Visit 3

One of the RNs at Waukesha NICU told me that on average these babies have 3 visits back to the hospital after going home.  Well, let's hope this is visit number 3 and the last one.  We had an appointment with Cardiology on Monday just to check in, get Baby Gl's weight and see how he was doing with his new feeding schedule.  Unfortunately, his weight was down so now they want to intervene.  The requested to admit Baby Gl into the hospital for a few days for observation to see if we could resolve his weight issues.  It was very emotion for my husband to think about our son going back into the hospital.  I think I handled it better because I knew it wasn't a trip starting with a call to 911.  The goal is just to observe and be able to bring him home before the weekend.


Yesterday, by about noon, we admitted Baby Gl in to Children's Hospital.  I think we've been spoiled in the past getting put into the new wing of the hospital so now that we have a room in the old wing we're a little disappointed.  I shouldn't complain.  It will just mean we want to come home that much sooner.  


Baby Gl is completely aware of his surroundings.  He knows he not at home and he knows these are not Mom and Dad coming in to check on him.  We've had to stay close by because he will just cry when we're not around.  His first day settling in was hard for him.  We went for dinner during his nap and of course didn't make it back before he woke up.  We found him in the arms of a care volunteer just crying away, which is usually what happens when we're not around.  It's heartbreaking, but it's difficult to be there ever second.  To put him down for a nap we have to hide behind the separation curtain and just wait.  He wines and wiggles around for quite awhile before he eventually settles in.  


Neither of us spent the night in the hospital.  We got Baby Gl to sleep and went home to sleep.  I made it back to the hospital before he work up, however, he had been awakens a few times earlier from labs coming through and the nurses fussing.  He even vomited during the night right at the last bit of his tube feeding with the nurse.  That wasn't anything new for us.  We had found that tube feeding has to be minimal or he won't tolerate any longer.  It's a battle because he needs to eat but when he doesn't take enough by bottle we have to get it in somewhere.


So today the regime is to get 24 ounces of this Compleat Pediatric rather than the 16 we've been aiming for.  I don't know that we'll do it by mouth, but we'll hope.  Everything else will remain the same.  The nurses and nutrition are following closely.  His weight as of Monday was 6.76 kilos, 14.87lbs.  Today the nurse weighed him and he was up at 6.93 kilos, 15.25lbs.  We know he can gain weight it's just keeping the weight on and figuring what diet works well for him.  The doctor came through with a theory that maybe he's constipated which would cause him not to eat.  Well, I can say I agree since I changed 3 dirty diapers in 2 hours already today.  I guess we'll just humor him and let him rule constipation out on his own.


The one thing making us feel very trapped here is that Baby Gl needs to be under isolation.  Back in January, when he was hospitalized, he tested positive for MRSA.  I guess it's highly contagious and he needs 3 negative test results before they will let him out of isolation when he's hospitalized.  He had 1 negative result back during his surgery in June and now they are doing a 2nd test.  With him in isolation we have to stay in the room.  We've had to bring toys in and let him explore the hospital room only.  He's surprisingly fine with it.  We were given a bouncer today for him to play in.  He doesn't play with one at him now but he likes to play and walk around the outside of them so I think it will entertain him.  It's only a few days.  We can tolerate a few days.  Hopefully by the time they release him they will have the answers we all need to get Baby Gl growing.

Hoping for Growth

It has been so long since I last updated.  Our month has been terribly busy.  Baby Gl continues to keep us on our toes. He made it through hi sear infection and things have gone pretty much back to normal.  We've been jumping around over this issue on his growth.  It's an interesting topic.  When you see Baby GL he looks like a very health little boy.  Very active crawling around, walking along furniture, puling himself up on anything he can and even crawling up stairs now.  You would think nothing was wrong.  Well, the clinic appointments just don't get better.


A couple weeks ago Baby Gl had an echo performed to look at his ASD, hole in his heart.  They were trying to measure a general amount of how much pressure is being put on his heart.  The Pulmonary Hypertension specialist believes there's enough to medicate and to keep the O2.  The O2 only needs to be on at night, really for the reason than unless Baby Gl wears his own O2 backpack there's no way to keep it on.  Another change was to add another medication which is basically Viagra.  That took some convincing from the doctor with the insurance company to approve that medicine.  To my understanding Viagra helps to lower blood pressure and do other therapy for the heart.  However, the side effects are still as we all know Viagra to be.  He hasn't seemed to change his mood on the new med.  I have noticed him kissing a lot more, usually girls.


So with that same appointment we were advised to speak with the nutritionist that works with the cardiology department.  We know that the Pediasure was never something we were successful with.  The nutritionist actually put together a whole new diet based on how we were already feeding Baby GL.  In place of 24 ounces of Pediasure we are now trying Compleat Pediatric.  It is made of real meat and vegetables dehydrated and processed in a liquid form.  At first I wasn't thrilled because the ingredients still contain corn and soy.  At this point those are two ingredients I'd like to keep my son off of until later in life.  Since we have no other choice we have given it a try and the side effects are much better compared to Pediasure.  His diet now consists of 16 ounces of this new formula, 4 ounces of Organic whole milk, 3 full meals of baby food with the addition of 1tsp of olive oil to eat meal for extra calories, as well as any other fluids like juice or water he he's needing it.  We've done well, except he will get full every once in a while, which he shows up with vomiting his whole meal.  We just can't win. It's a process.


It's been a very long time, but we had a whole family outing this weekend.  On Sunday the three of us, my sister's whole family, and my parents all went to the zoo.  It was KidsReach Foundation Day so the ticket sales went for a good cause.  It was a perfect day for the zoo.  I don't think Baby Gl really knew where we were, but we'll have pictures to show him when he's older.  It was just so wonderful to have a good day as a family.  We couldn't escape the daily challenges of feeding Baby Gl, but for the most of the day he was thrilled to be with out.  


It's amazing to see how much Baby Gl has progressed even over these last few weeks.  He moves, without hesitation, all over our home.  Now he's crawling up stairs, in and out of rooms, and climbing up whatever he can find.  His verbalizations have gotten so much better an clearer.  He's testing new sounds and getting louder.  He knows his name and whole Mom and Dad are and even know what a ball is and where it is in the room.  He's even begun to get incredible needy.  When I or my husband leave him, or just leave a room sometimes he begins to cry.  I'm not sure if it's because I've taken on more work.  Even if he goes with my mother he cries.  I'm hoping it's a stage.  It could just be his new tooth he has popping out on top that's causing him grief.  Either way, it's nice to feel so loved and needed.  It just breaks my heart to hear him cry.

First Ear Infection

July brought more work for me and my husband.  I took some extra work, temporarily, that has made us adjust to a new schedule.  It's really taken more work for my husband because he someone who normally sleeps late and leave much of our son's care to me.  It was quite eye opening and has been a great experience for him to experience what I do on a daily basis.  He needed to be awake with Baby GL early, sometimes 5:30am.  He was in charge of making sure Baby GL was fed, bathed, clothed and ready for therapy.  Therapy happens 4 times a week so that was a new schedule to try to remember.  He never knew if someone would be knocking on our door.  It was entertaining to watch, and I hoped he gained a better respect for me.  


There were two appointments at Children's Hospital clinic that he was responsible for getting him to.  That was an interesting outcome.  The first one was with the Neonatal Development Clinic.  We had an evaluation done back in January where they bring in PT, OT, and speech and do an overall evaluation of his development milestones.  Back in July he was put in the range of a 5 month old baby, speech more n the 2-3 month old.  His size still remains in the less than 3%.  


So this time around, my husband got to be the one to watch them "evaluate".  He took their comments very personally.  When you put a child in an unknown room with new toys and new people he's not going to "perform" the way he does in the comforts of home.  My husband found himself trying to convince the team of Baby Gl's skills.  When ever he wouldn't respond to something they tried to get him to do, my husband would jump in and get him to do it.  Then there was shock as if it was so surprising that he wouldn't want to play with strangers.  One thing that really frustrated my husband was when they tried to get him to color.  I don't know many 1 year old than can color so we found that to be a little strange.  I've never even thought of giving Baby GL a crayon.  I know where it would go, in his mouth, then lost forever somewhere in the toy box.  


His overall progress puts him in the 10-11 months old range, which is great since his corrected age was 13 months during the visit.  Within the 6 months since the last eval he's made tremendous progress.  Who could be disappointed in that.  There was still a concern about his weight.  At the visit he wighed 14lbs 11 oz which is down from his prior weights.  In my last entry I wrote about Baby GL being put on Pediasure.  Well, after 2 weeks I began to notice side affects, the one that stood out the most was his terrible breath.  The smell continued in his diaper.  The worst smell.  After doing a little research I read other mothers whose children developed thrush on Pediasure due to the sugar content.  That explains the bad breath immediately.  At that point began cutting the Pediasure with whole milk, about half and half.  The bad breath went away immediately.  However, the developmental team thought I was being a bad mother, maybe not, but the whole milk mixture doesn't have enough calories and they actually recommended going beyond the 24oz of Pediasure we were already giving.  My husband, being a husband, never included the detail about the thrush in the explanation of why we changed his diet.  No problem.  I'm great at ignoring people's bad advice.


So now Baby GL's diet includes his mixed milk cocktail and he still continues to get 3 meals spoon fed, fruit and veg.  That's when my husband remembers that the baby needs to eat.  I continued to do more research on weight gain for babies and found a mother that was introduced to Brown Rice Protein.  I found it at our local health food store and added it to my sons daily diet.  I add it to his milk, which is nothing new to the rice cereal we typically add.  I add it to his fruits and veg, as well as high fatty yogurt that he loves.  The final addition to his diet was olive oil.  I went back to added oil during his nightly tube feeding.  It's pure fat which is what he needs to gain weight. 


I think we are making progress.  He had another clinic appointment last week in the Genetics clinic and he gain a few ounces.  Not much, but it's slow progress.  That was another appointment my husband had to get him to.  It was an early one at 8:30am, which was difficult because he was then going into work for 12 hours.  I had my mother meet him to take Baby GL so he could go to work.  Once again, he needs to experience motherhood as we all live it.  


Genetics was actually pleased with Baby GL.  After a brief evaluation they found nothing that stands out as abnormal in him.  The only thing was his fingernails.  They kind of curl up at the end, which I think is due to the fact that he grabs and pinches everything he touches.  I think he'll grow out of it.  My husband and mother were very relieve to get news like that.  The Genetics team would, eventually, like to get some x-rays to look at his bones, but they see no concern to do it now.  That would be a lot of stress on him.


Overall, the month has brought nothing but great progress in Baby GL.  He's growing and exploring so much everyday.  He's really starting crawling all around.  He follows us to the bathroom, kitchen and everywhere else. When my husband is grooming himself in the bathroom, Baby GL has to be there at the bathroom door watching.  We now have to really watch where we step because we'll never known where he'll pop up.  I can;t leave him out of my sight for any amount of time now.  He's regressed to back scooting again.  I think he can scoot super fast now on his back and thinks it's fun.  Well, on his back he can fit under furniture, including the couch.  I found him stuck between the wall and the couch one afternoon.  I had to move the couch to get at him.  He just entertains himself all day long.  He's just thrilled to have places to crawl, toys to play with and a mirror to make out with.  That's super cute!  I keep a long mirror against the chair and he spends all day crawling up to it to give the baby a kiss.  He LOVES babies.  My sister just had a baby and he gives that little guy kiss after kiss.  Even the babies on the diaper boxes.  Every once in a while I'll get a kiss, but it's not a frequent.  


Well, that pretty much bring us to today.  I took him to the doctor concerned about a cold that he may have developed over the weekend.  A cold is not something I'd normally be concerned about, except this one was causing him to vomit many times throughout the day.  It's hard to gain weight when you can't keep anything down.  Turns out, Baby GL has his first ear infection.  It struck me as a surprise.  There were no signs.  The only other time he had ear issues was when he perforated an eardrum during his hospital stay at Christmas.  That was caused by bronchiolitis he had.  He really started to show how much his ear was bothering him after the appointment.  He was very needy and whiny, which is not normal for him.  I put him t bed early today, knowing he was getting the medicine for the infection.  Hopefully in five days he'll be back to his happy self and keeping his food down.  When he gets sick, it's funny how I do more laundry.  

Gaining weight?

We've had a pretty busy couple of weeks.  Baby GL is adjusting very well to the new place.  At the same time he had to spend a few nights at Grandma's while we were working some late nights.  He really loved it.  There's a lot more space to crawl and move around over there.  He's made great strides crawling.  My family loves to entice him to crawl with a remote control or a cell phone.  He will choose the electronic devices over any other toys in his direction.  Even this morning he managed to crawl and pull up on the ottoman to pull down the remote.  Before that he bypassed his ball for my cell phone.  I just hope that his interest turns into a great job someday.  Now that he's moving around so much he's getting more balanced and stronger.  Something PT has been working on is getting him up to sitting on his own.  He can now crawl, stop, sit up, and continue to crawl.  He'll then bring himself over to anything he can pull himself up to.  Soon he'll take off walking.


On Friday we had an appointment with Pulmonary.  It's been a while since we've had a clinic visit so it felt strange going in to the hospital.  I knew what we were going to hear.  Last week we did his pulse-ox test overnight to measure his oxygen saturations.  I noticed the numbers were low so I could only assume the answer was to keep him on the O2.  Sure enough, it was.  His saturations were actually within normal ranges for a normal child.  However, a child with lung disease and pulmonary hypertension, the doctors want better saturations.  So for now he will remain on the O2, at least until we get onto a medication for the pulmonary hypertension.  We are going in within the next few weeks for another echo to get a general measurement of the pressure on his heart.  Once they decide to medicate then we could probably move away from the O2.


Prior to any appointment we get Baby GL's weight and height.  He absolutely hates it.  He's such a big boy now that he sat on the big scale that everyone else stands on.  Unfortunately, we found he has lost weight.  At the time of his surgery back in June he was about 15 and 1/2 lbs.  As of Friday he was only 15lbs 1 oz.  His weight loss is not something the doctors want to see.  His height wasn't accurate.  The best they could get was 24.5 inches, which I know he's much taller but he screams and thrusts his body around that we can't get an accurate measurement.  We've known for a while now that his weight has been a struggle.  He's been getting the same formula, Neosure, for nearly a year.  He began on breast milk, but it was fortified with the Neosure and since Christmas he's been strictly on 27 cal Neosure.  He is eating fruits and vegetables pretty well 3 times a day.  His activity level is so high that it's just not enough.  A normal 1 year old would be getting off formula and moving to milk.  Baby GL is not eating enough to move in that direction, though.  So instead he's moved to Pediasure.  I was a little leery of it because typically it's recommended for 24 months and older.  It is more calories, 30 over the 27 we were giving him with the Neosure.  We just have to see if it will be enough.


Baby GL has been on the Pediasure for the weekend now and he seems to like it.  We don't have to thicken it with cereal, which is nice.  It comes already premixed so there's no messy powder to deal with.  I can't complain about that. The only thing I don't like is that Pediasure only comes flavored, which means extra sugar.  We chose to stick to the vanilla for now.  I don't think we'll ever try the chocolate or strawberry.  I just can't help thinking it will be too much sugar in his system.  Well, at least he's eating.  If he grows faster he may move to more solid food, giving him the opportunity to get off so much of the Pediasure. A nice side affect of the Pediasure is that Baby GL smells like vanilla all the time.   I'm going to assume it's from the random spills that land on his clothes, etc.  It just makes me want to cuddle with him more.

New Place

It has been such a long week.  Baby GL left his first home and we moved into a new place.  We consider it cleaner and more "social" with the distance to parks and places to walk. He took the move very well, but he definitely knew we were not in the same place.  He was actually a little scared looking around and not recognizing where he was at.  Lately, Baby GL has really noticed the different places we go.  He will get very clingy when he not sure about a place.  Clingy and then he'll try to climb up you which there's no higher point than having him wrap around my neck and shoulders.  It just shows how much he's grown.  He continues to show he has the curiosity and intelligence of a 15 month old, but the body of maybe an 8 month old.


Baby GL has been making great strides within the last week.  He has started crawling.  It's a little unstable, still, but he manages to get where he needs to go.  H's even made it over to the bathroom knowing his daddy was in there.  He doesn't let anything be an obstacle for him.  It will take a little more time before he's really taking off crawling.  Something else he's learned to do, which is a little dangerous for us now, is stand in his crib.  I stood him up in his crib the other day just to see what he'd do and he was so excited.  Well, no he's figured out how to get up there on his own.  I found him there this morning.  Now we have to lower to mattress.  He's really been impressing us so much these last few weeks.  He's just at that point where he's bursting out of his "baby" shell and moving into being a toddler.


I'm starting to think that writing about Baby GL's accomplishments may be boring for anyone but us.  After everything we've seen and been through it's just been so exciting to witness everything he does.  I think the moment he takes some bigger chance eating will be a huge milestone.  He has 2 teeth on the bottom.  It's hard to get in there to see if anymore are pooping out.  He has the desire to eat, not just his fruit and veg.  I was eating a muffin and he started to excessively swallow and grabbed my muffin out of my hand.  The desire is there to eat more, but when we give him and of the dissolving rice baby snacks, he chokes when he gets a piece on is tongue.  He will attack a MUM MUM like a champ but then he can't swallow anything that gets in his mouth.  He just licks it and sucks on it until it falls apart into tiny mushy pieces.  We'll have to keep waiting for him to get just a bit bigger, I think.

Video Conversation with Baby GL

See a Video with Baby GL

First trip

Baby GL recovered very quickly from surgery.  He was up and playing around by Wednesday without any problems.  By Thursday we were able to give him his bath and he was already healing very well.  Baths are so much fun now because he's sitting up now.  He'll hold on to the front rail in the bath chair so I don't have to lay him back anymore.  I tried to get him to play in the water and splash around.  He's not really interested in that yet.  He laughed with me a little, but he's not sure about the splashing and playing in the water.  He's not just sitting up in the tub now, he sits up to play and he sat up really well in the shopping cart.  He holds the front handle like a big boy.  He's a little unsteady when he twists, but can sit up and lean forward to play with toys.  


This weekend was PolishFest in Milwaukee so my sister and nephew came with Baby GL and I on Friday night.  He wasn't thrilled with the loud Polka music. He is still very sensitive to loud noises and aside from crying he'll try to climb up into our shoulder and snuggle his head in our neck for protection.  It feels really nice as a parent but we know he's not happy.  As long as we moved far enough away he was fine.  We could hear it enough to dance a little and he loved that.  We were able to visit with family and shop for a great Polish t-shirt to add to his wardrobe.  


So we took our first little outing together as a family this weekend.  I decided it was a good time to have my husband take off work and go away for the weekend.  His birthday was last week and then we had father's day this weekend.  We were invited to a wedding in Madison so I thought it was perfect.  We planned to spend some time at the zoo on Saturday, but we got there too late and most of the animals we already packing in for the day.  It was fine, my husband and I enjoyed a nice dinner out while Baby GL slept in the stroller.  Later we went to the wedding for a little while.  The music, once again, was a little too loud for him so we didn't stay long.  


Sunday morning, Baby GL and I took a morning dip in the pool.  It was his first time.  I had tried a few weeks back putting him in a little kid pool outside, but he was very nervous and wouldn't let go of me.  This time I thought it would be better since I was going in with him.  He did really well.  We, again, were dealing with loud noise from some kids.  The screams and loud splashing echos inside.  It was still good to get him in a feel the water.  I'm hoping to get him swimming while he's still young so he's not afraid of the water.  We'll have to hope for some better weather so we can get him in the lake in his little floaty.

Since it was Father's Day we went out for a nice breakfast, which once again Baby GL enjoyed a snooze in the stroller after playing for a bit in a highchair.  He's not terribly thrilled with the restaurant style highchairs yet.  We traveled up to Devil's Lake and then into Wisconsin Dells to just get out and show my husband something he's not yet seen.  Something he's never done before is play mini golf so we had to do that.  We put Baby GL in the back carrier and played 18.  It was a blast.  I really could feel the wonderful energy as a family that we've lacked for so long while dealing with hospital visits and being stuck at home all winter. We've had too many gloomy days and this was one that was relaxed and full of laughter.  I don't think we could've asked for a better day.  

Day After Surgery

It was an emotional day for both myself and my husband.  The emotions hit my husband harder.  It was a little deja vu in the same waiting room that we were in during Baby GL's 7 hour long hernia surgery months ago.  The nerves just take over while you wait.  


Before Baby GL went in he was given Versed, a light sedative to prevent any memories of surgery and prep.  It made him very drowsiness and loopy.  He was kind of in slow motion, which was actually really funny to see.  I feel better knowing that he won't remember the experience.  


After the surgery was done, which was actually quite quickly, the doctor came out to discuss what happened.  The original plan was to repair the Hypospadias and a catheter would go in while healing and a week later it would be removed.  However, the doctor found that Baby GL's urethra was as thin as tissue paper not making it strong enough for the catheter.  It actually made it a little harder for the repair.  He will grow up with a slight Hypospadias but not enough to be noticeable.  With the tissue so delicate he couldn't repair the urethra all the way to the end as was supposed to be done.  He reassured me that functionally, I will have my grandchildren in the future and as far as locker room issues go, there will be no embarrassments.  I'm not sure how I felt when he mentioned grandchildren.  I still have a baby, I don't want to think about the "process" of making grandchildren when I look at my son.  It will be a thought in my mind now that will take time to forget.


Baby GL went into surgery the same was we found him after surgery, awake and wiggly.  During surgery they did have to intubate him, but it was so wonderful to know they extubated right away without complications.  We had to stay in recovery while the nurses watched his vitals.  Some side affects we were watching for we vomiting, irritability, fever, etc.  In order to be discharged we had to get something into Baby GL's tummy.  So we started with apple juice.  Apparently he was very hungry.  He attacked the bottle.  Unfortunately, he didn't drink enough.  He's not great at taken juice because he's used to his thickened formula.  SO in order to get out of there we had to settle him and tube feed some Pedialyte.  It was a success.  We got to the hospital at 11am and were able to go home by 6pm.  I think it was a good day.


Our order at home were to not submerge the surgical area in a bath until day 3.  Since a catheter wasn't placed they used a type of tape that is like sticky cling wrap to wrap around the surgical area.  Slowly the tape will give and fall off.  It actually is almost all off today.  We were to watch for bleeding, which hasn't been an issues.  For pain we were given a prescription pain killer that we didn't need to fill.  Tylenol has been enough.  The worst part of today was when Baby GL was trying to have a bowel movement.  He cried for at least 30 minutes.  I think between the Tylenol and the crying he just got tired out and fell asleep.  It's heartbreaking to see your child in pain and not be able to do much about it.


The rest of the day Baby GL has been a champ.  Playing as usual, back to normal feeds, sleeping comfortably.  We are staying away from the bouncer for a little while.  Nothing that sits between his legs for obvious reasons.  


It's amazing to see kids heal from surgery and hospital stays.  Adults would be vegetables, lazy and whiny.  Not these little guys.  Children bounce back so much faster than we do.  Isn't that sad to say.  Baby GL is doing so well, he's holding his bottle better than he's ever done and bouncing around at table piano never missing a beat.  He fills our heart with so much love an joy.

Day before surgery

Tomorrow is a big day for us.  We've managed to go over 5 months without a hospital stay and we're hoping to keep it that way.  Baby GL has his Hypospadias surgery tomorrow.  It is only supposed to take 2-3 hours and he would come home the same day.  The complication that could happen is that he may have difficulty coming off the ventilator.  Because of being put under for more than an hour he'll need to be intubated.  Anytime we intubate it strikes a tender spot within me.  Even when we were have the pre-op talk with the doctor I nearly teared up.  It's a very nervous thing to think about.  If he has problems coming off he may need to stay admitted for the night.  Not something I would be excited about doing.


So for now we just have pleasant thoughts about bringing him home after a very successful surgery.  We're planning our nightly feeding.  He will need to stop any formula or solids by midnight, but he can have clear liquids like water or Pedialyte up until 9am tomorrow morning.  We need to be at the hospital for 11am for surgery at 12:30pm.  It was good to hear that they won't be placing an IV until he's under anesthesia.  He won't feel anything then, which make me calmer.  


Send out positive thoughts for Baby GL in the afternoon.  We know things will go well, but I can help being an anxious mom.

Pre-Ops

It's been a pretty busy couple weeks in this family.  Baby GL just keep us on our toes nowadays.  He's moving around with ease.  If he wants to get to something he will get there.  It may take a roll, reach and scoot but he'll get there.  Something we did together was a Baby & Me yoga class for my prenatal students. It was great to show them some poses to bond with their babies and Baby GL loved it.  His favorite is going upside down.  It brings an immediate giggle.  


Our clinic visit last week was for Endocrine, they check his thyroid.  He's been on a tablet for his thyroid since he was in the NICU and it sounds like he'll continue to stay on it.  It's really his only med he's taking for now.  It's the only clinic we need ot have labs drawn up for.  That is a terrible experience for Baby GL.  He has such small arms that it takes a while for the nurse to draw blood.  In this case they started in one arm and ended in another.  I'm not sure how that can be a happy experience for any baby.


So I took my trip last week.  I was away from Baby GL for 4 complete days.  I really thought I would be falling apart.  He was on my mind everyday with everything I did.  I survived, though.  I at least was able to connect over the computer with him.  I think it was probably a good way for me to be away from him for the first time.  It's always a struggle as a mother to put your trust in everyone else to take care of him.  I wrote out a schedule for my husband, by the hour and even added that he's need a bath.  I did the same for my mother. I've never been so type-A until my son arrived.  Now I have to work on relaxing.  Maybe next time I'll try going on vacation.

So today we had our Pre-op appointment for his surgery next week.  It was just a general informative visit.  He needed his vitals checked, weight and height.  We were given a schedule for the day as well as instructions for when to stop feeding him.  I actually got emotional during the appointment when the doctor mentioned he'll need to be intubated.  I knew that he would be but when she started talking about it the whole thing became very real.  We've seen so many bad moments in our son's short life that have included him needing to be intubated.  His surgery is 2-3 hours long so it's too long to go without intubation when under heavy anesthesia.  We should be able to take him home in the evening, however, if he has issues coming of the ventilator it may turn into an overnight stay.  My hopes are to put him to bed in his own crib.  Our week now is preparing ourselves for surgery on Monday.