1 Week (and a day) Post Op

One week down, two weeks to go-specifically referring to Elijah's post-op restrictions: arm restraints, no bottle, no pacifier, basically nothing in his mouth. It has been so much better than I thought it would be. I think I said that in the last post. God has been merciful to us in Elijah's recovery. We did have trouble with feeding him and getting him to sleep last week, but I think that's mostly resolved. We realized pain was probably keeping him from going to sleep easily (after we had stopped the prescription pain meds). He was tricking us because he seemed mostly happy and not in pain while he was awake so we stopped the meds. But once we put two and two together, we started him on Tylenol which helped him sleep easier. 

      Nate cleaning the incision lines 

He is back to eating 6oz per feeding! And I think we may soon have to add more. The good news is he didn't lose any weight last week. I think that it is pretty common for weight loss initially due to feeding problems after surgery in addition to the fact that his body is working harder/burning more calories to heal. But he got weighed yesterday and was at the same 15lbs 3oz as a week ago before surgery. 

  Grandma Evans exercising his arms

Elijah's personality/demeanor has mostly returned to normal. The more active and alert he is, the more he wants to put things in his mouth. He can't though because of the arm braces (which we take off a few times a day for exercise). However, that won't stop him from leaning forward to lower his head to the object he wants in his mouth! So we have to watch him carefully. Sly little guy. Here he is yesterday waiting to get his sutures out. He discovered his feet and wanted them in his mouth while my mom was entertaining him. When he realized he couldn't get them in his mouth, he got upset. 

 

Even if it's blue, hospital gowns on baby boys look like dresses. :)

He is smiling and laughing and talking a ton these days. We stopped trying to keep him from smiling too much. It's impossible with his adorable new smile. 

His new smile is actually not captured that well in these pictures. It's bigger and better! Here are a few more pictures before his sutures were removed. 

Yesterday morning we went back to Riley to get his sutures removed. We went at the same time as last week and had to stop feeding him at the same time. He was much harder to keep happy this time while we waited for them to take him back, but we survived. We knew they would put him under light anesthesia to keep him still (just gas, not IV like last week). We knew it would probably take Dr. Flores about 15-20 minutes to do the procedure and were told it would take about thirty minutes from the time they brought Elijah back. So once they took him back, my mom and I went downstairs to get coffee and a muffin. We came back ten minutes later. I told Nate I was going to use the restroom and then finish my coffee just outside the room since we couldn't bring it in. In the two minutes it took me to find and use the bathroom, I had missed them bringing Elijah back to where Nate was waiting and missed Dr. Flores' debriefing. Oh well. Elijah was super cranky because he was both tired and hungry. Nate tried feeding him. He wouldn't eat much but enough that they let us leave within 20 minutes or so.

He has a piece of tape covering his incision lines that he will have to wear for a few weeks to keep the area from stretching too much. Elijah took a quick nap at home, woke up happy, ate almost 6oz, and then went back for a nap. He returned back to himself pretty quickly yesterday. 

The biggest issue we have actually had the last few days in terms of Elijah is that his skin on his cheeks and forehead has gotten worse, not better, since we stopped NAM taping a week ago. It looked amazing right after his surgery last week for about a day or two but then it started getting bad again. Finally yesterday, as my mom and I were talking about it, we realized that his skin slowly started getting bad around the time we changed him to new bedding a few months ago. Though it's been washed in a few times in hypoallergenic detergent, the timing seemed to make sense. But we always attributed his skin problems to tape and eczema/cradle cap. Yesterday we switched out the bedding and this morning his skin looks so much better. I hope it was truly that because it is such an easy fix. I just feel a little dumb for not figuring it out before. 

Sadly yesterday, I took my mom to the airport 4 days earlier than expected. My Uncle Rick (her brother) passed away early Tuesday morning from cardiac issues. It is hard to see my mom, grandma, and the rest of her family in so much pain and not be able to be with them. My Uncle Rick is now fully enjoying the presence of God. It is a time of sadness and grief. But I have been blown away at my grandmother's response of worshiping God in the midst of this deep sorrow and pain. It has reminded me of Job's response after losing his children:

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21 ESV)

That is the kind if faith and trust I hope I have in the face of terrible loss. Please send prayers for my family during this time.