Recovery

Well, he isn't feeling good, but I've seen him feel worse. They're giving him Tylenol every 6 hours and Morphine every 3 hours as needed for pain. He's on Flagyl and Cefoxitin every 8 hours as a precaution for infection, and they made him special 'water wipes' for when they have to wipe his bum. The day after surgery he slept most of the day, but today he's starting to wake up. The only problem is that it hurts him to hold him or sit up, and he isn't quite awake enough to enjoy the toy arch we have in the room for him. The toy arch is like a play mat, but without the mat. The hospital brought that in for him, and they also put a musical mobile up for him in his crib. Even with all of that, and me standing next to the crib talking to him. I have tried to hold him since his surgery, but it only added to his pain no matter where I placed my hands and made him more upset. 

Morphine is a tricky thing, especially on babies. It builds up in your system and slows your breathing more so with each dose. Because of that, they're having to wean him off of it slowly. It's difficult to balance his pain and his breathing, so he's going closer to six and nine hours between doses now. They wont withhold it from him if he's in pain, but because we don't want him to code and need a tube and cpr we choaveose to wean him. 

We haven't really left the hospital, except for Urian when he needs to work, but we sleep and eat here and I spend the day here with him. I can't imagine leaving his side for very long, and it makes me anxious to be away. The sleeping here really isn't made for two people, but from what we've seen there's a lot of parents both sleeping here at night. It's a thin twin sized mattress on a hard couch with one pillow and a blanket I brought from home in anticipation of the not so comfortable bed. But it isn't their job to make the parent's comfortable, as long as they're caring for my child with the best care possible I'm happy. 

We haven't really allowed visitors until today, and even now we limit it and there are a few guidelines. Theres no holding, no touching (it's been making him anxious and upset when there's a lot of touching), whispering only, and short visits. It's really whats best for him right now, but we understand that people want to see him and give their love. So far my sister and dad have been here to see him, and it ends up that he's asleep and they sit there looking at him. 

I'm sorry theres not a lot of time to write in more detail and with more feeling, but at the moment I just want to get it out there the way it's happening so I don't forget and so others who have this coming up in their near future can read it and know what to kind of expect. I read as many stories as I could find, and there aren't a lot that I COULD find, and it's something that actually helped me.