New Firsts

New firsts: First Surgery and First Steps!

Thanks for all you who prayed for Alyas and his surgery today. It went smoothly without a hitch. I was worried mostly about having to be there at 5:30AM and not letting him eat until his surgery at 7:00. He was awake the whole time and pleasant...not too big of deal. He usually eats his first bottle right at 7:00 anyways. The time line they gave me they stuck right to. They had him all checked in and ready and the doctor came to get him at 6:55. They told me that it wouldn't take long and he'd be right back with us. We didn't know that literally 15min. later they came back in announcing everything was fine and he was back in the room around 7:25. They said we'd be home no later than 8:30 and we were walking up the stairs to our apartment at 8:30 on the dot! The total cost (without insurance) for a procedure like this (as simple as it was) we were told is about $5,000...so we figured that it took them about 5min to walk back and fourth to the O.R. making the total procedure time 10min....that's $500 per minute! Holy Smokes! Granted the total bill was not soley for the doctor and the anesthesiologist's time BUT WOW! Really? One of the docs I work with said it's ridiculous how much they charge and it has a lot to do with the history of the procedure and yada yada yada. Well, at any rate Alyas came home good as new! Didn't seem to be in any pain at all and hasn't fussed literally all day long! Some say getting tubes gives them a whole new child - they sleep better, personality changes, better balance, better hearing, etc. So far so good. I can imagine how it might feel to be all plugged up and that aching pressure/pain in your ears from chronic puss/fluid. Here's hoping we get the biggest bang for our buck and it all pays off!

Some pictures of our day....Brandon laying on the floor b/c he went out the night before with our pastor and was up late discussing and debating.

The oh so welcoming crib...but Alyas is too young to really be scared by old aesthetics.

Our little dude in a hospital gown.

Playing the the Boys Town Hospital Window.

Saying bye bye right before they take him to the O.R.

Back from surgery. He downed 3oz of juice and 5oz of milk then quickly passed out.

Had to wake him before we left to make sure he was O.K. Smile is back and he ate a banana and a graham cracker right away...then fell asleep again on the ride home and slept from 8:30-11:30. (He's asleep again now it's 4:52 and he's been in bed for an hour).

Not a picture from today but one of my new favorites!

I'll end with a video of the other day and his first true steps. He'd done a few stutter steps the weeks prior but here he is on April 17th taking off for the first time!



Lastly, another cute new trick playing "Go Night Night...then Wake Up!"