"No, I Dane."

I finally uploaded some videos that I had stored on my camera. This one really makes me smile =)  Dane would be about 2 years, 2 months old.

Post-Surgery Complications

Two days after Dane's surgery, he was screaming in a lot of pain and passed a lot of blood in the potty and again in the bathtub.  He also began vomiting, was lathargic, pale, blue lips, and yawning constantly.   We rushed him to the E.R. at Children's Hospital, and he was given a blood transfusion.  The doctors did surgery again to check that he was no longer bleeding, and they also put in a few more stitches where they think the bleeding had occured.   We ended up staying 2 nights.  It is now 12 days post-surgery and he is still in a lot of pain.  We may have to go back and remove the stitch he currently has and put in a looser one.  Praying we do not and that he will recover from this soon.

Reading books and watching tv in the E.R.

The things that comforted Dane where playing with my hair, blue bunny, and singing Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Dane's room.  He was supposed to sleep in the crib on the right, but he refused and instead slept on the couch under the window with me.  Alek slept in a recliner that a nurse brought in from another room.

Watching TV

Dane was able to see the sun wake up.  He was very excited!

Sunday morning, just before Dane lost the blood, I did a photo shoot of Ryleigh since it was her 6 month birthday.  She has two bottom teeth that came in at 5 1/2 months.  If you look close, you might be able to see them.   (Mary stayed at our house to watch Ryleigh while we were in the hospital and we brought milk to her that I had pumped at the hospital.  Thank you Mary!)

Dane's Surgery

Due to Dane's rectal prolapse happening again (5 times) last weekend, he had surgery this morning. They cauterized the rectal wall in four spots (12, 3, 6, and 9 on a clock) and put in some stitches that will slowly disintegrate in a few months. This procedure will create scar tissue and hopefully keep the rectum from falling out.

Alek and I took him into Detroit Children's Hospital at 7am.  At 8:30 Dane and I walked happily into the surgery room, and I laid him up on the table to recieve sleeping gas. They had previously warned me to expect him to fight and cry when they put the mask on him, but he just laid there and looked around at everyone. (The gas smelt like bubble gum, so I think that helped.)  I talked to him and kissed him on the cheek, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.  I then had to leave and wait in the waiting room with Alek.    At 9:10 the doctor called us and said everything was done, and Dane was great!  We went to the recovery room where they wheeled in Dane who was just waking up, and we were able to give him a great big hug and lots of kisses.  I am grateful the whole experience went so smoothly, and Dane was completely comfortable the entire time!

In the pre-operation room. 

 They had stickers, bubbles, and all sorts of toys for him to play with. 

Since I was able to go with him when they put him to sleep, I had to dress up in hospital attire and wear a mask.

After the surgery, they gave him a popsicle and juice. 

 

A teacher from Mother's Day Out gave us this Moose to give to Dane after his surgery.  I will be sure to send her a thank you along with the above picture.

When we got home, Grandma Mary had presents for Dane too (she stayed home to watch Ryleigh while we were gone).  

Dane was pretty doped up on morphine, so he was running all around and you never would have guessed he just had surgery.

Playing the plane from Grandma.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ayson!

Ryleigh's MRI

On February 16th at 5 months old, Ryleigh finally had her MRI, and it came back normal. Yay!   We went in that morning expecting to be home in just a few hours but ended up having to spend the night in the hospital. The anesthesiologist was not comfortable sending her home with two "apneic episodes" in her past and just being under full sedation.  So they wanted to monitor her overnight.  I was not thrilled with the unexpected news, but I completely understood and thought it was a wise decision.  

The thing I hated the most was she had to be hooked up to an IV the entire time in case they needed to suddenly give her medication.  They boarded it up so that she couldn't move her hand and hurt herself. 

Since the overnight stay was unexpected, we had no toys and were very unprepared.  We found things to do like watching tv (seen here), going for walks around the ward, singing, bouncing around, pacing the room, and lots and lots of more walks.

Chewing on her giraffe I call Sophia. 

A little tummy time

We had this half of the room.  She slept in the crib, and I slept in the green recliner.  It was definitely a tight fit!  I asked if I could sleep in the hospital bed on the other half of the room, but the staff said no.

Hanging out together watching the time tick

Taking a nap

And one last picture to include Dane.  He loves his baby sister very much!  Muah!