Surgery is all done!

Well, what we hope to be Cainan's last surgery for a long time is finished. We only had to stay one night in the hospital and we were very very happy about that. The surgery was Thursday morning and only lasted 45 minutes. It was a little shorter than the doctor had anticipated and that was good - not so much anesthesia. What the surgeon did was bring his nose over the best he could, give him a botox injection in his lip to loosen the scar tissue and then remove some excess scar tissue around his nose. I think he looks pretty good! The nose isn't perfect - it has already started to relax. But Cainan's cleft was so wide, that it is going to take more reconstructive surgeries as he gets older to get it just right. But he looks great. It definitely is better than it was before this surgery. We are just hoping he can stay infection free, and that everything will heal quickly. We can take out the nose plugs and the steri strips off next Thursday, so that isn't bad. He has to wear arm restraints, but only when he sleeps. He only has a few little stitches, so no biggie. The worse thing is that he seems to have caught a cold. He is sneezing non-stop and has a runny nose. I had to change his steri strips because I don't want all of that to sit on top of his incision, but I don't really WANT to change them in case something gets damaged in the process. But I am trying to be very careful. Poor guy. He can't breathe out of his nose at all due to the cold and nose plugs. But he isn't complaining. He is just drooling everywhere. I am having flash backs to the time right before his palate surgery where we had to change his bib 3-4 times a day due to drool. But he has been "drool free" since November. Ah well - it is only for a week.

So he is doing well. The hospital stay was relatively painless. We didn't have to stay in the ICU which was a great gift! But the best gift was that Cainan can eat a REGULAR diet! After each surgery he has been restricted to liquids/full liquids for two weeks. This time, since it didn't involve the lip - he was eating chicken nuggets by Thursday night. That has helped a TON. And he doesn't have any real pain. Just a little discomfort when the area is touched (of course). He hasn't required anything more than Tylenol and that was just once in the hospital. He does have a very high pain tolerance. He has been sleeping well, and is on a strong antibiotic for 5 days, and then by Thursday - he will be back to normal. Yeah!

The only thing that didn't get done while we were at the hospital was the CT scan. He has had one after each surgery and this time he just wasn't having it. It is a long story, but we will be doing it outpatient. Mommy had to pull out her "I am a nurse AND his mom, so go away" bit and we left without doing it. It is fine - it didn't have anything to do with this surgery. They just want to look at his palate to make sure the bone is growing. So I am going to schedule it outpatient where he can get anesthesia - which is what he really needs. He is SO afraid that all of the medicine in the world wasn't going to put him to sleep.

Today we did an Easter egg hunt this morning with Arlington. Finley wasn't into it, and Cainan couldn't do it, so just Arlington participated. It was at our local community center. There were about a million kids there, but it is always nice to do with the kids. Arlington got some eggs and bounced in one of the bounce houses. They had about 5 bounce houses and some face painting and games, and the Easter Bunny. We didn't stay very long, but the kids had fun.

This afternoon Arlington played at her best little girlfriends house. She hasn't seen her in a little while so they were very happy to see each other! They had a lot of fun. When I went to pick her up I had a chance to visit with her mom and the little girls twin brother and sister who are the same age as our two little ones. They are so much fun - also a boy and a girl - and we love getting our 6 kids together!

The kids are doing well. Finley is going through a whiny stage. It started the day she was born (no just kidding). She whines constantly for things. But she is getting teeth and I think she is going through a growth spurt. Today she constantly wanted to eat. And, no kidding, the girl at 5 pieces of wheat bread in a row! Isn't that nuts? She just kept asking "more bread" and just kept eating it! I finally cut her off. But she ate really well today. But the bad baby got a hold of a pencil while I was gone picking up Arlington and drew big circles all over our tile floor. That was fun for Mat to clean up. She is such a little bugger.

Arlington and the babies decorated marshmallow eggs tonight. Since Arlington and Finley are allergic to eggs, we can never dye the real thing. Mat's aunt Betty found this Marshmallow shaped eggs that came with food dye pens that the kids could color on and then eat. Finley and Arlington liked the marshmallow, but Cainan wasn't having it. He doesn't really like sweets. But all three liked decorating the eggs. Finley just kept stabbing hers with the pen. It has holes all through it. Hopefully they will grow out of their egg allergy and can dye the real thing one year.

So tomorrow the Easter bunny comes and Arlington is very excited. The babies have no idea what is going on so that should be interesting egg hunt in the morning. Arlington was quizzing me on the Easter bunny tonight. First she said, "I don't think the Easter bunny is small like a bunny - I think he is big like daddy." Then she said, "where does the Easter bunny get the candy and gifts that he leaves?" I told her I wasn't sure, so her conclusion was "I think he gets them at a special Easter bunny store where only he can shop because I don't think he has elves like Santa to help him make anything". Then she wanted to know where the Easter bunny lived and who lived with him, and what he did the rest of the year. She is too much.

Here are a few pictures! Happy Easter everyone!