So Now What?

We're home! Surgery went great on Thursday, and despite a few pain issues Thursday night and into Friday, we got everything under control and started the healing process. On Monday morning, the doctors decided that we could start to feed Drew again. Everything went well for 24, and on Tuesday at about 11am they sent us home!

Drew has a 2 inch scar across his belly right above his belly button. Other than that you could never tell anything was wrong with him!

Somewhat luckily, we were able to jump right back into the routine at home. If there's one thing I can say about all of my kids is that they are great sleepers. Around 8 weeks, Ella started sleeping through the night and continues to this day. I'm talkin' 8pm to 8am; seriously through the night. I think I can count on 1 hand the number of times she didn't sleep on that schedule. The twins started their overnight sleeping closer to 10 weeks. They both go down sometime close to 10 and get up between 6 and 7. I can conquer the world if I've had a good night sleep, so this is a quality that I greatly appreciate. In the hospital, nurses and doctors were poking at Drew every few hours, so I was afraid that his schedule was going to be all screwed up when we got home. Not the case. He was in bed at 10pm and woke up crying at about 10 after 7 this morning. There isn't a strict schedule during the day. They eat when they are hungry, they sleep when they are tired. Its the nighttimes that are a gem that I cherish.

So now what! We have no impending surgery. We have no impending threat of a leaky ostomy bag. We still have special recipes for mixing formula and measuring out medicines, but thats almost second nature at this point. I guess we start our "normal" now! Hopefully the summer will bring picnics with friends, trips to the park, and visits with aunts, uncles and cousins.

I'm still nervous about germs, and I'll always be. I talked to Drew's CF doctor about this and she said thats totally normal, and appropriate. Right now as his handlers, its critical that we have clean hands. Hands are the #1 way germs are passed. We have tons of sanitizer around and go through lots of soap. We have a "no touching Drew without first washing your hands" policy. I have a note attached to his carseat that says "Please wash your hands before you touch me". Once Drew is mobile, there will be lots of Clorox wiping of doorknobs, toys, and whatever else a little boy can get his hands on. We can't prevent him from ever getting sick, but we can do our part to make sure that unnecessary germs aren't causing unnecessary harm. It might come across as a little crazy to people who aren't dealing with this, but if it were your baby, I have a feeling that you'd act the same way.

So please don't judge. Please wash your hands. Its still taking some adjusting being forward with everyone and asking them to wash their hands before they touch him. If you're sick, please don't put us in an uncomfortable situation of asking you to stay away (because I will). Theres a general 3-6ft rule that we were advised to follow if feeling under the weather. If we have to cancel something at the last minute, please don't take it personal. Its Drew's life we're talking about. We're going to live as normal as we can, but this will include a lot of precautions...and hand washing :)