It's Been a While

I haven't been able to get around to posting because it's been so hectic! The first few days (week) home from the hospital were rough. The first day back was particularly scary because Ryan ran a fever of 101.9 and we were instructed to call Children's if this happened. We talked to the nurses and anxiously followed instructions to check for signs of meningitis. If his fever continued, we would have to go back. We wanted to be done with it all! Fortunately we got his fever down and did not have to return to the hospital.

Ryan was clingier than he'd ever been and was super fussy. We've always been fortunate and had a very content baby, so it was stressful and frustrating to all of us. We were giving him Tylenol and Motrin (rotating each one every 4 hours for maximum pain management) but he still seemed to be upset and we couldn't decipher his cries - was he in pain? Was he scared? He seemed so anxious and the worst of it came when he was tired. We think he was very afraid to go to sleep ... possibly because he was worried of what would happen when he woke up. We figured that when he was in the hospital, every time he woke up he was poked and/or prodded at ... blood draws, temperature checks, IV fiddling, etc.  (I used my Mommy Spidey sense to  hypothesize all of this by the way.) Just to be sure, we took him to see the pediatrician. I told them that I wasn't stupid and was aware that he had neurosurgery and it could be the obvious cause of his fussiness, but that I wanted to make sure that it wasn't anything else (teething, ear infection, etc.). He didn't see anything wrong but did contact the neuro department at Children's to make sure that there wasn't a plan of action that we should be taking. They said that Ryan holding down food and not being overly sleepy was a good sign and that we should just keep them posted if this continued. If it did, we would have to go back for a CT scan.

We decided that one thing that would help would be to get him on a better sleep schedule. Baby sleep is like a whole new level of difficulty. They don't sleep well during the night if they don't sleep well during the day. And they don't sleep well during the day if they don't sleep well at night. That seems legit. Well, we decided to start with baby steps and go back to the bed time routine we had before surgery. When it was time to go down, we just put him in his crib. He cried for a few minutes and then SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT. It was literally an overnight change and we were so thankful. Since that night, we've been sticking to a pretty routine nap and bedtime schedule and it's been working. He is not any fussier than usual and seems to be pretty happy. Forget the saying "happy wife, happy life" ... it's "happy sleeping baby, happy life."

We have been so, so satisfied with the results. We don't know if it's the testosterone but his hair is growing back quickly. The stitches are slowly dissolving (it'll take a few more weeks) and he doesn't seem to even notice when I wash the incision in the bathtub. He is crawling around like a WILD MAN and has been pulling himself up wherever he can. I heard from somebody else whose child had the same surgery that her child made major gross motor developments after the surgery. Ryan was already on the verge of sitting unsupported (without timbering after 15 seconds) and was doing his own version of crawling, but after the surgery it was like a switch was turned on. It's not what we expected after laying in a hospital before for three days so we are beyond thrilled. Minus the baby proofing required.

10 days post-op 

Next up:
Testosterone injection #2 on July 24th
Post-op with Dr. Keating on August 5th