wear the corrective shoes.  None of this is new information to us, but it all seems very simple and we are thrilled.

Eli took to the casts very well.  He fussed a bit at the start, but I got to hold him and by the 2nd cast he was sound asleep.  That really eased my mind that it clearly didn't hurt him if he slept right through it!  I however did cry while the Dr. was putting his casts on.  I just had/have such a hard time with the idea of forever changing how his feet look.  I already miss his sweet feet.  So that was hard to watch the change starting right there in my hands.  Then Eli peed on my leg and hand and the moment was over. 

Now that we have been cast parents for a few days we have it down.  Diaper changes have become quick and easy and I have learned that baby legs are a God send!  The first 2 diaper changes after we got home from the Dr's he peed and pooped right on the top of his casts - they go right up to his diaper.  Putting baby legs on and tucking them in at the top of the casts is saving us a lot of stink.  I can't wait to tell his dr's on Tuesday - I'm sure many of the mom's would love to know this and no one at Shriner's mentioned this.  We were just told we could use a damp rag and wipe up the top of the casts to try and keep them clean. 

The casts don't seem heavy anymore either.  Now it just seems like his normal weight.  He weighed 6.8lbs before the casts and I think he's probably 7 and a half pounds now.  He can lift both legs up all the way and does so often.  He will have skinny calves but this kiddo sure will have some strong thighs when this is all said and done! 

on the way home with first casts on

Aiden and Daddy drawing on Eli's casts.

Club Foot

Tomorrow is Eli's first appointment with Shriner's Children's Hospital.  He will be getting his first set of casts to correct his club feet.  I've had a lot of mixed feelings about this the last couple days.  I know that in order for him to walk, run, jump, play he needs to have his feet corrected.  It's really the only option for us, he needs it, and we want him to be able to grow up without any challenges.  The thing that is killing me is that his feet are so perfect to me.  I don't want to change them.  They are who he is, I have only known him this way.  His feet are what make Eli, Eli.  I feel like we are agreeing that Eli is crippled and needs to be fixed.  Like he isn't perfect and normal the way he was born.  Plus, I don't want to change him.  After tomorrow he will physically never look the same.  That just breaks my heart.  I've spent a lot of time crying today over this.  I just don't know how I'm going to handle tomorrow.  I want him to be fixed, but as a mom it just makes my heart sad.  I took a lot of pictures of his little feet today.  So here you go, the last look at his toes this way....

Only a few days old here

Wordless Wednesday: Aiden and Eli

My nurse Sue....

Oh boy, nurse Sue.  She is one unique individual.  I recall having her when I was in the hospital with Aiden, and I remember telling my next nurse I didn't want to have Sue again during my stay.  Well, here we are 28 months later and I had Sue as a nurse again.  So not lucky!

She was the nurse who was in the OR when Eli was born, she did his weight and swaddled him and there was no real problem with any of that. 

Fast forward to Friday and she was my day nurse, coming in for her shift at 730.  She walks into my room and first thing she did was lecture me for holding Eli in bed when I was clearly dozing on and off and drowsy.  My mom jumped in and said "here, give him to me I'll change him" but that didn't stop her making me feel bad for even considering holding him in bed.  Little did she know I slept with him like that the first night.  After that lecture she said "what have you had for breakfast".  I replied, "my dad brought me Voodoo donuts and I plan to have one with coffee".  She was snotty and goes "That is not breakfast, I'll get you something better".  She stormed out and came back with a breakfast tray of a sad looking waffle, a browning banana and some cream of wheat.  I said "I'm not going to eat that".  She got really snippy and said "You aren't going to eat that? *looks at my mom now and says * "Are YOU going to eat that?"  Mom goes.... NO.... and the nurse got real bent out of shape that she went and got us food and we didn't plan to eat it.

She moved on from the food and then started my check up.  Did my vitals and such and handed me my little pill cup.  I noticed there was a large white pill in the cup, I asked if that was the prenatal vitamin.  She said yes.  I then told her "oh, well I declined to take that, the nurse last night confirmed with my Dr that I didn't need to take it".  Sue didn't like this and she said "so you won't take it?"  I said "No, I declined it".  She said "fine, just had it to me and I'll discard it" then she loudly sighed and threw it in the garbage.  I took the remaining pills.  We moved on.  She told me that she was reducing my pain pills, because Oxycodone was a "street drug" and that she didn't want me to become dependent on it.  So I'm going to reduce your pills from 3 to 2.  Also since you've gone almost 4 hours without asking for it {I was sound asleep mind you} I'm not going to give it to you every 3 hours, I'm going to move it to every 4 hours."  She didn't even consider the fact that I had been asleep and that is why I didn't ask for them on time.  I was in shock and didn't respond to this fact.  I just said "ok".

After my check up it was time to check on Eli.  She checked his vitals and noticed he needed to be changed.  Mom said she would change him and got out the preemie diaper.  Sue goes "why is he wearing preemie?  The newborns work fine".  I said "well the nurses yesterday brought us preemie because the newborn keep sliding off his flat butt".  She got grumpy and said again, very irritated "well the newborn worked just fine for me the other day". 

Now if all of that wasn't enough in the 20 minutes she'd been in my room she had to give me further instructions.  She went over the whole I'm your nurse until 730pm and I will come in every hour or two and check on you.  If you need anything please use the nurse call button.  Yada Yada.  Then she threw the bomb at me... "Your scheduled nap time is from 3-5.  I will come in just before 3 and make sure you have your meds, and then I will put a do not disturb sign on your door.  No visitors during that time {insert a look to my mom} so all your guests will need to leave."  I was shocked.  I said "Umm, so I have a scheduled nap time today?"  She said "yes the whole floor has nap time today".  Yeah... ok....

Then she left the room.  That was the first 30 minutes I was awake on Friday, what a nice treat.  It was one thing after another.  A few minutes after that, the nursing student who was in the room said "what in the world was Sue talking about - your pill is not a street drug and you won't get addicted.  It's not like you are going to cheek them and sell them on the market".  She just laughed with us before she left too.

My dr came in about 30 minutes later to see how I was doing.  I proceeded to tell her the entire story from start to finish about Sue's morning visit.  She said that she gets a lot of complaints about Sue and that I really need to say something.  She also mentioned that I can request a different nurse.  She just laughed at the story and couldn't believe all of it.  Next thing I knew Sue was back.

She walked right up to my bed, holding back tears and said "I understand you don't want me as your nurse.  I would like to know what I did that makes my patients not want me" I just told her the truth.  That she came in and lectured me about my donut, which I was very excited to enjoy for breakfast, then proceeded to reduce my meds without consulting me.  She just told me me what she was going to do and that was that.  She then tried to defend herself and back peddle and was all like "I was just meaning that having JUST a donut wasn't the best breakfast, I just meant it had no protein to it and we should have brought you a breakfast tray".  Then she tried to back peddle about the drugs and said "we get graded for pay based on a survey and I just wanted to make sure you had all the information you needed about your drugs".  I started crying because she was holding my hand and making me feel like complete crap for complaining about her. 

She left and a nurse manager came in.  She said down and listened to my entire story.  She was not happy at all with the situation and even told me they like to have 3-5pm be "quiet hours" on the wing but that doesn't mean no guests or that I HAVE to have a nap.  It just means they encourage our patients to rest.  When I got to the part where Sue came back in and confronted me she gasped.  She was appalled that Sue did that.  She said "that should have NEVER happened - that was not appropriate of her at all".  She got me a new nurse and said she appreciated me talking to her.

The next nurse was great, she helped get my pills back on the schedule they were originally on and ensured me that I did NOT need to take a nap.  After that though all my nurses seem to have heard about my incident with Sue and found it amusing. 

Eli's Birth Story

Eli came into the world nice and quietly.  Here is his story....

We got to the hospital for my repeat c-section around 530am on Wednesday.  They got us all checked into our room and me in my fancy paper gown.  My biggest concern was my IV - when I had Aiden they blew 3 veins in my left arm before the settled on the right, and then the plastic IV clamp was on my wrist and left a scar still visible today.  Thankfully, the nurse who was in charge this time had no problems and got it first try with no pain.  I didn't even get a small bruise when it was removed! The nurse told me what to expect during surgery, they turned on my heating gown, shaved my incision site etc.  The anesthesiologist came in and took a look at my spine and said it looked like there would be no problems. 

Next thing I know our moms are here in the room, the nurse comes and gives Kris his surgery scrubs to put on and we are set to go.  I give hugs and kisses, they wheel me to the OR and help me to walk in and get seated on the table. It's really strange just sitting around waiting to have a baby.  I watched the nurse open and lay out all the sterile equipment, the nurses were counting things off out loud.  My Dr. is short, so I made fun of her when she asked for a step stool.  My spinal was quick and painless.  It really wasn't bad at all, the worst part was sitting on the cold table!  The numb and warm legs set in almost immediately.  They helped me lay down since I couldn't feel my lower half.  A few minutes after I was laid down my blood pressure went up really high and I got hot and dry heaved for about 2 minutes. The anesthesiologist was great, put a cold cloth on my face, got my blood pressure down really quick and I felt fine after that.  They got the paper partition up and Kris came in.  We were set. 

The surgery took what seems like no time at all.  I think we began about 10 minutes before 8 and at 8:09am my Dr told Kris to stand up and start taking pictures.  Eli was here.  Kris got some great pictures of Eli being pulled out and the first minute while he was being held by my Dr.  He only let out a little cry when he came into the world, but it was again the most beautiful sound ever.  On the way to weigh him the nurse brought him to me to see his feet - the were perfect to me.  He weighed 6lbs 5oz, and was 19.5 inches long.  He scored 9's on his agar's. 

Tiffany

Kris cut the cord, he got all swaddled up and brought him over to me.  The rest of the surgery was a breeze.  Kris and I just sat and looked at our little miracle.  We still can't believe that God helped us create this two amazing boys.  We are soo lucky.  We had an extra nurse in the OR who was just there to shadow, so she took our camera and took some first family photos.  In the recovery room all went well.  The moms were allowed in 1 at a time to see me and the baby.  Eli and I were holding our own without a problem, they brought in a bottle and my mom was the first to feed him since my arms were still numb to me and Kris wasn't in the room.  My father in law also came in to see Eli.  After 2 hours I was wheeled back to my room.

The rest of the day was exactly what I expected.  All of our family came to visit, Aiden was introduced to his little brother and he seemed to love him.  He wasn't sure about him, but was thrilled to see me for sure.  We took pictures, my dad and all Kris' aunts came that evening.  My friend Tiffany came in the evening and brought me some magazines to read.  She'd never held a newborn and she got to feed him and hold him and it was really fun sharing that with her.  It was nice being able to have visitors this time in the hospital {swine flu last time meant no visitors at all}.  Kris's aunts brought me a big bouquet of flowers too!

Over the next few days Eli was wearing preemie diapers and clothes because he was just soo tiny.  He passed his hearing test, no jaundice, and the pediatrician told us that he had "a boring case of club feet".  He said that because you can easily manipulate his foot now and almost hold it into a corrected position he appears that casts may be all he will need.  Our first appointment with the pediatric orthopedic dr is on the 28th so he will get his first cast and we will see what the outlook is then.

Going home - soo tiny in his car seat

The rest of the hospital stay was pretty typical, except for a certain nurse on Friday. The nurse from hell is a long story in itself, so I will put it in a separate post.  It is certainly worth a read though, she was one interesting character and I managed to put all the nurses on alert to her situation.... stay tuned. 

We were released on Saturday because we were doing so well.  Nurses couldn't believe I was up walking that same evening, I took a shower the next day and was trying to tidy up the hospital room.  The nurse told me I needed to relax that I just had surgery.  There was even one dr. who came in and thought she had the wrong room because I was up being so active and looked so good just 24 hours after my c-section.