Hip Surgery #2

Wow, what a difference a surgery makes!

Raddy had her cast changed on Friday and is was like nothing happened at all.

She had to go to the OR for it again and be put to sleep

This is her before surgery

She was so tired, since we had to get her up about 5am!

I finally got her to sleep, of course they came to get her about 15 minutes later.

She did so much better this time around.  When I first got back to see her she was pretty sad and out of it, but once they finally let me hold her, she calmed right down, laid her head on me and slept for about 30 minutes. 

Once she woke up it was almost like nothing happened to her.  She started to smile and talk to us and hardly even cried again.  I was so worried that it was not going to go well, but it really couldn't have gone better.

We were home by 11 and back with the kids

This picture is of all the girls in our matching purple!

Grammy came to help us again.
Thankfully things went so smoothly we got to hang out and enjoy her being here instead of working her to death.  Thanks again Mom it was so nice to have you here!!!

Raddy has an entertainment committee, they perform whenever it is needed and never fail to make her giggle, which is hysterical to hear.  Everyone tries to see who can make her laugh!

We will be getting this cast off in about 5 weeks!

YAY...then she just has to wear a harness at night when she sleeps!

For now we just enjoy our sweet baby girl, who honestly is hardly ever upset or sad.  She has handled this crappy cast like it is nothing.  She smiles constantly and we just love her!

FEBRUARY CONT...

So the rest of February wouldn't load earlier so here ya go.

Riley had this fantastic 3rd grade project....not really

Turns out it was more for the parents than the kids, but they had to make a complex machine out of 3 simple machines.  So the Nut Smasher was created, thanks to their Dad's

We had some girl movie time

Rayden loves to keep the babies feet clean, which is great for all of us!

Cracks me up she is always cleaning them out

Our chunky monkey all dressed up

So happy!

We finally let the kids sign the babies cast, they having been dying to do it!

She is having her surgery/cast change this Friday, not as big of a deal as last time, but still stressful having the whole surgery thing...not much fun!

She has been such a good baby thru all of this.

She is always smiling, laughing, honestly just a really fun loving baby!

(Even while we are taking 30min to change a poopy diaper)

FEBRUARY

We had a busy month...not sure what we did, but it was busy!

We celebrated Valentine's Day

I had to work that day, so Sunday night there were a few treats left out for the kids

Rayden

Ryker pondering which shirt to wear...always a hard decision for him

Riley all set with some Valentine gear

(I got to help with her Vday party for school...talk about chaos)

I told Jason I wanted chocolate strawberries,,,he said NO!

So I came home from work to find plastic toy strawberries covered in chocolate syrup!

Funny guy...right? Not really

Then I discovered these in the fridge...mmmmm!

Jason turned the big 35!

Lucky guy, getting older doesn't even phase him.

I would be flipping out if I was that old, but I'm not :)

We had a fun day celebrating.  The kids were out of school so we both took the day off work and played all day!  We started with take-out breakfast and then some sledding!

Rayden making snow angels

Jason and I having such a fabulous time!

Ryker not so sure if he is having fun

Riley definitely having a good time!

After a lunch break and a quick nap for the baby we went to go bowling along with the rest of the world so we ended up playing some arcade games instead

We ended our day of fun with dinner at Texas Roadhouse

We even took the baby out with us

(which is huge because taking her anywhere is hard)

We really had a fun day, but we were very worn out by the time it was all over.

Jason is one lucky guy....just kidding, we are the lucky ones he is a pretty great guy!

CT Scan

I finally heard from Radlyn's surgeon and he said the CT scan looked perfect!

Yea!!!

So excited, not sure I could have handled having to start over.

Next step is to take her back to the OR for a cast change March 11

In the mean time...we just try and survive

She is getting use to it I guess...look how happy she is!

 This is how we "bathe" her!

Lots of hands are needed so usually we settle for a washcloth bath 

 We had to say good-bye to my Mom, it is always hard, but she was needed elsewhere

She has been missed!

 How uncomfortable does this look????

We don't go many places, actually we don't go anywhere!

 It takes a while to get her in the right position and you can see how much she likes it

 This is how we have to change her diaper (this picture doesn't do it justice) but we have to flip her over to put the back of diaper up the cast.  She had pooped everywhere so it was taking forever to clean it up and she feel asleep.

Poor little thing!

 We finally fed her some rice cereal w/ pears for her 1st solid food ever!

She liked it the first time but so far hasn't really enjoyed it since.

We thought this might help firm things up so we didn't have runny poop all up in her cast, but so far she hasn't eaten enough to make much of a difference

 She also had her first pedicure...pink to match her cast!

This week is a vast improvement from last week! I was quite certain I was never going to be able to do this, but we are slowly getting there.  She is pretty much back to her normal sleeping habits, just not always her long naps, which I miss!  We have yet to figure out the magic diapering method so no poop  gets down her cast, so until we do, we just get to have a smelly baby!

Thank goodness for lots of help with kids, meals, and holding the Chunky Monkey!



Hip-Baby

The dreaded day came way too fast and before we knew it our life was going to be way different!

We arrived at the hospital nice and early (630am), to begin the surgery check in process.

We were soon ready and waiting with Radlyn in her cute little surgery gown!

Here we are waiting to meet the nurse and anesthesiologist,

she was pretty happy all things considered, but she was getting pretty sleepy from her early morning start.

I finally got her to fall asleep, just in time for them to give her medicine, which she did without to much fuss and went right back to sleep. After talking to all the right people, we walked our cute baby down the hall and passed her off to the anesthesiologist...so sad!

Now was the hard part, WAITING!  I know how surgery works so I know all the stuff that goes on, but when you are on the other side, it seems to take forever!  We were told it could take any where from 1-3 hours depending on what they found once they got in there.  The plan was to do a hip angiogram (inject dye into the area) so they could see proper positioning and then decide.  Basically they called and told us is was going to be somewhere in between.  The doctor finally came out and told us that he was able to get them back in place, but had to make a small incision on either side to cute the tendon so they wouldn't be so tight, and then cast her in the proper position.  Radlyn will need a CT scan next friday to make sure they have stayed in the right place.  Shortly after the doctor came they came to get me to let me be back in recovery with her.  I guess she was quite upset and I have never seen such a sad little thing.  She could hardly keep her head up and she had the saddest cry. So hard to see your baby like that.  We then moved to a different area and Jason was able to come back too.  They had to do what is called pedaling around all the edges of her cast to protect her skin as well as the cast from getting soiled.  Turns out she wasn't really a big fan and it was very difficult to do.  They finally gave her some lortab, which helped alot, but knocked her right out!  We ended up not having to stay the night, but ended up being there until about 3, and she had gone into surgery at 8.  Lets just say it was a very long day!

Poor little thing just broke my heart

A rare moment with her eyes open

The other thing that took awhile was getting her fitted in her "special" car seat.

Somehow I failed to get a picture of that, but I will.  It is quite the process and right now I feel like I will never be able to go anywhere!

It took about a day before we started to see our sweet little baby get some life back in her, but it happens more and more.  It has been hard to adjust to a whole new way to do everything.  Changing her diaper is a joke, holding her is painful & heavy, laying her down takes some effort to get the right position, and sleeping is like having a new baby all over again.

We have had to get creative to make her happy, but we are figuring it out

This is Grampy getting her to smile, while Rayden holds her

We ended up buying a small bean bag yesterday and has really been pretty comfortable for her to be in.

Another position she seemed to like :)

We also got a stroller that would recline and still have room for her cast, and we have been pushing her around the house in it already.

There are still many challenges but I am hoping we figure it all out eventually.

I will have to do a post about the whole diapering process because it is rather interesting and a lot of work!

Thankfully she did well in surgery and is recovering rather quickly.  We have been very blessed with lots of help and just pray she continues to do well and that we all survive this new adventure!