Lily & Leo

My little Leo’s journey in life continues today with his surgery and he did amazing.  We checked into CHOC and registered and shortly after they led us to Leo’s pre-op room.  It’s a good thing we fed Leo at 1am since his surgery ended up starting at 11am, but he did not fuss, and was in happy spirits with big smiles.  It’s pretty cute how they had all these little toys all laid out for him to play with and they had Baby Einstein’s Lullaby on the big screen in his room too, which really captivated Leo and almost soothed him to sleep.  Several nurses came in to check Leo’s vitals and measure his weight, height, saturation and blood pressure, and the anesthesiologist and Dr. Khoury came in to give us information about his procedure and answer any questions that we may have.  Then they gave us a little baby hospital gown to put Leo in and then they wheeled him off into surgery.

After waiting for 2 agonizing hours, Dr Khoury finally came out to tell us how Leo is such a champ.  The procedure was done laparoscopically and went smoothly.  The nurse walked us into the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) and saw our precious little boy peacefully sleeping.  He has a few incisions and all the stitches will dissolve on it’s own so we don’t have to come back to remove anything.  They stuck an IV originally in his foot but for some reason it didn’t work so they moved it to his little hand, but at least they did it after they put him under through the tiny baby gas mask so he didn’t feel a thing.  Leo loves to sleep so it took awhile for him to wake up, so we sort of had to wake him up ourselves.  He was a little drowsy when he woke up and seemed a little confused and dazed, but he was very relaxed and calm and so good.  He drank 60cc of pedialyte and kept it down no problem and then went right back to dreamland.  So after an hour in recovery, he was free to go home!

Leo rested very comfortably and peacefully at home and recovery will take a few days.  He can’t use a jumper for about 3 weeks and he will have a couple follow ups.  He drank his milk just fine and was still very mellow but overall he just slept and rested.  It was pretty stressful and worrisome having to be strong for my little man, and a few times I had to fight back the tears when I saw him get wheeled away and seeing all the wires connected to him.  Just seeing the little hospital crib and monitors instantly brought me back to the days where he was in the NICU.  When he was finally resting at home, I was just watching him sleep and I just felt so relieved and just let out all my emotions.  The doctors, nurses, and staff at CHOC are super wonderful and amazing, even while waiting during Leo’s surgery, I felt very taken care of; they even offered us juices and snacks, so fancy!  Leo was in great hands and I cannot be more thankful to them.  You never stop worrying when you’re a parent, but I feel so lucky that Leo is such a little fighter and is so brave and did so well.  Leo’s been through so much already and he’s only a little over 7 months old.  If he can get through these little battles, I just know he will be destined to do great things in his life.  Leo, you are so amazing and such an inspiration.  When you look at me with your precious innocent eyes, and smile at me with your bright loving smile, you just warm my heart and show me that anything is possible.

I love you so much my little prince! 💙😍✨