lip repair and nose job - Friday 28 Jan

JAN 28th AM
hi all.
Oscar had his surgery yesterday morning and it all went smoothly. He's recovering well and has been smiling, so we know they didn't change him too much!
The surgeon didn't end up doing any repair to the palate yesterday as the cleft was still too wide. He gave Oscar a lovely new lip and a nose job though and will do the hard palate when he does the soft palate repair in about 6 months time.
As you can imagine, yesterday was pretty tough for us. Mostly I just felt sad about the fact that Oscar has to go through so many procedures. Of course they are all positive and will give him a normal apperance and normal speech but it does seem a bit unfair somedays, and the days he comes out of surgery all sore and grimbly-grumbly are definitely among them!

He was pretty wacked out when he came back from recovery, but after a good sleep and a feed he was looking remarkably perky. We are having to feed him via a syringe for the next couple of days so as not to disturb the sutured upper lip... Oscar barely slept on the night before surgery, so neither did I, so I have come home tonight to try to take advantage of the empty house, and B is in charge.

JAN 29th PM
On the night following surgery Oscar was pretty restless then had a good period of sleep and woke super hungry at about 4 am. It was one of those 'Oscars back' moments. He had a big feed and just sat on the bouncy chair grinning at me the whole time - yes, oblivious to the time of day, but more importantly already adjusted to the syringe feeding and someway toward being adjusting to having a closed lip.

So, Saturday night, I am home and Fi is with Oscar at Middlemore. We may be discharged tomorrow, then Monday is a public holiday, so it could end up being Tuesday... Oscar today fed via syringe and had some pureed solids via a plastic spoon, good signs but we hope to see him take to the bottle again soon (you can image that the dynamic of feeding from the bottle has changed for him considerably, but hopefully when the tenderness around the upper lip declines he will feel more comfortable trying to suck and press down on the teet)... Also looking forward to the team changing the small dressing on his lip tomorrow so it can be cleaned and we can sneak a look underneath!

Funnily enough, we reckon he looks even cuter.