First Surgery... check!

Max had his first of three surgeries on Tuesday. They basically fixed the outside of his face, connecting the lips, and shaping his nostrils with nose stints. Here is the play-by-play!

We arrived at the hospital at 12:30, had a series of appointments with the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, and nurses, all of which were helpful and informative. At 1:45, they took Max, which was really hard! And then came the three hour wait.

My friend Jemae was with me, and hooked me up with some of my favorites: a Symphony bar, Odwala protein juice, coca cola gummy bears, and an Outside Magazine. I was set. The hospital gave me a beeper while we waited, and when it went off to let me know there was an update from the nurse, I jumped!

I got to be with Max in the Recovery room. He was just waking up when I walked in, and he tried to smile! Melted my heart away, I tell ya! Then we went up to our room, which we shared with another family whose 3-month old baby had just had her lip repaired as well. Hans joined us later with some food, and both Jemae and he were able to stay until about 9:30. Such good friends!!

Then the night began. As expected, it was a little rough, not only because Max was cranky, but mostly because he was hooked up to all these tubes and machines, whose cables kept getting tangled when I held him. And when they didn't pick up the right information, the alarms would go off, and the nurse would have to come in and fix things. I lost track of how many times that happened that night. Max is also wearing these velcro sleeves that are preventing him from touching his face. He'll have to wear these for the next two weeks.

But around 5:00, he turned a corner, and was more alert, and happier, even taking his bottle. By 8:00, I took him on a walk in a hospital stroller (no more machines!!); truthfully, I need a cup of coffee! At 9:30, we were seen by the nurse practicioner, who told us we could go anytime I felt comfortable. Great, except that Max decided to take a really long nap (which he so deserved), so we didn't leave until 2:30.


Once home, Max was back to his usual business, although a little more subdued. He slept great last night, only waking up twice for food and more meds. Today was also a great day, although his face is more swollen today (something the doctors warned us about). He is still on several different pain killers, mostly Oxycodone, baby Tylenol and Motrin. I'll continue these until the weekend, and then see how his pain is doing.

Thanks for all your warm wishes and thoughts. He is truly a trooper!!

Watching TV on Saturday Night....

I kid you not, just a day after I found out Max's surgery will be on Tuesday, there was a infomercial/fund raising show about cleft lips and palates. This particular show was put on by Operation Smile, but many of us have heard of additional organizations, such as the Smile Train. Both organizations are amazing, in that their doctors voluntarily go to third world countries and perform cleft lip and palate surgeries on thousands of needy children.

There I was, crying like a baby. Of course I'm nervous about Tuesday, but I was also struck how lucky Max and I are to live in this environment where such surgeries are almost a given. Many of the children I saw in this video suffered tremendous social ostracism and traveled hundreds of miles to be chosen for this surgery. I'm sure you can imagine the difference these surgeries make in these children's lives. It's truly fantastic.

So, as you're thinking about Max on Tuesday for his first surgery, I'm asking you to also think about these children who have it much harder than Max, and who depend on these volunteer organizations to change their lives. I hope you'll join me and make a donation (of any size!!) to one (or both) of these organizations. Max's fellow cleft lip/palate pals will thank you for not letting this facial deformity interfere with the opportunity to have a normal life.

Here they are again:
Operation Smile
Smile Train

The First Surgery

Max's surgery has been moved up to this coming Tuesday. There was a cancellation in the surgeon's schedule, so they called to see if we were interested. At first it was quite a shock to even think about it being so soon (his original date was June 23), but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It works out perfectly with my two weeks that are left in my maternity leave, and getting it done sooner rather than later also made sense. So here we go!

We'll have several pre-op appointments on Monday where we'll meet with the nurses, the surgeon and other hospital people, and then we're on for Tuesday at 2:00. Max and I will spend the night in the hospital, and will be home on Wednesday. My friends Heidi and Jemae are fabulous and will come with us to parts of our hospital experience. Phew! Plus, we are surrounded by people who want to help, which feels absolutely wonderful.

So, send us good thoughts, and I'll post more info when I get it. :)

An Update

Time is just flying, and Max is doing so great. Since we've been back from visiting the grandparents, we've had more doctor's appointments, a Baby Introduction Party, first times with baby sitters and many more experiences.

But to back up, I don't think I told about Max's baptism yet. Max was baptized at a lovely church near his grandparents' house. My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were there as Max's Godfamily, while Carolyn is the Godmother. It was a really nice intimate ceremony, performed by the Church's Deacon. It lasted about 30 minutes, and Max was a trooper through all of it. After the ceremony, we had a nice little gathering at my parents' house with family and friends.

Dr. updates: we went back for our 6 week check-up once we got back home. Max has moved to the 13th percentile in weight (he started at the 3rd), and the dr was happy with what she saw in Max's overall development. She wants us to see an occupational therapist now, to see if we can teach Max the actual motor function of how to feed himself. He is currently still getting all of his nutrition through a yummy combination of baby food and formula, and it might be time to get to the a new level in that department.

Another exciting event has been that we have scheduled his first surgery for June 23. They will operate the outside first, connecting the lips and reshaping the nostril. We'll spend a night at the hospital and be back for the palate surgery 3-6 months after the first. With the June surgery comes a series of pre-operation appointments; sometimes it feels as if the dr appointments could be a full time job!

In the meantime, Max is following some commands, and learning some basic signs in Sign Language. I figure it couldn't hurt to teach him a different way to communicate since speech might be a little farther down the road still. He is also showing signs of toddler-hood!! Yes, we're talking about the stiff back when getting into stroller or car seat, "crawling away", some separation anxiety, and basically showing us his willful side. :) Momma is reading lots of "how to" baby books!!

But all in all, life is grand, the Emperor is so much fun, and I'm enjoying every minute!!

Some pictures from visiting the family!

Grossmama and Grosspapa








A bath in the sink, just like home!








Look who's peaking through...










First time with horses and with Uncle Jeppe... both were great!!

We Have WALKAGE

Today, Max walked. He's been doing the "hang onto Mommy's fingers and toddle along" thing for a while now, but when Uncle Hans came home this afternoon, held him for a moment, then put him down on the kitchen floor, he zipped right along over to Jessi, a good 10 feet of solid one-foot-in-front-of-the-other.

I know, baby steps (literally), but this was WALKAGE, not to be confused with "three or four steps then kiss the floor." Incidentally, we quickly tired him out by passing him back and forth, and soon after, it WAS three or four steps then kiss the floor. But before that, he walked.

So Max is quickly becoming ambulatory, which, of course, is very cool! But it also means Mom's gonna have to get quicker in the chase as the little man ramps up his game and puts some speed on.

Here's a subsequent trip across the kitchen, admittedly not *quite* as cool as the very first, but lots of fun, nonetheless! (Turn your head or your computer sideways for optimal viewing angle (in other words, there is no video editing software in the house!).

Consultation at Childrens Hospital

I haven't written for a while - so sorry! Max and I are doing really well. We are settling into a nice routine. Max gets up around 6:30-7:30 AM, has a delicious breakfast, plays with his toys, goes on an outing with Momma and Nona, comes home for a snack and a nap, spends the afternoon either playing or on another outing, eats again, and goes to bed around 7:30. His meals are currently a combination of toddler formula, a little oatmeal cereal, and some baby food mixed in. He loves yogurt, banana, apples, peas, butternut squash, carrots, etc. Thankfully he is not a picky eater, and gulps it all down in a bottle.

We've seen several doctors already. Our first visit was a regular Post Placement Adoption visit where he got most of his shots, needed to give some blood (ouch), and basically get checked over. At that point, he was in the 3rd percentile of weight which we've been working to increase ever since. His highest score was in head size, which was around the 30th percentile.

Then Max had an ear infection, so back to the dr we went! He was quite the trooper as he endured 10 days of antibiotics. He's all healthy again, and we're all happy!

Today was our consultation appointment with Children's Hospital. We met with four different medical people: a pediatric doctor, a social worker, a nurse, and the surgeon. All of them were so nice and accommodating. We are truly lucky to have such a great hospital in our city!

To summarize, Max will probably have at least two surgeries for his cleft lip and palate. The first surgery can hopefully be scheduled before I need to go back to work in May. The actual surgery will last about 3 hours, and will include connecting the outside soft tissue of his lips and his nostrils. You and I have a circle of muscles around our mouth that lets us pucker our lips, suck a straw, say the "oo" sound, etc. Max doesn't have that cirlce. His musles end at his left nostril, so the surgeon needs to disconnect it from where it currently is, and connect this muscle group to where it should be, plus connect the lips, of course. He will also reshape Max's nostril. The cartilage is so used to being flat that he will probably have to get a silicone tube placed into his nostril to help reshape it. We will probably stay in the hospital for a night, and then have about a 5 day recovery period.

The second surgery will probably happen 4-6 months later, and will focus on the palate. Here, the surgeon noticed that, even though Max has a unilateral cleft lip/palate, his palate opening is actually quite big, similar to a bilaterail lip/palate. Max isn't helping things by putting his fingers in his mouth (his version of sucking his fingers), which is making the opening even bigger. Therefore, the second surgery will actually be a lot more detrimental for Max. I don't know a lot about the details here, and will wait until we have to have it to find out more.

So how am I feeling? I was so thankful that my friend Heidi (Griffin' s Mom) came to the appointment with me today. It was so helpful to have her hold Max so I could interact with the doctors, fill out paper work, etc. Thanks, Heidi!! Overall, I'm feeling similar to how I felt boarding the plane in Beijing. It will be a long road, but we'll get there! And there just isn't a choice here - he has to have these surgeries. So we just move forward, and get them out of the way.

In the meantime, I get to focus on his overwhelming cuteness factor, which seems to be getting greater every day. He is so close to walking, and is enjoying himself tremendously. He laughs a lot, eats a lot, poops alot, sleeps plenty, and hates hates hates getting his teeth brushed! He loves his buddies Griffin and Mason, loves Tante Heidi, Jemae, Ray, Laurie, Kristin, Anne, Uncle George, and adores his Uncle Hans. The list goes on and on, and will especially increase next week, as we're off to see his granparents, aunts, cousins, and more friends!!