Surgery #2

Emma had phase two of her cleft palate repair done on Monday.  J and I were both feeling good going into the day due to the fact that we have all the confidence in the world in our team of surgeons and an incredible community of friends and family that spent the day lifting up of baby girl. Things went very well and the doctor was pleased with how she did. He mentioned that she has a short palate, so another surgery may be necessary to elongate her palate in a year or two. However for now, we will just take it a day at a time, one surgery at a time.  Emma was a champ all day and far exceeded our hopes for how she might do in recovery.

She did some playing in the waiting room before heading to pre op.  Thankfully things moved along much faster this time, so we didn't have to keep her distracted for too long.  It's hard work to keep a baby's mind off food when her mind is usually always focused on food!

Pre op...she was being so silly. When the nurse called to tell us that the surgery had started, she laughed hysterically about getting Emma to sleep. I'm not exactly sure what she meant by that, but I'm thinking this fiesty little booger put up a fight!

Post op.....Emma slept hard for several hours after we got to her room.  When she woke up, she seemed to be feeling more like herself. She immediately started drinking her juice which was a fabulous sign!

Post nap playing! By Monday night, Emma was eating, drinking, talking, smiling, and trying to escape from all the wires and her bed. She was feeling so great in fact, that she partied hard (ie jumped up and down in her crib) until 2:30 am!

Tuesday morning, she was all smiles because we got to ride around for a while and get out of the crib. The resident came by and was amazed by how well she was doing. She even told us that we would probably get to go home that afternoon! Say what?!?! We were in the hospital 4 days last time and were told this would be about the same. Our little rock star patient wanted no part of that, so she met ever milestone necessary for discharge in turbo speed.

By 5:00 in the afternoon, we were home!!!!

There is no place like home!  Emma was so thrilled to be back in her bed that she slept until 9:30 this morning!

We are so very thankful that everything went so smoothly during her surgery and that she started feeling better so quickly! She is such a tough little girl and we still have more of these ahead of us, but for now, we feel so blessed to have this one behind us!