Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for all of us as we went through Joseph's big day yesterday! I can't begin to express how much that means to us! I'll try to keep this short, but I wanted to let you know that the day went very well and Joseph is returning to normal...even with a patch over his eye. Here are some of the highlights:
Fasting. This was a big one for me, you guys must've prayed hard on this one! He woke up himself 10 minutes before I was going to wake him so that he would be done eating by 2:30 am. I don't usually give him a bottle after nursing in the middle of the night, but I did this time to make sure his stomach was plenty full. I got nervous when the bottle seemed to wake him up and he kept acting like he wanted to nurse again at 2:45. But he thankfully took a pacifier and went back to sleep in my arms. We decided not to wake him again, even though he could've had Pedialite before 4:30am, because I wasn't sure he'd like the Pedialite and I didn't want him awake and mad. It turned out well. He slept until we left at 5:30 and made most of the trip to Children's without crying. As soon as we were 5 minutes out, he started screaming, but that only lasted until Daddy could rescue him in the parking garage. Daddy kept him quiet and mostly asleep on his shoulder. He made it through the 3 rounds of eye drops before they took him back to surgery without much of a fuss, even to the surprise of the nurse giving the drops. At 7:30 they took him back for surgery, so all in all, he spent 5 minutes crying in the 5 hours of fasting. I'd say that was a success!
Hospital Staff. Can I just say we had the best surgery recovery nurse ever! Actually, my sweet friend, Cheryl, sometimes works surgery recovery and was so very kind to schedule herself that morning to be Joseph's recovery nurse. I really loved everyone who worked with us, all very competent and had great personalities...it was very reassuring. But the most emotional part for me was going back to recovery and hearing my baby cry a very distressing cry. I know coming out of anesthesia is hard, but it was very comforting for me to have Cheryl there as we worked with him and eventually gave him some meds to calm him down. This obviously was the first time seeing him all patched up...just a little overwhelming all around. Thank you, Cheryl. You have crowns in heaven for all you do for the Rauchs!
Discharged that day. This was huge. There were so many things that could've kept us there overnight because he was right on the bubble with being so young that in most scenarios they would've kept him. But everything went so well that we went home by early afternoon. Taking a hot bath and crawling into my own bed to nap with Joseph never felt so good!
Sleepiness vs. Fussiness. They warned that the first 24 hours he would either be sleepy or fussy. When he did stir, he was definitely uncomfortable and fussy, but thankfully he was very sleepy most of the day.
Back home. My mom was here. Need I say more? It was such a relief just having someone here with my kids so I didn't have to shuffle them around. Not only that, I came home to LEFSE (very big deal for me!), carpet stains cleaned, laundry washed and folded, kids happy, etc. It was great having her today for the post op check and after since I have found myself a little worn down today and a little sick. I walked in the door and up to my room to sleep the rest of the day. When I woke up, dinner was waiting...thank you, Mom!
Post Op Check. Joseph saw three doctors today, all were very pleased with how his eye looked. We came home with drops, salve, and very yucky medicine that is supposed to upset his stomach. Fun. He needs to wear his eye shield for the next two weeks until he is fitted for his contact. He goes back both next week and the following week, then we should getting the schedule and gear he is to be on for the next several months to a couple of years.
Today, Joseph seems back to himself. I can't tell you how sweet it was to see him open his good eye this morning and give me a little smile! Even when he cries, it isn't the distressed cries of yesterday, and that is reassuring. The kids, some of whom were pretty disturbed by his eye guard, are getting used to it and have bounced back to normal with Joseph as well.
So again, thank you, thank you, thank you! We feel very blessed and very loved, so much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving week!
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