All sewn up

The surgery was a success and Miss Emily is now the proud owner of two sewn-up hernias. Never one to do anything half-assed, I am glad to see her following in my footsteps and going for broke. The fact they explored the other side and found a hernia means we would have had to undergo another surgery at some point in the future, so it was great to get it out of the way now.

When the nurse called yesterday, she told me Emmie couldn't eat after 2 a.m. So we woke her up and fed her and she went right back to sleep until we woke her again at 5:45 a.m. to leave. We arrived at the hospital at 6 a.m., shockingly on time for us, and they got us settled into a nice little pre-op room.

Emmie was a little fussy, perhaps because she hadn't eaten in four hours and was really freaking hungry, but Josh got her to go back to sleep with the pacifier. That is, after she stared at the lights for a while. The lights, they are mesmerizing.


Unlike most, Emmie sees a bright white light BEFORE her surgery, not during it.

The surgeon came in to see us at 7:15 a.m., still in her coat and regular clothes, and said they would be ready to go in 15 minutes. Well then. I guess it's too late to take her and run down the hall, was my thought.

An anesthesiologist came in around 7:20 a.m. to chat with us about what they would be doing to our two-month-old to render her unconscious. She told us about the gas that would put her to sleep and then about inserting the IV and the breathing tube. And then she started talking about three different options for post-surgical pain relief and I was nodding my head and trying look knowledgeable about such things. Then she looked at me and said, "So which would you prefer?"

I'm sorry, what? I have to choose? No one told me there would be choosing! I didn't do any research! My God, I can't buy a potty training chair without reading the Amazon reviews and now they want me to choose a pain medication on their word? The choices, for those wondering, were IV meds, local shots at the site of the incisions or a caudal block. The block is kind of like an epidural, but the meds are inserted into a space below the spine and doesn't affect muscle strength, but causes one's legs to be somewhat jello-like.

Of course I look at Josh and he says he didn't know so I asked the anesthesiologist what she would do if it was her child and she said the caudal block without any hesitation. So caudal block it was! She might as well get used to the old needles in the back now, if she ever wants to give birth.

With that decision made, the nurse came and said they were ready and that she would just carry Emmie instead of rolling her in the little bed/crib. I kissed her sleeping head and watched them take my sweet little fragile baby girl out the door. I could see her little leg in her fuzzy jammies as they walked away and there were tears in my eyes as I wondered why I let these strangers put her to sleep and CUT OPEN HER BODY.

They shooed us to the waiting room where we were admonished "NO EATING! NO BEVERAGES! YOU CAN EAT ACROSS THE HALL." and we waited about five minutes before I was hungry. So I went downstairs and got a delightful egg and cheese croissant and a smoothie and brought them back to the food-approved area. My grief over the abandonmwent of my small child was apparently not so great as my need to stuff my face with greasy fare.

A mere 55 minutes after they took her away, the surgeon was standing in front of us telling us it was over and that Emmie did great and was fine and that they sewed up both sides. Two seconds after she walked out, they said we could go back to the recovery room.

When we walked in, she was wrapped in warm blankets on the bed and was barely awake. She looked at me through her slitty eyes and I kissed her and talked to her and she was so excited to see me that she fell asleep. But I was able to hold her right away and while she wasn't interested in nursing right then, she did eat about a half-hour after that. So with food in her belly, and not all over me or herself or the bed, they moved her to a post-op room.

She chilled there for a while, well chilled is the wrong word since she had a slight temperature, and ate again. With her temperature back down to normal after unwrapping her from the warm blankets, we were pronounced worthy of going home and sprung from that joint.

We were home at 10:15 a.m., and Emmie immediately pooped right through her diaper and onesie. So yep, she was feeling and acting like her normal self.

She's been sleeping most of the day, which they said to expect, and doesn't seem to be in any pain. So thankfully, this is behind us and we won't have to undergo anymore surgeries.


After the surgery, Emmie says hospital food is bad.

Busy couple of days

We've had a busy couple of days around here, but it's about to get even more stressful as Emmie is having her surgery tomorrow morning.

We met with the two surgeons on Tuesday and while we liked them both, decided ultimately to go with the woman doctor, who is the head of pediatric surgery at the Children's Hospital here. She was awesomely nice and knowledgable and was able to schedule us for Friday. So tomorrow it is.

We have to be there at 6 a.m. for the 7:30 a.m. procedure and she'll be away from us for about an hour. They said it will be about 20 minutes for the anesthesia and then 20 minutes to sew up each side. They do bith sides in girls right away because the possibility of having a hernia on the other side is pretty high and they don't want to have to perform another surgery in a few months if it pops up. They'll make a small incision on each side, just below the fatty crease in her lower abdomen and she likley won't even be able to see the scar when she's older.

I won't be able to feed her after 2 a.m., but she'll be able to eat as soon as she wakes up. They told us they will need to observe her for a few hours and then we'll be able to go home. They said she might be a little fussy for 12-24 hours and then after that, we probably won't even know she had surgery. You know, other than the vision of them carrying my little girl away from me that will be forever burned into my brain.

So wish us luck. I don't think we'll be live-blogging this medical event, but I will post an update when we're home. I know my post doesn't reflect it, but I really am feeling as positive as one can about a surgical procedure. I know she's in good hands and I know it will all be fine.

She hasn't even been lifting

This weekend, I noticed Emmie had a hard lump on the right side of her upper groin area, closer to her abdomen. I showed it to Josh and he agreed it was definitely a lump. But then the next morning, it was gone.

Yesterday I noticed it again, but then it was gone in the middle of the night. But then it was there this morning, so I called for a sick visit appointment at the pediatrician and they got us in tonight.

He said she has an inguinal hernia and referred us to a pediatric surgeon for a consult. Our doctor said she will need surgery; it's the only way to repair an inguinal hernia. If we let it go, it could get worse and she could get the tissue that is protruding into it caught and it might not go back up and it would require emergency surgery.

I thought hernias only afflict weightlifters, so I had been restricting her to two sets of reps with very light weights. Maybe it was the squats that did it? I knew I should have spotted her.

I am not freaked out, just more bummed and feeling bad she will have to go through having anesthesia and not eating before the surgery and all the blah blah blah that goes with it. Not to mention the fact they are going to CUT MY BABY OPEN. Granted, it would be laproscopic, but that's not the point.

Anyone have any experience with this? I have been Googling and "they" say it's kind of common in boys, pretty rare in girls, and usually there is some family history (none that we know of) or other urological problems (God I hope not).