G-man!

This boy rocks my world. Seriously. His squishy skin, his always pursed "ooooohing" lips, his constant "mum... MUM..." and his need for snuggles and touch. He is love and joy.

This week was a rough one for us. Gavin had his surgeries on Tuesday. This meant we were required to be at the Children's Hospital at 6:15 in the morning. In true Amanda fashion, I set the alarm for the time we wanted to leave, not the time we wanted to get up, so our day started very rushed (hence the greasy hair and lack of makeup).

We left at just after 4:30 and Gavin did not sleep at all on the way there. He was doing okay until we had to change him into hospital clothes. Then the tears started.

Luckily we had Dora on the blackberry to occupy him while we waited.

He was right ticked that they put a hospital bracelet on Monkey and everytime he tried to hold Monkey, he'd just scream all over again. We finally met with both surgeons and the anesthetist and then came the hardest moment ever - handing him over to the nurse. He was so rip-roaring mad. They kept telling me that he'd be asleep in 3 quick breaths and I had no choice but to leave him. And yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried. Shush it.

So, Chris and I left to go get some tea and basically try to kill some time. We were told it would be an hour and a half. After 2 hours, we still hadn't gotten the call to go into Recovery. When we finally were allowed in, Gavin was hysterical. They had tried to warn us ahead of time that he could be out of it and upset, but they said it typically only lasted for 15 minutes or so.

Gavin screamed and kicked and yelled and fought for almost an hour and a half. Literally broke my heart as nothing could console him. He was constantly kicking and left bruises all over me. The nurse at one point said, "He's strong for two and a half!" I corrected her, saying he was only 22 months. Yup, that's one big strong boy. Finally, he collapsed from sheer exhaustion.

He slept for an hour and a half and woke up the boy we all know and love. He promptly asked for some juice and ate a few cookies and started running around. We were soon released from the hospital with some instructions on how to care for his incision and told to limit his activity.

Yeah, that part hasn't really happened, but he seems to be healing well. We've already noticed that he can hear better, he chatters a lot more and he's no where near as loud as he used to be. All good changes. As for his nether region, it's some interesting shades of black and blue, but doesn't seem to bother him very much at all.

Thank you for all your prayers, for Gavin and myself. We definitely felt them. My heart goes out to the families who have to visit Children's often for much more serious reasons. We are grateful for our healthy children and we are glad that this ordeal is over!