He's Quite the Trooper

We had to wake up our sweet boy at 5:15 this morning to head down to the Children's surgery center in Atlanta for a minor surgery.  We have been dreading it for a couple of months now and were ready to have this day over.  We could feel all the prayers of our family and friends this morning as we drove down in the horrible rain and Brody just talked away.  One of my concerns was not feeding him when he woke up, but he did just fine.  We arrived around 6:30 and were checked in and in a pre-op room by 6:45.  The entire staff at the surgery center was beyond amazing! Since Brody has had an ear infection for the past week, he has also become very congested so we were worried that the surgery might be postponed.  Of course, we wanted to do what was best for his safety and we hoped that meant proceeding.  The anesthesiologist came in and said there was definitely some rattling in his chest, so he wanted to do a breathing treatment to try and clear it up.  Until this point, Brody had been a super happy baby and was entertaining all the nurses.  However...he DID NOT like that breathing treatment.  I really wish we had pictures of it because he was screaming and so mad. I don't think I have ever seen him that irritated with us, so it took both of us to hold him down which means no pictures. :)  After the treatment was over, the anesthesiologist came back in and listened to his lungs and confirmed it was safe to go on with the surgery.  I have a feeling we will back at our pediatrician's office before the end of the week if the rattling does not go away. I love his face in the picture below- Danny said its like he is thinking they are going to do what to me?!?!

After all that it was still about an hour before time to go back for his surgery, and he was getting so tried so he took a little nap...in the middle of everything! I love that sweet sleeper!  He woke up about five minutes before time to go back and was all smiles.  I made Danny go back to the OR with him b/c I just don't think I could have handled it.  Within forty-five minutes he was back and in our arms, but it seemed like FORVER! Danny and I were taking while he was back about how thankful we were to be there for such a simple procedure and how parents must feel when their child is truly in danger and has to have surgery.  Just yesterday in our town an eight year old boy was hit and killed by a school bus and I cannot fathom the anguish that family must be in.  We are so very thankful for our healthy boy!  After the surgery, the doctor came out and told us that everything went well and he would be back soon.  We had been warned that many babies wake up screaming from being put to sleep.  The nurse who brought him to us said Brody woke up screaming MAMA...haha.  When he got to us, he took one look at us and let the screaming begin.  He was so upset and angry and did not like that the iv was still in his arm.  The nurses encouraged us to try to get him back to sleep in hopes that after a nap he would wake up much happier.  That is exactly what happened and he woke up a little groggy, but soon turned to all smiles and had the whole nursing staff ooing and ahhing over him. The nurse was so patient getting all the tape off and his iv out slowly as to not hurt him.  He just watched her and talked to her the whole time she was working.

He looks much better than I would right after surgery! We were so glad that we didn't have to do anymore breathing treatments and were able to come home around 10:45.  After a little bit of bottle and some applesauce once we were home, he was ready for a nap and has been asleep for over two hours.  I'm hoping he will sleep lots in the next 24 hours so he won't feel much pain.  He should be able to return to normal activity by the weekend.  Thank you LORD for watching over our baby and for doctors and nurses that had a heart for taking such good care of him!