Relief

So Jacob finally had his Surgery on 5th November after Daddy begged and pleaded with the hospital to not cancel his Surgery a second time. Well done Daddy!

Jacob's initial Surgery should have taken place on 1st November, but when we got there (an hours journey) we were told to go home as the surgery was cancelled... Jacob's Surgeon came to speak to me and my Dad to explain the situation, which was quite simple: He had the Surgery slot, and a bed on the unit was available, however there were no beds available in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and the Surgeon was not prepared to risk doing Jacob's surgery without guarantee that the right level of care be available to him if he were to have difficulty coming back off the ventilator. Disappointing, but fair enough.

So the 5th rolled around and we headed back to the hospital (this is the specialist hospital where Jacob had his initial Surgery when he was just a few days old), and Daddy stayed at home with Lilian as taking a baby on oxygen to a hospital full of children with bronchitis is not a good idea.

It was all-systems go when we arrived, a Doctor came to examine Jacob and pointed out a potential Hernia that the Surgeons asked for permission to operate on while they carried out Jacob's Stoma reversal, the anesthetist came to explain how they would manage Jacob through his Surgery and how they would put him to sleep. The Surgeons then came round to talk us through the risks and answer any questions we had.

Bang on time, Jacob was called to theatre and it was time to say goodbye. It had been explained earlier, that parents cannot accompany babies to theatre as they are taken straight through to the actual theatre before they are put to sleep, so I had to say goodbye on the ward and then watch him disappear through the theatre doors.

So off we went for some lunch and to take our mind off the Surgery. No sooner had we left then I got a phone call from one of the Surgeons explaining that they had spotted another potential Hernia that they wanted to operate on!

A tense 3 hours later a very relieved Mummy got a phone call from the Surgeons again to say that all had gone well with Jacob's Surgery and he had come back off the ventilator successfully! A short while later Jacob was back on the ward and very groggy.

He's been home nearly a week now and seems to be calming down now that he realises there are no stoma bags involved in nappy changes anymore! He also seems to be able to control his hunger a little more (he's still a very hungry boy though!), which is great. All we need to do now is get him to sleep through the night like Lilian - come on Jacob we all love a lie-in!

In around 4 weeks time we will be heading back to see Jacob's Surgeon for an outpatient appointment to check on Jacob's progress and how he is healing. Fingers crossed this will all go smoothly and we will never have to go back there again.

As a side note, the babies were weighed today and Lilian is now a hefty 10lb 6oz! Jacob is catching her up now he has been able to gain weight again after his Surgery but currently weighs 8lb 12oz. They've come a long way indeed......