* VLOG * It gets worse before it gets better

The swelling that is.

With the actual surgery day behind us I truly feel like the worst is behind us. He was anxious, I was a mess, we were sick with worry. Now, we can breathe easier knowing that it all went well and our baby is going to be just fine.

Here is a video I made last night - but the internet wasn't working at the RMH so I was not able to upload it until today.



After going back to the Ronald McDonald House last night to get a good night's sleep (thanks Ricky!), I was a little nervous to come back and see how much the swelling had increased. Even though we've been through it all before it is not easy to see the size of your child's head expand dramatically overnight.

His eyes are swollen shut and the lids are black and blue. Throughout the day today it has slowly increased, making the skin on his forehead, cheeks and nose stretched to the point that it shines. The swelling should peak tonight/into tomorrow and will then start to slowly subside.


Even though you might look at the pics and think "OUCH", Aiden says he doesn't feel any boo-boos so we feel confident he isn't in any pain. He is, however, extremely frustrated that he is not able to open his eyes. At this point in the evening I think he is starting to get used to it, but earlier today he just kept saying "I want to see, I want to see." We tried explaining that although he cannot open his eyes now, he will be able to soon. We didn't want him to get too worked up thinking that this was permanent.

He is off all meds and all IVs have been removed - the final one was not done by a nurse, but by Aiden himself! Blood squirted everywhere, but aside from just being messy, it caused no problems and Dr. Fearon said we could go ahead and leave it out (it wasn't hooked up to anything, they just left the line in his hand in case they needed to give him anything unexpectedly).

He has eaten his weight in orange popsicles, took a few bites of strawberry yogurt with fruit and even nibbled on a cheese quesadilla a while ago. He is also taking fluids quite well. All of this means we should be on track to be discharged first thing tomorrow morning!

Aiden is very ready to go to the Ronald McDonald House and even more ready to get home to Nana and Ethan and sleep in his own bed. I'd have to say I feel the same way!

One final note - it's been hard to get him to crack a smile today, but when I told him that all his friends in the Froggy class at Kids R Kids, and the teachers, sent him a huge handmade card, he didn't hold back! Wish I would have caught it with my camera. Thank you for brightening his day!!!