The Day

Thank you for all the positive vibes, everyone! We really appreciate it.

Well, the end of the day has finally arrived. It has been...exhausting.

The day started at the crack of dawn. First of all, I am not, by any means, a morning person. I never have been, and I KNOW I never will be. I even managed to get the boys trained to sleep in until 9 ish on most mornings! So, anyway, I pull my cranky self out of bed this morning while it was still dark outside. (OMG. I hadn't realized that it would be so dark at 5 in the morning. Good Lord, people, why does anyone get up at that time in the morning?!!? Jeez, and with the number of people on the road, it seems to be a common occurrence!) This was of course, after a fitful night of sleep, so I was even crankier than I would have been had I not been worried. We got ourselves up, dressed, fed, and out of the house in time to make it to the hospital by our 6 o'clock check-in time.

We finally got upstairs to wait for the doctor, who arrived somewhere around 7:50. Yes, we waited that entire time with a baby who was hungry and getting more suspicious that something big was up by the minute.

At 8:12, they came to take Shawn to the operating room. We were sent to a small waiting room just outside of the main wing and next to the elevator. The waiting area was big enough for 4 chairs.

Isaac and I were talking when the fire alarms first started. Then, I kid you not, a nurse came over to the waiting area we were in, told us that they were having a fire alarm, closed the doors to the hospital wing, and left us in the waiting room!

With no way out except for the elevator which was clearly labeled to not use during a fire!

While our baby was in the operating room!

Just as we were nearly in a panic (well, just as we were assessing how we could break the glass window behind us so we could get out, I'm not sure we were quite into panic mode yet), another nurse came and opened the door to the waiting area. Apparently they were testing the alarm system and there was no danger. That probably would have been nicer to know about three minutes earlier. It is a good thing we didn't actually follow through with the escape plan!

The alarms, though, continued to ring every three minutes the entire time we were there.

Anyway, a nurse finally let us know that Shawn's surgery was finished and I could go back to the recovery room.

When I got there, Shawn was finally getting to have a bottle of sugar water. I talked to him a little before he opened his eyes. He was so good, only crying when the nurse removed all the tape around his IV. They let us take him home about a half an hour after the surgery was over.

Now, he's swollen and has an inch long incision about two inches below the top of his diaper. His incision looks as good as having your groin cut and prodded could look. They said he'd be black and blue for a bit, and to ice the area as much as possible, but Shawn is having none of that.

We go back for his post-op follow up next week.

My only complaint about the experience, outside of the fire alarm incident, was that they stuck Shawn 9 times (that we could see, there may be more that we haven't found yet) before they put the IV in his neck. The poor little guy has a bruise at every spot an IV was attempted. It does frustrate me because I tried to warn them about his veins being shot from his NICU days, and told them where the best places to put the line in, but they didn't exactly listen. Shawn put up quite a fight, though, (even while he was supposed to be sedated) which somehow gives me a little bit of satisfaction. (take that you doctors who don't listen)

Humph. What do I know? I am just his mother.

I have to say again that I am very proud of Shawn. He really was exceptionally good today, never crying at all until him was in the recovery room. He is one tough little boy!

We also want to thank my mom for keeping Jason last night and all day today. Thanks, mom!