Avery's Adventure: Home Sweet Home

Avery did pretty well during the first night after her surgery. Luckily we had a bed and a recliner in the room. Tim and I actually slept very well that night. She woke up a few times throughout the night. The next morning her breathing didn't sound too good. She sounded almost like she was wheezing so the respiratory therapist came up and we all decided that an albuterol breathing treatment sounded like a good idea. She still didn't sound great throughout the morning and early afternoon. It was looking like we were going to be spending another night (another Thanksgiving night to be exact) in the hospital. Since the surgery, Avery wanted nothing to do with eating. She didn't even want us to use a dropper and drop formula into her mouth. We gave her some formula through her gtube and gave her some pain meds. One minute she was cranky, fussy and uncomfortable looking. The next minute she was a completely different baby. Even the nurse noticed. She was trying to crawl around in her crib, climb on Tim and was happy and smiling. The nurse paged the doctor and we were able to come home!

The first night at home wasn't too bad. She went to bed around 10:45. I gave her some oxycodone around 4:30 and she wouldn't go back to sleep. For some reason, I think Avery has a reverse reaction with the oxycodone. Instead of making her calm and sleepy, it makes her more awake. After about 45 minutes she fell back asleep until 8:30 this morning. She is doing pretty well. Much better than I thought she would be doing. Some moments she is smiling and acting completely fine and then the next minute she is fussy and nothing seems to comfort her. She is still refusing to eat anything by mouth. I am definitely thankful she has a gtube. If she didn't, we would still be at the hospital.

Another issue she was having is that she hadn't pooped since Tuesday. It's most likely due to the anesthesia and pain meds. We decided to give her some prune juice to help things a long. We gave her some throughout the day. I was worried there would be a blowout when she finally pooped. We were giving her a bath and all of a sudden I looked down and she had pooped in the water. Go figure! It could have been worse, it could have been diarrhea.

Dr. Doumit called me this morning to see how she was. I asked him how many stitches were in Avery's mouth and he said about 50. 50 stitches in our little girl's mouth. No wonder she doesn't want to eat. I wouldn't want to either if I had 50 stitches in my mouth.

We haven't really had to use the arm restraints which was one of my biggest fears about the surgery. I am off of work for a week so I am constantly watching her. She has only tried to put one thing in her mouth so far. I am sure this will change as soon as she starts feeling better and wanting to chew on everything in sight.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Tim and I are thankful for all the love, support and prayers from our friends and family. We were so happy that Avery got to come home yesterday and not spend another holiday night in the hospital.

I fell asleep holding onto my bib and Care Bear