Kelsey's surgery to separate her webbed fingers was Wednesday. The week before I was really starting to stress. I mentioned to Michael, I don't know why I felt like I had to wait until the night we left to get a blessing. . . . . . because after he gave me a blessing I felt so much better.
The circumstances leading us to her Dr was stressful at the time, but turned out to be so great. He is in Houston so its a bit of a drive (about 3 1/2-4hrs) but worth it for the best. I often compare it to someone traveling from St George to Primary Children's in SL - which isn't terribly unrealistic.
Here's a more recent picture showing how her fingers were connected.
She often would stick her thumb in between them.
The underside
She could have breast milk 4 hours before, So we woke up to eat so she would be happy while we waited. The nurses commented about how great she was.
Here she is in her GIANT hospital pj's. (I was bummed I found a free pattern for a hospital gown just two days before. . . . maybe next time {although there is a possibility she may not need another surgery to correct the bones - the current plan is to watch if/how the separation affects her fingers straightening out as the growth centers on her bones won't show up on an x-ray until she's at least 18 month or so). I did think it was really cute they had a huge area full of wagons, and every trike or car you could imagine for kids to ride to the operating room.
The Dr came in, "claimed" (by marker tattoo) her right arm with his initials went over the process again making sure we didn't have any questions:
He made zig-zag cuts in between her fingers (careful to avoid nerve endings that affect feeling in her fingertips) and reconstructed the slant from her hand between the fingers. Because there isn't enough skin to cover two separate fingers (simple surface area equation here) he took skin grafts from her hip.
The Dr. explained that because it is a lot of "Kindergarten cut and paste" it would take some time. There were a lot of tiny pieces of skin grafts (taken from her hip) he stitched together on the little fingers he said it would take him about 2 hours.
Then the anesthesiologist came to talk to us. Her duty was to keep Kelsey comfortable :) She'd put her to sleep first and then put in the IV. She commented she'd try to find the best vein, not sure if it would be her hand or foot. There is added difficulty since she's "kind of fluffy" and not recently hydrated. She assured us she wouldn't leave her side, and would keep watch on her stats keeping her comfortable.
Then came the nurses. They introduced themselves and told Kelsey to give Mom and Dad big kisses. We obliged. And Michael passed her off and they literally ran out the door cooing at her all the way. There wasn't time for tears. One nurse practically yelled from down the hall "we both have all boys, we're thrilled to have a girl today" I said, well, if I'd have known that I'd have sent her with a bow ;)
We made our way back to the waiting room. They had a big TV where each patient was listed (by a previously given #) with their Dr. so we could know where she was. The color changed when she started in the OR and then again when she was moved to recovery. We passed the time by trying to take a nap, surfing the web and I listened to a book. It was good to have something else to "sort of" focus on.
It took about 2 1/2 hrs. The last 20-30 minutes I was getting especially anxious. I just happened to walk over the monitor to get a closer look and watched her number change to in recovery - ran to Michael to get our things gathered and the Dr showed up. He told us everything went well and she was being moved to recovery. They called our name as he was talking so we cut him off to go see her. (he understood :) )
The nurses said she woke up from anesthesia really quickly which is good, but as to be expected she was really disoriented, and HUNGRY!! Not in too much pain, as they'd just given her morphine. The nurses were trying to give her a bottle as we came to her little bed. She had the saddest cry- it was really horse (from the breathing tube). I swooped her up as they made a chair ready.
You know how people comment how scared they are to hold a newborn because they are afraid they will break the baby? That's nothing compared to your baby with billions of cords, an IV, cast, and graft dressing. I was so afraid that if I moved her I'd hurt her. I nursed her and finally let a few tears fall. I was so happy to have my baby in my arms again. The Dr found us again to finish giving his instructions :)
She'd whine and then fall asleep, wake up every 45 minutes and whine a little and fall back asleep. I'll admit, I was being quite the baby hog.
The nice thing about being back at the hospital this time is they not only let me, but encourage I carry her when we moved areas. (when she was born she had to be in her bassinet when not in my room)
The anesthesia made it look like a rash across her head, and a little swollen. Poor baby.
Like I said, whine and fall asleep.
I kind of liked just being able to hold and snuggle for another 2 hours. She doesn't normally like to be held for naps. I was being sort of a baby hog and eventually rescinded and gave Michael a turn.
Since her time in the recovery room was uneventful we were able to go home on schedule.
Finally aware and uncovered enough to realize her hand has been replaced with a huge, rather heavy something we keep referring to as a "cast" (which apparently above the elbow cast is standard if you're under 4). As such she's dubbed the nickname "cluby"
The Dr advised us to stay the night in town - as to not make her travel the day she'd been under anesthesia, and in case something happens or she has a crazy reaction to something we'd be close.
Our friends the Harris's were gracious enough to let us crash with them the second night. I figured Kelsey girl was starting to feel more herself as as soon as we pulled her out of the car seat she graced us with a smile.
It seems every day she's gotten more and more comfortable with the 'club'.
Day 1 of surgery: it would just be caught behind her and if she tried to crawl, she basically just went in circles.
Day 2 lift hand to inspect and get whacked in the face from the weight, able to pull in front of her.
Day 3 Use to army crawl, and put some pressure on tip of cast
Day 4 able to roll over cast and set up propelling it forward to crawl.
I really only gave her pain medication the day of and the next night. I figured I'd see how she acts and sleeps without it completely and she's acting completely normal.
Thankfully my Mom came to stay with Rylee while we were in Houston. (It would have been really hard to try to juggle her in the hospital for that long and they didn't allow siblings in the recovery room). When we came home Michael went to find Rylee and she came running to the door to give me a hug, she rounded the corner to see me holding Kelsey and spotted the giant bright yellow "thing" where Kelsey's hand used to be. She stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes got HUGE. The sweet smile on her face immediately turned to fear. It took her a minute to get close (even to me) but she mustered up the courage. She now calls it a band aide - interesting as she calls actual band aids "stickers"
The suspense is killing me. I think I'm having a harder time not unwrapping her cast to see her "new hand" than I was not knowing her gender for 9 months when I was pregnant. She'll have the cast for two weeks, then we change the dressing for a boxing glove.
In some ways I think this whole experience has been harder for me than it has been for her. She won't know anything different - soon enough it will be but a memory. We're so grateful all went well (thank you for your thoughts and prayers), and that we were lead to this surgeon. We truly are blessed.
