For History's Sake

We survived Friday's surgery and actually made it home much earlier than I anticipated. Our little guy had to go in for an outpatient surgery on his ... um ... junk. A few weeks ago we had taken him in to the urologist to check on his circumcision (which I've had concerns about since day 1, and which would be an entirely different post), and discovered that he had "undescended testicles." Apparently before babiy boys are born, their testicles travel down a little tube from their stomach and into their scrotum. Some don't do it before they're born, but most of them do it before they are six months old. Apparently if it doesn't happen on its own by six months, it's not going to happen on its own at all. If left untreated he would most likely be sterile as an adult and have a much higher risk of getting testicular cancer. Even after surgery, his chances of those two things are increased compared to the average male adult, but much less dramatic than if there were no surgery.

I, of course, have been stressing about this for two weeks. (Insert apology here to my husband and friends who have noticed me being on edge for a while. The election results did NOT help my mood, by the way.) I was concerned about the risks of putting my baby under general anesthesia, and I was super worried about the whole recovery process. I HATE to see my babies in pain. And I can't take it if I'm the one causing the pain, even if it's from cleaning the wounds. I know it needs to be done, but it just kills me!

We scheduled the surgery on a Friday so The Man could take just one day off, and then have a couple more to help me take care of him once we were home. After the nightmare of caring for my newborn after his circumcision, I was NOT going to go through that alone again. Again, another story for another day.

So I didn't sleep at all Thursday night in anticipation of the surgery. I woke him up for his last meal right before 5:00 am, and then we started getting everyone ready so we could be at the hospital by 9:30. We dropped the girls off for a fun day and Aunt K's, who lives right by the hospital, and then we left. The Man dropped me off to go sign us in while he parked the car, and when he came in he took Mini Man to start wandering hallways. He passed a young couple who told him that their son just had the same surgery. He figured they were a couple that I knew or had talked to about all this. Once we were inside and he told me what they had said, I was surprised since I had not seen anyone I recognized in the waiting room. We saw them later as they were leaving, but neither of us has any idea who they were or how they knew what we were there for. Weird.

Getting ready to "go under the knife"

Chillin' listening to some tunes

Practicing breathing with Daddy


Anyway, the doctor came out about two hours later and told us the surgery went well and that one of us could go back and wait with him while he was coming out of the anesthesia. Just one of us? That's just cruel. I went back for the first little bit, but when he didn't come out almost an hour later, I came back to the waiting room and grabbed the man, and we both went back to stay with him. I didn't care if they only wanted one person at a time in recovery. And not one person said a single word about us both being there. Mini Man was pretty upset once he finally woke up, so as soon as they told us we could go, we quickly unhooked every monitor and needle, dressed him in some comfy pj's, and left for home. He slept on the way home and for most of the next day. We would wake him every six hours for more medicine, a snack and a diaper change, and he would soon be back to sleep. It was a good idea to keep him on a schedule for the pain meds; I don't think he's felt any pain at all, but it's been hard to see him SO loopy all the time. The first day was the hardest, since he wanted to get up and walk around but was unable to because of the block he was on during surgery. Every time he would stand up, his little legs would just buckle underneath him and he'd fall to the floor. He was SO mad!

The healing is going much better than I had anticipated, and I am thrilled. Today he is off of the major pain meds and just taking Tylenol a couple times a day. What a champ. He is such a sweet little guy. I'm so grateful to everyone who helped us this weekend with babysitting, meals, phone calls, prayers and priesthood blessings. We are surrounded by amazing family, friends, and tons of love. Wish we could repay you all.

Recovering at home