Post Surgery (June 22, 2012)

After sitting with Spencer for a few hours he kept trying to crawl to me or get to me so the nurses finally asked me if I wanted to hold him.  My response was of course. At first I was a little nervous because of all the tubes and lines in his body but they set me up in a nice comfy chair, they organized all the tubes and they put him in my arms. It was so nice to hold him and he nuzzled his head into me and went soundly to sleep. I held him for another couple of hours and then at 7pm the nurses told us we had to leave the CCU for an hour due to shift change. We had to leave because they discuss all the cases that are in that room and due to privacy issues no one besides patients are allowed in the room. I gave Spency a kiss, put him back into bed. Luckily he didn’t get upset, he just turned onto his tummy and went back to sleep. He was very groggy as he was on a constant morphine drip. I was not happy about leaving for one hour but of course we had to follow the rules. So, from 7pm - 8pm Steve and I went to Spencer’s room on the 8^th floor and tried to relax a bit. Steve managed to eat dinner but I still did not have an appetite, I watched him eat and I drank. I knew I had to at least due this to again keep my milk supply and energy up for Spencer as the next few days were going to be extremely difficult.  I watched my watch, the hour went by so slowly. I went to go pump again as Spencer was not ready to nurse and finally the hour was done. 

When we came back in the nurse asked me if Spencer ever took a bottle. I sort of laughed and said no and asked why. They said that they tried to give him some water in a bottle but he wouldn’t latch on at all. They figured he didn’t like water which is actually not the case. He loves water, but he doesn’t have a clue how to use a bottle, he drinks out of a sippy cup. Luckily I brought his favourite cup to the hospital so they filled that up with water and he drank like crazy. I was so happy to see him drink but scared at the same time as I know that many people vomit after surgery. I tried to make him take it slow but he really wanted it. They told me if he kept that down than over the course of the night I can try and nurse him. I was excited about that as well. I knew he wasn’t hungry per say but I still you feel as a mother instinctually that they need to eat so I wanted to nurse him. After another few hours went (it was now midnight) they told Steve and I that we really should get some rest. The nurses promised that if he was ready to nurse they would call me either in Spencer’s room on the 8^th floor or they would call my cel.  Steve convinced me that we really needed to get some rest for Spencer’s sake. So again I kissed my Spency goodnight and as hard as it was I left him. I knew he was in very good hands so I hesitantly left. I said there was no way that I was going all the way up to the 8^th floor as the CCU is on the 2^nd so the nurses told me to go lay down in the CCU waiting room which had chairs that lay down into beds and that they would call if Spencer woke up. I trusted that they would call so I put my cell phone on loud, put it by my ear and went to go lay down. To my complete surprise I actually fell asleep for a couple hours. I felt guilty for sleeping but at the same time I knew I really needed. At this point I hadn’t slept in 2 days so it was a much needed sleep. My phone did not ring so I assumed that Spencer was not ready to nurse. Finally at 5 am I got up and went back into the CCU to be with my baby. He was a little more awake and the nurse asked me if I wanted to try and feed him.  So I did. He did great. He ate as he usually does and then I waited to see if he would keep it in. He did! I was so pleased. He was doing so well that they told me they were moving him to his room at 7am. They had already booked a transport. At this time they also told me they will be taking him off the morphine drip and moving to an oral or IV dose every four hours. I was a little apprehensive about that but when they explained that it is really better for him I agreed. Before they moved him they took out his catheter, one IV and one central line that he had going. They told me that the JP drain (the tube in his head) had to remain I was upset but I understood that this was very important to keep the swelling off the brain. So obviously whatever had to be done had to be done. 

 At 7 am exactly the crew came to move him. We settled in upstairs and began the real recovery. Spencer still hadn’t really swelled yet so I sort of convinced myself that maybe he would be the exception and his eyes wouldn’t swell shut like they say they do. Only time would tell!