Recovery

Jeshua returned from Surgery Friday early afternoon with his tummy sewn up and his plumbing hooked up the way it was intended (well, pretty close to the way it was intended)! He responded very well to the anesthesia, and the pullthrough was textbook.

The operating room is on the ABSOLUTE opposite side of the Deaconess complex than the NICU, so shortly after 8am Friday we followed the two nurses pushing Jeshua's huge NICU crib down twisted hallways and up elevators until we reached the point we were no longer allowed to follow. Despite not having eaten anything for the entire morning, and subsisting on electrolyte water the entire previous day, Jesh was happily squirming around with eyes wide open as we loved on him and said our goodbyes, standing in the hallway of the hospital. He had no clue what was happening and received our kisses with his usual funny winces, and we returned to the NICU to await word. The surgeon had nurses call several times throughout to give us status updates, and Jeshua returned to us shortly after noon, still under the effects of the sedation drugs they'd given him, and still using a ventilator. By mid afternoon, he was fully breathing on his own, while still asleep, so they removed the ventilator tube and began watching for signs of pain. Melissa and I were so grateful to see him there; his eyes would flutter open occasionally, and we anxiously watched to for signs that he was coming out of the "grogginess".

Things took a little turn for the worse around late afternoon when he began showing signs of pain. He was still sedated, but would wake up with a jolt and kick and cry for a few seconds at a time, several times per minute. He began to fight and scream longer each time, and they were coming more frequently. They'd administered morphine earlier which can be given every 2 hours at most, so they gave him another dose at the 2 hour mark. Unfortunately, he gave no sign that the pain killer did anything to dull the pain, and instead began with breathing fits where'd he'd stop breathing for a short time in between the pain spats (happens often with strong doses on infants). Later in the evening they attempted a different medication with a stronger sedative effect, which thankfully worked very well, letting him fall peacefully asleep. He remained asleep throughout the night and into Saturday morning. I ended up staying at the hospital through the night to keep an eye on baby and mommy.

Saturday morning, I picked up Aaron and Leah and returned home, while Melissa remained at the hospital. Before I left, Jesh woke up and, while still groggy, could focus on us and waved his hands around. He was doing great and seemed relatively pain free! His painkillers were being stretched out as he truly seemed to be recovering quickly. He was somewhat agitated this afternoon so they stepped up the meds a bit to compensate, but we're still hoping for a second good night. The doctor thinks we'll be able to feed him pedialyte water tomorrow and really jump start his bowels again, and hopefully he'll be breastfeeding again by Monday. He had a small BM (mainly stomach/intestine fluids) today, so things appear to be moving the way they should. We hope to see more of that "action" in the coming days. The doc thinks we're still on track to discharge late next week.