Surgery + PICU (Day 1)

We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 am. His surgery was scheduled for 8:30, so his last feeding was at 2:00 am. I was worried that he would be fussy and agitated since he demands breakfast first thing when he wakes up in the morning, but he surprised us by being happy and playful. He was totally flirting with the nurses that kept coming by to see the cute baby.

Around 8:00 am, the anesthesiologist, the neurosurgeon, the craniofacial plastic surgeon, and the operating nurse all came through to meet us, talk to us, answer questions, and reassure us. They told us to expect around 3 hours for the surgery itself, not including the time to place IVs and do the marking on his scalp and trim his hair. At 8:15 am, we gave him kisses and hugs and handed him over to the medical team and headed to the waiting room.

The operating nurse surprised us by calling my cellphone at 11:00 am to let us know that they were wrapping up the procedure. She said the surgery went exceptionally well and they would meet with us in about 30 minutes to go over everything. At 11:40 am, the two surgeons joined us in the waiting room. They said the surgery went as well as it possibly could have; he lost minimal blood so he wouldn't need any additional units, and he didn't have to have a drain left in.

We met Gavin in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at 12:30 pm. He was just waking up and had to receive a breathing treatment to reduce the swelling in his airway caused by the breathing tube during surgery. The only tears I shed all day came when I had to stand next to his hospital crib and listen to his tiny scratchy cry while receiving the breathing treatment. After the treatment, I was able to calm him down and the nurse started his pain management regimen to help keep him comfortable. The nurse explained that they try to keep them relaxed and sleeping for the first day after surgery. We spent the remainder of the day standing crib-side, visiting with family who came to support us and helping Gavin to stay still and sleep as much as possible.

At 7:30 pm, Gavin had his first bottle ever when we gave him some Pedialyte. He was able to keep it down and had a little more 30 minutes later. Through the night, we gave him several small bottles of Pedialyte to have something in his tummy so he could sleep. He was up every few hours and had to be comforted to sleep, but he would just suck on my pinkie (still doesn't like pacifiers) and fall back asleep until the next time the nurse had to take his vitals.

One day down, many more to go......