Surgery Day!

Today we took Samantha to Nationwide Childrens Hospital for her "kidney" surgery. We had really hoped and prayed for an early surgery time since we knew it would be hard to keep her happy all day without food and drink, but her surgery was not scheduled until 2:50 PM. So we tried to keep her entertained all day but she was definitely not a happy camper being hungry...wonder where she get's that from?!?!

We left the house around noon to be there by 12:45 pm. President Obama was at the hospital making a speech about the stimulus money so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get there. On our drive there we passed the entire motorcade including the President. It was really crazy to see the whole freeway shut down and TONS of police and security all for one person. But he is the President so I guess it made sense. Anyways, we got the the hospital with plenty of time. They were actually setting up in the lobby for the Governor and Mayor to speak. But we just headed right up to the surgery center to start the check in process.

Once we got checked in, they took us right back to her pre-surgery room. They weighed her and measured her height. Asked us tons of questions and did a general check up. After we were all settled she got to go in the Ocean Room to pick out a present. She got a little noise make type of toy which kept her entertained for all of 10 minutes.

Jeff got her all dressed in her hospital gown while she explored her crib. Then the doctor came in and explained how she would be put to sleep before any of the procedures started. At this point Jeff and I really started getting nervous. It was hard to stay calm and happy for Samantha when were we feeling so much anxiety.

We had about 10 minutes to hang out with her before they took her back into the OR. We just played with her and tried to keep our minds off the fear. One of her nurses brought in some bubbles and she liked trying to catch them. Jim and Libby came up to the hospital to hang out with us and they got there right before they took her back.

She crawled under her crib on this tray...just exploring.

We waited from 3 PM to almost7 PM before we got to see her. The doctor called us in the waiting room around 5 and let us know that everything went really well and they were sewing her up. So Jim, Lib, Jeff and I went to the cafeteria to get some dinner so we would be done by the time she was out of recovery. Then my mom and Aunt Vikki came up to wait with us too. By the time my mom and aunt got there no one else was left in the family waiting room so we had it all to ourselves.

Then the nurse came and told us her new room number and we high-tailed it to her new room so we could be waiting for her when she came in. I was really hoping that she would smile and get all excited to see us but she was so out of it that she really just laid there. I picked her up so fast and just cuddled her. She would only open her eyes for short periods of time but when she did my heart melted. It was just so good getting to see her and love on her after being apart for so long.

I wanted to get her some fluids right away since she had not had anything to drink since 9:30 AM. So the nurse got her some pedilyte in a sippy cup. It was in 2 oz portions and within 10 minutes she drank all 8 ounces they brought us.

After her big drink she fell asleep and slept for 3-4 hours. I had ordered some food for her but she was not really in the mood to eat. She had 1/2 a banana, some animal crackers and some milk. Since she was on a high does of fluids from her IV she was not as thirsty or hungry as I thought she would be. Jeff left around 9 PM to go home and take care of the dogs. Since there was only one couch I decided to stay with her all night. She woke up around 10:30 PM when the nurses came in to give her medicine and take her vitals. She was not in the best mood as I am sure she was not feeling very good but she was more awake than when she first came out of surgery. We both ended up going to bed around midnight. Over all this has been a really long day and I am sure tomorrow will be too...