Thursday, November 18 was an early morning and a long day for all of us. We had to have Aislin at the Shriner's Hospital at 6am to prep her for surgery. She knew what was coming and was excited to get some more pink "Heavy pants." We could tell that she was nervous but excited to see the big fish tank they have in the lobby and to have her own room. She likes to call her hospital the "blue" hospital. I think it's because the first room she was in had blue walls. Other than that, I'm not sure why.
Aislin took the medicine that makes her drowsy very well. This time the medicine hit her pretty fast and we were hoping it didn't wear off before she had to go into surgery. She was being funny and she was drooling a bit this time. She had a hard time sitting up and Jordan and I had to hold her up. She had a cute little yellow gown this time and of course the Nurses Aid came in to do her vitals and thought she was a boy. (Her hair really needs to start growing faster!)
We finally went to the pre op waiting room and I actually held it together pretty good. This wasn't my first rodeo, but it was really hard to be happy and smiley for Aislin's sake. I just had to not think about it. We talked about the Mickey Mouse wall decals and she was just being loopy and silly. When the nice Anesthetisiologist came in and we handed her to him, she was ok until her left with her to go to the O.R.
This time she cried and screamed for Daddy. Daddy did not do well. He couldn't fix it and it broke his heart. We were comforted in the fact that she would be out in just a few seconds. And she was.
We went and had some breakfast, though it's hard to eat when you are worried about your precious little one. We then hung out in Aislin's room until she was brought back to us.
This time her surgeon, Dr. Hennessey, brought her to us because they were busy and she knew Aislin wanted to see us. Aislin wasn't even crying this time. I think part of it was that she was still falling back to sleep a bit and we had to keep waking her up. We had Word World on for her and that made her happy. We were able to get her a big adult bed so we could lay down with her and snuggle her as much as possible.
This time was different than the last. This time we knew what to expect, but had different "speed bumps" to get over. This time I was pregnant and tired a lot. This time Jordan stayed over nights with Aislin, while I slept in the Parent's Room. This time her epidural was leaking and getting her cast all wet and she was uncomfortable. She didn't seem to have pain even with a leaky epidural, so it was removed on Saturday. She did fine with some Vicodin and Ibuprofen as far as pain goes. She does get really irritable when she takes the Vicodin and so we started spacing it out farther and farther and she was done with it by Sunday. If I remember correctly, her fully catheter was removed on Sunday and we could start using diapers.
Monday was the CT scan at Primary Children's Hospital to make sure Aislin's hip was in the socket correctly. We were so ready to go home by then.
Dr. Hennessey came in and told us that her hip was not in correctly and we were devastated. Dr. Hennessey felt so bad and put her arm around me when I started to tear up. She told us that they would fit her in first thing in the morning and remove her cast, adjust the hip manually and recast her. (We were glad for the recast, since the first one was still recovering from the leaky epidural.) If that didn't work then she would have to open Aislin's leg back up and figure out why it wasn't staying in the socket. Thankfully Tuesday's CT scan showed all was well. After an extra day in the hospital we were able to go home!
I only had my Sony Cybershot with me and I was so tired all the time I only got a couple of pictures.
This is Aislin on Friday, the day after surgery. She is watching Word World and eating ice chips.
Poor Jordan was so tired from being woken up during the night by the nurses, nurses aids, machines beeping and Aislin. Plus he had to do homework during our stay. So he took lots of naps in Aislin's room and in the Parent's room during the day.
Aislin was glad to get out of her bed once the epidural was removed. We went for walks in the giant wagon that we used last time, and she was able to sit on mine and Jordan's laps. Here she is on Monday the day we were hoping to leave, just relaxing while her bed sheets, ect. are being changed.
