Bug = 1 year 11 months 9 days
Bub = 5 weeks 4 days

The other day at Granny and Pop-Pop’s, Bug wanted a drink of milk. Daddy said “Go to Granny and say ‘Milk, please’”.

Bug was little coy about doing this, so Dad hyped him up with an enthusiastic “Go!”. So Bug ran up to Granny and said “GO GO GO! MILK!“.

We’re working on his manners.

Bug = 1 year 11 months 6 days
Bub = 5 weeks 1 day

Bub and I were discharged from hospital just after lunch today. Everything went as expected with the surgery (the timeline was pretty much exactly what I outlined in my last post), and Bub has handled it all very well. She has been a bit sleepier than usual, but otherwise fine.

The surgery has left Bub with a one-inch cut along an existing crease just above her groin. I assume it has been stitched, but I can’t see any stitches. It has a fantastic clear plastic dressing over it that is water-proof (so Bub can be bathed) and comes off in a week.

It’s hard to know if Bub’s in any pain, but she has seemed extra grizzly this afternoon at times. Being extra needy in the evenings is normal for her, but a few times she has come off the breast to cry quite dramatically. I have paracetamol, so I’ll give her some before bed and try to be fairly generous with it over the next few days. I tend to be quite conservative with taking medications or giving them to my kids, but given the big cut I can see in her abdomen, I think on the balance of probabilities Bub will be in some degree of pain, and I want to do all I can to minimise it.

Bug = 1 year 11 months 4 days
Bub = 4 weeks 6 days

Bub is due to go in for surgery to fix her hernia tomorrow morning. My understanding of the process is as follows:

1. Tuesday 4:00am Bub starts fasting for surgery.
2. 7:00am Bob, Bub and I arrive at paediatrics.
3. Before 8:00am we transfer to surgery.
4. 8:00am surgery starts. (This apparently involves about 15 minutes of actual surgery; the rest is preparation, anaesthetic, etc.) Bob or I will probably be allowed to view Bub being anaesthetised.
5. 9:00am surgery ends and Bub is moved to recovery.
6. ASAP after 9:00am Bob and/or I are allowed in to see Bub and feed her once she’s awake.
7. 10:00am we all transfer back to paediatrics. (I’m guessing the time; I assume it will be – all going well – after Bub has woken completely and had a feed.)
8. Next 24 hours Bub and I stay in paediatric ward. Normally she would be able to go home, but because she was premature she needs extra monitoring.
9. Wednesday morning we go home. Bub will have a plastic dressing over her wound for about a week. The dressing will not need to be changed and is compatible with bathing.

I haven’t been told anything else about what happens after I leave hospital. I imagine we’ll have to go back to hospital at some point in the following week for Bub to be examined or have her dressing removed, but no doubt I’ll find out more tomorrow.

I’m not too worried about the fasting. It was one of the most distressing aspects initially (when they told me “four to six hours), but now I’m more comfortable with it. Only four hours is required (the six hours might be for babies fed formula, which is digested more slowly), and Bub often goes four hours without feeding. I’m just going to have to (YUCK!) set my alarm for 3:00am or 3:30am so that Bub can have a big feed before her fasting starts.

Bug = 1 year 10 months 28 days
Bub = 27 days

The long story may or may not follow, depending on whether I decide to blog or to watch Battlestar Galactica tonight.

The short story is that, as indicated in my previous blog, Bub had an ultrasound today. We discovered that she has an ovarian inguinal hernia. (I hope you have better luck googling it than I did!)

My understanding is that this isn’t causing any problems now: her ovary is fine, it’s just in the wrong place. However there is the risk that this will change and strangulation will occur, which could be – excuse the lack of details – bad.

Because of the risks involved, the hernia will need to be repaired surgically.

You now know about as much as me… I have an appointment on Thursday with the paediatric surgeon to discuss more details like:

• How long will the surgery take?
• How long will she/we need to be in hospital?
• When will the surgery happen?
• How will breastfeeding be affected? (there was mention today of 4-6 hours of fasting pre-surgery)
• Are there signs of strangulation that I need to watch out for (before the surgery)?
• What’s involved in recovery?
• What do I need to know about general anaesthetic?
• What are the risk levels of surgery versus no surgery?

Here’s a link to some hernia terms and vocabulary.

Bug = 1 year 10 months 27 days
Bub = 26 days

Bug has been learning things ever since he was born, and I am always surprised when he pulls a new trick or mannerism or phrase out of his box of tricks. I was reading one of his books to him last night – it has some monkeys on a page, and one of them is upside down. This was the first time Bug had seen the book, and he grabbed both sides and turned the book upside down so that the monkey was up the right way. He then repeatedly turned it over and over while chanting “upside down”, “right way up”. The words weren’t enunciated clearly but it was obvious from the intonation and action what he meant.

I’ve also trained him to say “put my nappy on please” and “take my nappy off please” which only requires you to say “put” or “take” to get him going. This isn’t really that clever, but it certainly is cute – although not as cute as him chasing me around the front lawn making hissing noises!

He has also recently really got the idea of telling you things. I am able to ask him what he did during the day and he will recount the day with keywords like ‘nana’, ‘car’, ‘water’, ‘book’ etc, and when you clarify for example ‘Did you go in Nana’s car?’ he will tell you either way. This understanding has also led to making things easier in the middle of the night. If he is in bed with us (a common occurrence when Ada first arrived due to being unsettled) he will quickly quieten down (i.e. stop kicking me in the side!) when I ask him if he wants to go to his own bed.

One night when AS was down from Wellington, Bug woke at about 11:15pm, quite upset. I wasn’t able to console him in his bed (unusual) and I ended up bringing him through to the lounge and light to calm him down. Even this took some time with virtually every word I spoke to him being responded to with sobbing. Through the process of elimination I managed to find some points that stopped his crying. First of all, he had had a dream. Upon discovering this point it shut him up immediately which was great. Whether he actually had or not was irrelevant. Further questioning revealed that he dreamed that Pop-pop (my dad) was in our back yard, watering our garden with a bucket of bubbles. It’s most likely that he saw the bubbles on the screen saver, but I liked the story as much as he did.