Surgery Day

This is after surgery. he's a little swollen

Lovin his pink hospital gown

I am posting from Payton's hospital room as he drifts off to sleep. My sweet sweet baby had to have surgery today.

He woke up this morning his usual happy self at 6:45. This was 30 minutes past the bottle cut off time. So P diddy had fruit punch pedilyte for breakfast. He drank it and did not even complain too much!! We got ready and headed to to the hospital around 10am. We got checked in and brought to a room to wait for surgery to start. Nurses and doctors came in and explained things to use and let us ask questions. Everyone was so nice to us. Payton was the BEST baby ever. Not once fussing He played and then took a little nap in my arms.

20 minutes after he woke up, the nurses were there to take him to the OR. This was the gardest part of the day. I got to hold him all the way to the waiting room. Then we gave him lots of kisses and lovins and handed him to a nurse. As the nurse walked away we could see his little eyes watching us. I cried watching him go but knew he was in great hands.

Tim and I went and ate some lunch and I did our taxes to keep my mind off from things. They called a few times to let us know that he was doing great.

He was in surgery for 2 and half hours. Then we got to go see him in the recovery room. He is so well behaved. He smiled at us right away. He is not in any pain because he had an epidural during surgery and they gave him some morphine through this. It will give him pain relief for up to 18 hours. He has an incision on his tummy close to his groin that is about an inch and a half long. This is where his ureter is hooked and will drain urine. The dr said that as soon as he took the ureter off his bladder, the urterer went down on size by 50%. This kidney had been producing urine for the past 4 months with no where for it to go!! So tonight he has a catheter and an i.v.

He took 6 oz of pedialyte and then 8 oz of formula shortly after surgery. He has not fusssed once. He lays there and plays with his stuffed animals and holds my hand. I could not be any more proud of this baby. He is so strong and brave. He doesn't care that he has a heart monitor, i.v., oxygen monitor, cath and a draining incision. He is still just as happy as can be.

We will go home tomorrow and I am sure that it will take a few days to adjust to our new normal. Then we will monitor his kidney with multiple ultrasounds. Once it is healed he will have another surgery to reverse it. Dr predicts about 3 months. Thanks for all the prayers and support for my baby.

Scheduled

Payton is officially scheduled for his surgery....again. They call on the Thursday prior to surgery to let you know what the time frame is for the day of surgery.

We have to be at the hospital at 10:30 2/21/12. His surgery is scheduled to start somewhere around 1:30pm. It is a 3 hour procedure and then he will go to the recovery room. We are scheduled to stay overnight on Tuesday and will be discharged sometime Wednesday morning.

I am still nervous about the surgery/recovery but am feeling pretty good about it overall. I think the worst part is that he does not have any outward symptoms of this. He appears healthy and perfectly normal. So my happy little healthy boy has to go through something painful. I know he needs it. Just hard to see your baby go through it.

I feel great about the care he is in at this hospital. We have the head of the urology department operating on our son. He has great bedside manner and is extremly intelligent.

Please pray for our little boy as he goes through this surgery next week. Also pray for his doctors and nurses! And if you have any room left on your list of prayers, pray that I have peace and comfort while my boy is out of my arms. Thank you!

Working Mothers Post

I am linking up with another blogger today to share about working mothers. I know all mothers are working wether it is in the house or away at an office. Here is my story and how I survive everyday.

I work 2 jobs currently. Crazy I know. I have 3 children of my own and 3 step children. They are not all home together all of the time. My schedule goes a little like this: Monday and Tuesday I work as a medical assistant in a doctors office from 8am to 4:30pm. Then I work as a massage therapist from 6pm until 10pm. Wed. through Fri. I work in the doctors office from 8am until 4:30pm. Saturday I work as a massage therapist from 2pm until 8pm.

I do not like my current situation. I am always tired. At this point in my life this is what I need to do. I have a baby who is 4 months old. He still is not sleeping through the night. I also have a 9 year old and a 6 year old who like to have mommy's attention every once in a while.

This situation works for us. We have to do a lot of pre planning to make the week go smoothly. My husband picks up the kids on monday and tuesday so i can run home eat and go to my second job. He works his second job wed and thursday so I am home with the kids. Fridays and Sundays are family days. We always get the kids clothes picked out the night before.
We do housework together and tackle it as it comes. Laundry is an everyday occurance in our home and we do this together.

There are so many things that I would like to do besides work. I have lists of things! I know there will come a day when I can do them. For now this is what works for us. Its not easy and I often have days where I want nothing more than to stay at home and snuggle with my sweet children. I honestly can not remember the last time that I have had a full nights sleep. But it is all worth it. We are happy.

4 months old

Our little Payton man is 4 months old today. Where has the time gone? He sure is growing fast.

He weighs about 19 pounds now. Will have an exact weight after his appointment tomorrow morning. Not sure how tall he is. Will have that tomorrow as well.

Payton can roll from his tummy to his back. Although only when he wants too. If anyone is watching in anticipation he will not do it. Little stinker. He can almost go from his back to his belly. He does not like tummy time or I think he would do this already.

When there is a toy in front of him he will reach for it. And it goes directly into his mouth. This boy will chew on anything. I am thinking that he is teething. He is cooing all of the time.

Payton is still trying to work on sleeping through the night. He does pretty well most of the time. He still has some nights where he gets up 3 times. On those nights it seems like something has thrown off our schedule. He likes things structured!

We have recently intorduced solid foods. So far he has had baby cereal, green beans, sweet potatos, bananas, and pears. He likes everything except green beans. He gags and spits. But then opens his mouth for another bite.

I have pictures to sort through and then I will upload them.

We love you Payton.

Random

I have a lot on my mind lately. Here is just some of it.

I am still working 2 jobs. So is Tim. We rarely get to spend time together at home. Alone time with him? I dont think I remember what that is. Its very hard but it's what works for us right now. I pray sometime in the near furture it will not be like this.

It is hard to have a blended family. Don't get me wrong I love our dynamics. When I was little thinking about being a mommy and having a husband, is this what I pictured? Not at all. I want all of the kids at our house more frequently. I realize they have other families that want that as much as I do. So we compromise. That's not the only tough part about it. You get used to being a single mom. You know how to take of everything yourself. When you have someone else there its not always easy to give up that control. This is something Tim and I both struggle with. It's getting better.

Payton is going to be 4 months old tomorrow. I do not want him to outgrow this little baby stage. While I look forward to all of his milestones, I want to hold on to this baby as long as I can. This is the last one. Oh to slow time.

Jaxon had to get glasses. He looks so stinkin cute in them. Makes him look like a grown man. He doesn't stand so close to the tv anymore!

Rena got her hair all cut off last weekend. Her and I love it. She doesn't have to brush it as much and I dont have to complain about her having snarreled hair.

Some days I want to shave my head. I have thick course curly hair. Most days it does what it wants to. If I shave my head, will it grow back differently?

We started putting Payton in the nursery at church. He does not sit through a service with out fussing. He does great in the nursery. I am so scared that he is going to catch something and he wont be able to have his surgery again.

Speaking of surgery its 2 weeks away. I have a peace about it now. I have prayed for him to have a safe surgery and a painless recovery. I trust that God will watch over him and the surgeons that day.

I have lost 3 pounds!!! I want to lose 40 more!

I think thats enough for today.