There's no place like home...

Yea, he's been home for two days! No fevers!

Most importantly, he's got his groove back. He smiles and giggles for us. He yells at Tyler if he comes too close (Tyler likes to grab the stitches. After all, they are something new on his brother's head and must be investigated. Nicholas, unsurprisingly, is not fond of this behavior) He's sleeping more than usual and getting up more in the middle of the night, but all that was expected. He's really clingy too -- he wants to see one of us at all times. We keep telling him that no nurses are going to give him shots or take his vitals, but he seems somewhat skeptical.

Two pics today. The first is him grinning and "asking" to get in the bouncing buggy. The second is him in the buggy and blowing bubbles.

Deja Vu

Nicholas is back home again. He's feeling much better after two rounds of IV antibiotics. They tell us that sometimes they just get unexplained fevers after brain/skull surgery. (Of course, why then do they tell us to take their temperature at least daily and come into the ER if it's over 101? Do they like to worry us?) He's healing wonderfully and is much more active than he was while in the hospital. Tyler is happy to see him as well.

The picture today is the incision. It goes from ear to ear and has a beautiful wavy line on top. They did it with the absorbable stitches so he doesn't have to be uncomfortable when they try to take them out (thank goodness!). It's healing nicely and you won't be able to tell he had skull surgery unless he gets a buzz cut, which is highly unlikely.

Feverish

Nicholas was running a fever so he's back in the hospital. They admitted him last night while they gave him some IV antibiotics. We're hoping he can come home later this evening but we have to wait until for the results of his urinalysis.

You can see in the picture that the swelling is down and both eyes are open, though. Progress!

We're Home

Really, that says it all. Woohoo!!!!

Hangin' Tough

Nicholas is still working on getting better in the hospital. Meanwhile, Tyler is up to his old shenanigans. He chased a kitty this morning and got stuck -- he sounded just like a calf caught up in some brambles. Of course, I took a picture for you before I pulled him out.

He misses his brother. He'll stand at the edge of the baby corral and just grunt for him. He always wants someone in the corral with him so he can keep an eye on you. He's also going on a hunger strike. The baby that would eat three jars of food in a sitting is now eating only half of one. He's saying, "Someone lost my baby. Go find him! Bring him back now!"

My Biggest Concern

Well, I have several Big Concerns (as Pooh would say)

1. That Nicholas will come home and bonk his head, or have his head bonked, and scream in pain for hours.
2. That I won't be able to balance their needs and will default to spending more time and effort with Nicholas.
3. That Tyler will feel "left out" by this whole event and resent Nicholas.
4. That I won't be patient enough with Nicholas' recovery and think he's "changed" in some fundamental fashion when really he's just recovery from major skull surgery.

I keep reminding myself that there are two babies who need me and that Nick has survived the worst part of this but it's really hard when your baby can't open his eyes and even his cries don't sound right.

That runon sentence is a good hint that I need to log off. I feel better just for having put this "out there". Naming the problem is supposedly the first step, you know...

Doing well

Sorry about the lack of pictures. I promise to put some up when the camera comes back from the hospital.

Nick has been moved from the PICU to the floor -- a good sign. He's eating formula and being cranky because he can't see. His head is so swollen he can't open his eyes. But he did get some good sleep while I was there (he liked cuddling) when he got out to the floor. There were fewer people going in and out of his room and bothering him. He doesn't like the uncertainty of not knowing what is going on.

He's a fiesty one.

Stylin' in the turban

Nicholas is out of surgery and in the PICU. They're giving him lots of morphine so he's much happier. He lost a good bit of blood and they had to give him two units, but his head is much rounder. He's wearing a cute turban for the next day or so. His eyes will be swollen shut for about five days and then they'll send him home.



I can't tell you what kind of relief it is when the surgeon says, "He's fine." I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath...

Tyler is also doing well. He had a great time with Auntie Rose and learned how to "throw" a ball.

In Surgery

Nicholas is in surgery as we speak. His moms are freaking out but he was doing fine. They even let Carolyn back to "help" with the anesthesia induction. They're sitting in the waiting room and reading; I went down to get some breakfast and noticed the advert for the Family Resource Center.

He was a champ. I fed him at 3AM, and he chewed me out for waking him up -- then promptly fell asleep on the bottle. We also had to get him up an hour earlier than usual to bathe him (10 minutes of scrubbing on his head, 5 on his body; seems excessive but whatever). Then Tyler's babysitter came and we packed him up.

He was a little concerned that he couldn't find his brother when we were driving in, but he was happy to bask in the glow of three moms. He didn't even get fussy until the very end. I've decided that the best part of the hospital is getting to play with Child Life's toys. They're new, so Nick loves them, and they clean them for you. Woohoo!

All in all, we're doing about as well as can be expected. I'm incredibly happy we moved to Cincinnati -- world-class doctors, awesome parental support, and the bond for Children's Hospital always passes. Glad to pay my taxes, thank you very much.

Expect Outages

Tommorow, Nicholas is having skull surgery. This will take care of his severe metopic craniosynostosis.



We'll be in the hospital for the next few days -- at least one in the PICU and about five days overall. We're nervous as can be and just happy that he'll probably only have to have this one surgery. I won't be posting for a while, obviously, but I'll share all the gruesome pictures when I get back.

July 17

Two pictures today...

First, Nicholas carrying around both his favorite stuffed animals, "Boo Puppy" and "Choc". His life would be perfect if he were naked and in the lambie.


Next, Tyler standing for the first time. It turns out all we had to do was put on the tape of a Melissa Etheridge concert. The boy has good taste, what can I say?

July 16

Here calfie calfie calfie!

July 15

Tyler's gonna break some hearts. Those cheeks!

July 14

Tyler was done with his meal well before Nicholas so I stuck him in the bouncing buggy while I finished. I put Nicholas down in the pen after his meal and went to clean up. This is how I found them when I came back -- happily playing together. Awww...

July 11

I think this is the day we gave Tyler peaches for the first time. You know when he really likes something because he sticks his tongue out to prevent its escape.

July 10

Nicholas carries "Boo Puppy" around by its ears. It's so darn adorable. Also, notice that he's finally figured out how to get out of the exersaucer by himself.

July 9

I love this behavior of Tyler's. He has to be touching something with his foot while he's eating. It's usually me, but evidently the big chair will do in a pinch. At lease it's not Nicholas; that always leads to howling.

July 8

Tyler takes a slightly more ... intense ... view of being stuck below the exersaucer. He'll eventually learn.

July 7

It looks like all those trips to the art museum might be rubbing off.

Nirvana

Are you going to be the one to tell Nicholas that it doesn't get any better than this. I didn't think so!

July 6

"TAG! You're it!"

July 5

Nicholas would like some help getting out of the exersaucer. He hasn't quite figured it out yet. He can get in, but not out.

July 4

Tyler reading. It's moments like these that make me feel I must be doing something right with my life.

July 3

Tyler loves his Elmo puppet so much that he's going to bite its eyeballs!

July 2

Nicholas really enjoys the toy that Aunt Beki sent him. We put the legs on it so he could do some more pulling up practice.

July 1

I swear that Nicholas got that positioned all by his lonesome. Looks like he's ready for surgery!

June 30

More playing together.

June 29

A very good pic of the boys playing together.

June 28

Nicholas is having a hard time focussing on his bedtime bottle. He'd rather play with the ball. Mom will not be denied!

June 27

Looks like we got that gate up just in time -- Nicholas has learned to pull up.