Rivers Surgery

Rivers had his surgery Monday morning. We knew from the day he was born he was going to need this surgery when he turned about 6 months old, and it has been in the back of my head ever since. So while it was been extremely stressful I am glad it is behind us and we are in the stages of healing and recovery.

Rivers had a very mild case of Hypospadias.  When we first met with the surgeon back in August he said that sometimes it can be really difficult to repair but Rivers had great anataomy as he put it and it should be a pretty straightforward procedure. He also said it was pretty common for this to happen. Every 1 in 200 babies have some case of it and I'm so grateful his was so mild. Plus from the sound of it, the surgeon was doing Hypospadias repairs regularly.

There is a branch of Primary children's at the hospital that is right down the street from us so we didn't have to travel far, another thing to be grateful for.

The last time Rivers could eat was 3:45 a.m. and his surgery wasn't until 8. We checked in around 6:30 a.m. and they got him all cleaned up and his little PJ's.  We then went into another waiting room to wait for the surgeon to come get us. Rivers did great the whole time we waited, I thought for sure we were going to be dealing with a screaming hungry child, but he was awesome.

At around 8 the surgeon came and re-explained everything, then the nurse came and talked to us, and then the anesthesiologist. Everyone was so kind and made sure we understood everything that was going on.

We were able to walk with Rivers back to a certain point and then the anesthesiologist had to take him into the actual OR. Rivers was sleeping when the anesthesiologist took him and the nurse said he stayed asleep until he they put the little gas mask on him to put him out. Yet another thing to be grateful for.

 From there we just had to wait. The surgery was scheduled to take 2- 2 1/2 hours. We went back out to the main waiting room and I was able to take a very uncomfortable nap and David took a baby nap. Finally they came out to tell us we would meet with the surgeon.

He told us everything went perfectly, even better than expected actually. He didn't have to do one step we had previously planned for so that was fabulous. Basically in a nut shell, it couldn't have been a more perfect situation. Again I'm so grateful.

After that we then had to wait again to go back and actually see Rivers, and it was taking a really long time. David finally went and asked how much longer and soon after a nurse came out and told us that as they were taking out the tube that was assisting Rivers breathing during the surgery his throat clamped shut and Rivers stopped breathing! So obviously this sent us into shock. She said they gave him some medicine to help make his throat release so they could push air through and he was now breathing on his own just fine. She said it's super common and happens about once a week, I think i was and still am in a little bit of shock about the whole thing.

She allowed for both of us to go back and see him (usually only one parent can go back) He was asleep when we saw him, and I was again ( I know) grateful that he didn't stop breathing when we saw him, it would have been way too much. He had all these cords attached to him, and they had a breathing mask next to his face.

It was taking him a really long time to wake up, we stood by and waited for almost an hour. I went and pumped a bottle so it would be easier for them to see if he was able to eat and breath at the same time.

Finally Rivers woke up and he acted as if nothing happened. Just started playing with his face mask..... this kid, I tell ya!

They took us back to post-op and I fed Rivers his bottle and then some. He was hungry as you can imagine, then he went straight to sleep. His breathing went down for a little bit but nothing bad, however after the scare that morning the nurses wanted his breathing to be consistent for at least 30 minutes before we left the hospital.

We ended up  leaving around 2, and just went home for the rest of the day. Rivers took a long nap in the afternoon as did we. We went on a walk that evening, Rivers loves to be outside and we knew he would like some fresh air after a probably very strange day for him. He had a little trouble going to sleep that night but once he was down he was out minus feedings.

We've been so blessed through the whole thing. Like we've said many times, for all the things that could go wrong with a pregnancy and birth we are grateful that it was something so minor and that everything has gone so well. He is such a healthy and happy baby, we are truly blessed.