Home, Sweet Home

Home at last! And so nice to be here.

Last night, as soon as the doctor said Guille could have milk and basically anything that he can drink through a sippy cup... he started drinking! It was like "Give me that! It feels so good in my tummy!" He downed 7 oz. pudding/milk mixture, 4 oz. sherbet (melted), 4 oz. melted ice cream in about 45 minutes!! During the night he had one more oz. of the pudding/milk mixture.

Cabin fever set in, so we cruised the halls for about an hour.

Working on learning sign language and numbers.

When the Dr. came in this morning he was very pleased with Guille's raid of the refrigerator (all those drinks!) and said to take him home! So, after one more round of liquids (breakfast) we packed up, called Guillermo and had him come pick us up. (He has come home to sleep at night.)

Since getting home, Guille has decided not to drink any more. He took about 1/2 oz. of soup and 1/2 oz. of yo-milk (milked down yogurt) and 2 sips of water. Please pray that he will drink more. I certainly don't want to have to take him back due to dehydration. He's sleeping now, and boy was he glad to see HIS bed! He's such a sweetie! Guess we'll keep him! (Don't think there was ever a question as to whether or not we'd keep him. He's ours, now and forever!! We thank the Lord for him every day.)

Recovering nicely

Around 6:15 the surgeon came out and said that the surgery went very well. He said that Guille's cleft was a little wider than they had anticipated but they were able to close it up and get him on the road to recovery. It seemed like forever before they sent us back to the recovery room (7:15) and we got to snuggle. At 7:45 they took us up to his room where he slept pretty well most of the night. There were a few episodes where the pain meds must have been wearing thin and he fussed, kicked, cried, stiffened out (thus making it quite difficult to hold on to him) but he quickly calmed down and went back to sleep.

The doctor came in around 11:00 and shortened Guille's "trumpet" and said he'd be back around 5:30 in the morning. I didn't get much sleep. The room was warm and the lower we turned the AC the warmer it seemed to get. Finally at 2:00 I decided to open the door and let some air circulate. That helped a lot! I slept from 2:30-3:30! Yeah! Then a few cat naps here and there until 4:30 when Guille wanted to come onto the couch with me and snuggle. How could I resist?

First pics in the recovery room.

FINALLY, some snuggles!

The blue-green thing in Guille's nose is the "trumpet".

It went through his nose down into his throat, just as a precautionary measure since they worked so close to the back of his mouth.

He used to have two "hangy-bally-things-at-the-back-of-his-throat" (uvula) due to the cleft but now he has just one. Haven't seen it yet, but the surgeon said it looks great.

The string that is taped to his cheek is holding his tongue down. (Yep, his tongue has been pierced!)

Our boy behind bars.

Now doesn't this look comfortable?

The arm restraints are used to keep him from touching his mouth.

After a good night's sleep and some good pain medicine, Guille was feeling a lot better by the time his Daddy got back to the hospital.

Shortly after Daddy got here we all got down on the floor and played with some little trucks. I think Guille liked that. Something that resembled "normal".

He hasn't decided that drinking juice is what he needs to do to "get out". From 10PM - 9:30AM he had only sipped less than 1/2 ounce of juice. They turned down the amount of fluid he was getting through his IV hoping that would make him thirsty. Around 9:30 he did take another sip of juice, most of which came back out... but it did rinse out his mouth enough that he continued taking sips until he'd downed 4 - 6 ounces! Yeah! We ordered his liquid lunch, which should be arriving shortly. I guess if he does well with drinking this afternoon we MIGHT get to go home today! (I'm looking forward to sleeping in my bed!)

Keep praying for Guille, as he's still in quite a bit of pain. I did get to look in his mouth a little bit this morning when the doctor was in. Imagine stitches all the way along the roof of your mouth, from front to back... OUCH! Thanks for your prayers.

In surgery now

After a morning of nothing to eat or drink, we arrived at the hospital at 12:30. We thought surgery would get started around 2:00 and Guille had done such a good job of not begging for food or milk so we thought the wait wouldn't be too bad. However, it wasn't until 3:45 that they finally took him back to start the surgery process. Between 12:30 and 3:30 he had a great time playing with the toys and little car in the waiting area. He's such a happy boy and good natured. At one point he saw his sippy cup in the diaper bag and wanted it out. Too bad, there was nothing in it. He was content to wait to get it refilled later.

Wow, look at me! I'm driving a REAL car!

Do I get to drive it home?

Help! No wonder they improved the design of the Flintstone car.

These hospital jammies are comfy, but they think I'm about 6 feet tall.

Help Daddy, I've lost my feet!

Ok, maybe not so stylish, but at least I'm not tripping over my pantlegs.

Oh the joys of the hospital gown!

At least they gave me pants!

Before they took him back, they gave him some "sleepy" medicine that really relaxed him. He let us hold him until it was time to lie down in the bed and get wheeled away. As they wheeled him down the hall he tried to wave... such a tired little wave. He's such a brave little guy and I'm so proud of him. I'm honored to be his mama.

The nurse liasson called a few minutes ago to update us. She said he's doing well, the surgeon is happy with the way things are going. Guille's vitals are good and she'll update us again if she needs to before the surgeon finishes and comes to talk to us.

I'll update more as I can. Once my little guy wakes up, I'm sure he's going to need some TLC and won't be too excited about me working on the computer. Thanks for praying. Please continue.

Surgery tomorrow

Tomorrow I go to the hospital to have my soft palate repaired. Several people have asked my mom about it, so we'll put a little bit of info here.

"The Hard and Soft Palate, commonly called the roof of the mouth are important to articulation. The hard palate in front is made of bone, while the soft palate in back is made of muscles. At the back of the soft palate is the uvula, which is a tiny "punching bag" of flesh." (www.yorku.ca/earmstro/journey/palates.html)

This first picture is of my palate, or lack thereof, and below it is a "normal" palate. The doctor said he won't repair my hard palate until I'm 6 or 7, right before I get my permanent teeth and that will involve bone grafting or marrow injection or something like that. We'll worry about that when the time comes.

I will probably be in the hospital for 2 days, then I'll be on a liquid diet for a looooong time. Mommy asked the doctor about jello and the reply was, "It's not liquid". Yikes!

OK, now on to more pleasant things! I have a new sandbox!!! YEAH!

One of the professors at the college gave me this sandbox.

At first I wasn't too sure about that white stuff in it, but...

...Once I let the sand fly I realized this was going to be LOADS of FUN!

A couple days later Daddy bought more sand.

I was pretty confident that he wasn't going to bury me in it.

Great fun.

Aaaaaand, my high chair is now in the basement

and I have graduated to a REAL chair with a booster seat.

I'm getting to be such a big boy.

Thank you all so much for praying for me as I go through the surgery and recovery process. And pray for my Mommy & Daddy too.

A note from my Mom: While you are praying for Guille, would you please pray for my cousins' families:

Blaine, Darcy & Connor: Darcy was diagnosed with leukemia about a month ago. She went through the first round of chemo pretty well and was hoping that had kicked it. But, the bone marrow scan showed that it had not been effective, so now she starts a new round of treatment and will need to be in a hospital quite a ways from home for 4 - 12 weeks.

Blaine's sister, Lisa's husband was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) 2 years ago and that disease is progressing more rapidly than any of us had hoped. They had two children who are quite fond of their dad, so this is hard for them.

Thanks for your prayers, thoughts and love. We appreciate and love you all so much. I'll try to update from the hospital whenever I can.

Another week, lots more pictures

I'm really starting to like reading.

I keep my favorite books in my personal library...

here in the arm of the rocking chair.

I went with Daddy to the observatory and helped work on the dome.

Then I went outside and did a little exploring.

When we got home it was nice just to chill a bit with Daddy.

Duplos are still the first thing out in the morning

and the last thing put away at night.

I'm getting pretty good at making towers!

Posing? Who's posing?

I'm waiting for Daddy to give me an airplane ride.

I love playing outside.

Oooooooooooooo!

I have lines on my face!

We went to a wedding and got to blow bubbles.

We also planted some strawberry plants this week.

I got to help water the plants.

More water for the strawberry plants.

This gardening thing is hard work!

Diapers anyone?

One diaper, thirteen diapers... what's the difference?

Helping Daddy get ready for his classes.

I got to try M&Ms for the first time this week.

Drool indicates that I like them.

Smiles and giggles indicate the sugar is kicking in.

What do you mean, I have chocolate on my face?

Don't wash it off... I'm saving it for later.

Look, I built this tower all by myself.

Mommy snuck this picture, but I have to admit...

...it did turn out pretty good, didn't it?

(Mom's note: I love this one!)

I helped Mommy make cookies for the neighbor who left for college.

Surgery to repair Guille's cleft palate is coming up next Thursday, August 27. He will have to be on a liquid diet for at least 10 days and he's NOT going to be happy about that. He likes his food, and anyone else's who will share with him. Please pray that the surgery will go well, that he will heal quickly and not be too frustrated. Thanks for following the blog and for being so supportive to us all. And, as they say on the Beverly Hillbillies... "Y'all come back now, ya hear!"

Busy days

Learning from Daddy

Fish! Yummm!

(Today when Mommy said she was going to get the fish ready for supper, I ran and got the fish food. I guess that wasn't exactly what she meant by getting the fish ready for supper. Oh well.)

Helping Daddy take the trash out to the burn pile.

No! I'm not meditating.

NO! I am NOT drooling.

NOOO! I am NOT SLEEPY!

Yummy peas!

Oh, dear! This may require a call to Grampa.

Since Grampa's so far away,

Daddy is fixing my truck.

I'm so happy he will be able to fix it!

Happy dance #1

Happy dance #2

And, Happy dance #3

(Daddy and I were playing with my "little people"

and I loved it when they went flying in the air.)

Watch this....

Anticipation of bouncing the "little people" off the ball

and seeing how far they would fly.

Daddy, are you really going to bounce me into the air like the toys?