We started off our summer break with Brady getting surgery on his 2 hernias. Not quite the way I wanted to start my summer, but at least now it's done with and we will be able to move on. Brady has had his umbilical hernia since he was born. This is very common and wasn't anything to worry about. About 3 months ago I noticed a protrusion above his belly button and was concerned. I had him checked out at our family doctor, who then referred us to a Pediatric Surgeon in Des Moines. I took Brady to Des Moines one Monday to see the Surgeon. He confirmed that Brady had two hernias and that they were not related. The one above his belly button, that I had just noticed a few months ago, is called an epigastric hernia. With time, this hernia could have become larger and painful. Since the doctor was going to repair this hernia, he was also going to repair the umbilical hernia as well. So, the surgery was scheduled for Tuesday, June 5th.
This was the only picture that I could find that really showed what Brady's tummy looked like before surgery. I never took a picture of him bare within the last few months, so I do not have a picture that shows both hernias. This picture was taken LAST summer, so only shows his umbilical hernia (outie).
Surgery was scheduled for 8:45 A.M. on Tuesday, June 5th. We had to be there by 7:15 to check-in, so left the house by 6:30. My mom was at the house to stay with Tyler for the day, so that Lee and I were able to really focus on only Brady. This picture was taken before surgery. There was a lot of time to wait before surgery. And of course, it was time that he wasn't allowed food or drink. He wasn't allowed anything after midnight. He actually did pretty well with this, however. I had gotten him new toys and with the toys that the hospital had for him to play with, I don't think he thought much about eating or drinking. This is his new Spiderman Airplane, which he absolutely loves! The first surgery of the day was taking longer than what was expected, so he didn't actually end up being "taken away" until 9:15. We played a lot that morning!
In his peach gown, pants, and slippers.
Playing with the race cars.
His Child Life friend, Kate, who helped in the 'staying busy and keeping our minds off of surgery' department. Here they are blowing bubbles INSIDE, which Brady thought was pretty cool!
It was time for him to be taken away. What an incredibly hard part of our day! It didn't help that Brady seemed so mad/sad that he didn't want to even look up at us as we were blowing him kisses and waving bye to him. He just sat in that wagon and looked so sad as he got rolled away and into surgery.
Here are the two nurses bringing Brady to us after he woke up. He told the nurse that's carrying him, "I want my mommy!"
He just layed on me for awhile. He really couldn't get close enough to me. He kept nuzzling his face into me and grabbing me tighter, almost as if he was saying, "why did you leave me, Mom!" and "I'm so glad you're back!" He was very sad and cried and cried.
After awhile, he wanted his normal clothes back on. While we waited to get the "okay" to go home, we let Brady color and he ate some crackers. You could tell he didn't feel comfortable and he really wanted the IV out of his hand!
He gave me a pretty good smile before we left. However, this turned into being quite humorous, as he kept smiling and then relaxing his face and did that continually, almost like it felt kinda funny! :)
When we got home he seemed to be more awake, but just relaxed on the couch and watched some new movies that Grandma Mary bought him.
I also got Tyler a new Spiderman Buggy toy. He loves his as well!
The boys and Grandma cuddling on the couch. They were looking out the window and waiting to see some hummingbirds come to the feeder.
The sweet heart shaped bandage that his doctor put on him after surgery.
A random picture, but thought it was so cute! Brady was wanting me to take pictures of some of his body parts; hand, feet, eyes, back, etc. This one is too cute!
"Laying low" doesn't really last in our vocabulary for very long. The first day and a half he did a pretty good job at staying in his PJ's and staying on the couch. By Thursday, however, he was ready to do what he always does. He is not allowed to ride a bike or go swimming until he gets the 'ok' from his doctor on Wednesday. I thought that this was going to be really difficult, but we've made it work and hasn't been so bad. It has been a 90 degree weekend, so to not got swimming has been hard, but they have been able to run through the sprinkler and play in the water table out back. We also took them to see the new Madagascar 3 movie on Saturday afternoon. They loved it!
Having an older brother that runs, runs, runs, doesn't help the whole "laying low" process.
Brady was showered with gifts and cards!
We were finally able to take the bandage off on Friday morning and were also able to give him a bath Friday night. Here's his new belly button!
To me, his belly looks so different! As of right now, I can only imagine his "old" belly and think his "new" belly just doesn't look like him. I'm sure it won't take long for me to forget what his "old" belly looked like and only remember the "new." And from what I have seen so far, I can hardly tell where there is going to be a scar. He's pretty lucky, because I had this same surgery done when I was 6 years old and have a pretty good scar to prove it!
I am so glad that this whole thing is over. It was a rough couple of days and now we are only waiting to get the 'ok' from the doctor to ride his bike and to go swimming, and we will be back in business!
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