It was two weeks ago that Oscar was discharged from Ward 23B and life on the outside has been going well! Oscar's recovery has been straight forward and it's hard to imagine he had open heart surgery only 3 weeks ago. He is happy in himself and gaining loads of weight (250g this week) which is keeping us busy and up alot at night. I had coffee group yesterday with my ante-natal class and it seems all our babies are going through a feeding frenzy again and we all feel like we have new borns in the house again - so good to know Oscar is just doing normal baby stuff. It's still amusing to us when he cries for food and gets very grupmy if we take too long to get the bottle in his mouth as he had never displayed that frantic need for food that a healthy baby does, before the operation. Now he is a healthy baby and - subject to verification from the cardiologist in a couple of weeks when we go for our big follow-up clinic appointment - he no longer has a heart condition!!!
We meet with the cleft team next month to find out what their plans are for his next round of surgery and until then we have no idea if his lip repair will be done this side of Christmas or early next year. At least we are well versed in preparing for an operation and it certainly doesn't feel as daunting as it once did.
Oscar moved into his own room last Friday and into his new cot. It's another exciting milestone and he seems to be coping well (as are his parents, especially after he slept for about six hours last night!).
It's hard to explain what it was like being at Starship but we reflect everyday on what an amazing and special time it was (albeit one we'd rather not have had to go through in the first place). We met some amazing and special people and really got to appreciate how lucky we are to live in a country with a great public health system (ok we know it's not perfect) and to see what an amazing place Auckland Hospital is. Brennan and I both wanted jobs there by the end of it - there is always so much going on and there seems to be no end of opportunities there; good people who really seem committed to their work and to be doing something they love. Not to mention what a nice place the new hospital is. We also really appreciated that special time with Oscar - in our bubble where there wasn't an outside world of shopping, cleaning, cooking etc... just us and the ever opening door of nurses, doctors and visitors. Mainly we feel lucky to have shared the experience with the other families on the ward.
Better run, little boy just waking from his sleep and if I don't send this now another day will go by.
Happy weekend to all.
xxx
fi
Fi - it's fantastic to hear that he's recovering well and doing all the right things (including keeping Mum and Dad awake at night!) You've both been through so much in the past few months and we wish you all the best of luck for final op. He looks like such a gorgeous little man. Can't wait to meet him sometime soon xxx
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