Fun at the Hospital

Well. I wouldn't exactly call it fun, but now that the worst is (I hope) behind me- I can at least find some positives. Like- he now has suction! He closed his lips around the straw I was using to feed him soup last night and startled himself(and for any nurses reading, let's pretend it was a rubber straw). It was really funny to watch his face realize--so this is what straws do! And no food comes out his nose when he laughs (or sneezes, or jumps, or breaths!). And I have one more example of how resilient he is. He has to wear these braces on both arms to keep his hands from his face. Well, he just figures out new ways to play cars and crawl up the stairs! It's a little pitiful, but amazing to watch him adapt. There is still some difficult moments- like when he wants to feed himself, but can't and we have a horrible fit. Or the middle of the night when he won't accept any comfort from me and hides his face so he won't have to look at me. And feeding- well, all we can do is drip food onto his tongue with a straw and try tiny bites of broth with a spoon. So far, he's not a big fan. And with him being so small already, I'm trying to pump him full of calories, but there's only so much nutrition in a liquid diet. But, I wanted to show a bit of our time in the hospital- and how brave my little man is.

When we first got there- at 6:30 in the morning!- they gave him some juice to make him loopy. And boy, did it work! He had been afraid of the hospital bed at first, but after the medicine he would poke it and laugh! And he was letting anybody hold him, where he is usually a mama- only kind of boy. The girls thought it was hysterical- and it was. They let me go back and hold him while they put the mask on to put him under, and I really appreciated it. I doubt he would have remembered, but I knew I was there, and that was important to me.


When we got to recovery he was already awake- they said he came out of it really fast. And I don't remember them telling me I could, but I just scooped him up and held him for the next day or so! He was so unhappy! And it's so sad to see someone so little with all these wires coming out of them!
I wanted to show ya'll the bed- We both slept there at night. The nurse made a point of saying it would hold up to 375 pounds... what, exactly, was she trying to say?! It was surprisingly comforatable and I didn't have to worry about dropping him while I slept! Also note the blanket (thanks Aunt Rachel) and Lightning McQueen pillow- he had one hand on each of them the entire stay, only he couldn't get them so the corners of his mouth (where he normaly puts them) so it led so some frustration...but I was so glad he had a special blanket to go with him- they even put it on the foot of his bed in the OR and covered him with it in recovery.
While I'm thinking of it- I've got to say how great our nurses were!! They were very good about being gentle and not waking him up. They would come back several times to check vitals and wait until he was awake if at all possible. And they kept him good and medicated- I see no need for a child to be in any pain with all the pain control options we have. His IV was in a very weird spot on the front of his ankle and they kept fighting it and, at one point, had 3 nurses in there trying to get it taped properly so it would work and not need re-done. But the best part- and this seems small to some, but was huge to me, was they all knew and called him by his American name. Each shift change, even with nurses that weren't ours, they would all know to call him Isaac. Of course, his legal name had to be on our check in papers, so there was some confusion with visitors who didn't know his vietnamese name. Of course, how many 2 year old vietnamese kids are on the floor having palate repairs? Our friends eventually found us!
The one above is when we took of some of the tubes- once he could move a little better, he started wanting to play- a very welcome sign for us! And, below, we are cord free!!! So, of course we headed for the play room. It was amazing to see how much better he felt in just 2 days.
And this--- this is what happens when a family of 5 is confined to a small space for any length of time! It doesn't look that bad until I tell you this was after we cleaned up and sent a big load of stuff to the van!!