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Will got out of surgery at 9:30 am. which was a little faster than we expected.  As the Dr. opened the door to the to the waiting room his smiling face call for William.  Lynn and I gathered our things and anxiously headed to the recovery room where Will was sleeping.  On the short walk from the waiting room to the recovery room Dr. described Will’s Pallet as very wide.  He told us that the surgery was completely successful and Will was resting.  When we got to the waiting room Will was asleep.  He looked peaceful, wrapped in his favorite blanket, with his stuffed cat “meow” right there with him.  The nurse asked us to be quite,  not to wake him because she said it was better to sleep off the sedative.  We tried to keep our voices down but it didn’t make much of a difference with all the commotion of doors slamming and people coming and going.  Still Will managed to sleep for about 20 minutes as we admired him and how beautiful and perfect God made  him until my sense of humor took over.   Soon Meow was in on the action and role playing.   Just like Will meow was a perfect patient.  The peacefulness was short lived.  When Will woke up he did not know where he was and was pretty angry.   Lynn swept in to pick him up to comfort him.  Blood from his mouth mixed with drool streamed from his lips and collected on Lynn’s sweater.  He was crying, arching his back and kicking his feet in an effort to control anything he could in this vulnerable environment.  He only covered by his diaper and was restricted by his IV and O2 lead.  Feeling cold and alone his wonderful mother Lynn, somehow comforted him back to sleep by singing softly in his ear.  It was truly a shining moment for Mother and child.    From there Lynn and Will were loaded on the gurney and wheeled over to our hospital room where they will stay for the night.  The journey from recovery to the room was uneventful.  It was just down the hall from building A 3rd floor to 6th floor building D.  The movement caused Will to fuss a bit once we got to the room but he quickly went back to sleep.  After about an hour of sleep Will woke up with a roar.  Lynn and I could tell that he was in a lot of pain.  We called the nurse and requested some pain medication for him.  She offered to give him Morphine.  The Morphine knocked him out and gave him relief for about 1.5 hours.  When he woke back up we offered him some water from his sippy cup and he drank it.  He was still having lots of pain so the nurse gave him another dose of Morphine.  By this point it was time for me to head out to get the big kids from school.  When I left Lynn and Will were resting quietly and watching Teletubbies.   

Thank you all for your kind words and Prayers.  Brad.

to see more pictures visit the photo gallery.

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Will is in surgery right now.  The nurse gave us the phone number to the operating room and asked that we please call in every 30-45 minutes to check in.  As of our last report (9:30AM), Will is doing great!  The surgeon is just about to close, and has asked that we head to the recovery area to wait for Will.  This is great news, as we were expecting the surgery to take at least another hour.  Things must have gone smoothly, praise God!  We already met with the ENT, who put tubes in Will’s ears before the cleft surgery began.  His report was that both ears are currently infected, and there is quite a bit of scarring in both.  Sweet Will has most likely endured chronic ear infections for his whole life.

Will was so sweet in the holding area this morning.  They gave him medicine to make him really sleepy.  He went floppy & could hardly keep his eyes open.  He was pretty giggly & couldn’t stop drooling, poor thing.  When we laid him on the bed, he asked, “Night night?” and folded his hands to say prayers.  I sang “Itsy Bitsy Spider” with him, and he was as unbelievably content when they rolled him away.

Big Thanks to Pastor Scott from Hope Fellowship who met us here at 6AM to pray over Will.  It was nice to see him here in the still-dark hours of his day off

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We are ready for Will’s big day.  I had planned a lot more that I wanted to say, but time really got away from me today.  Brad & I are pretty at peace — maybe because it’s not our mouths being cut?  We have been praying about this for so long, I think God’s just got us covered in His peace.

We’ll update the blog as quickly as possible tomorrow.

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Lots of dr’s visits lately.  Yesterday we had Will’s 3 year well-check with the pediatrician.  He is very pleased with Will’s overall health & development & seems to have taken a special interest in our little guy.  He even gave Will a little hug at the end of our visit — something he’s never done with the other kids, and he’s been our dr. for 5 years!  Here’s what we found out:

• Will has gained 1 lb, 2 oz since he came home in December.  Up to 23 lb, 2 oz. 
  
• He has grown 1/2 inch since adoption
  
• He’s still not registering on any growth charts yet, Chinese or American. 

Today was our pre-op appointment, and it was a looooong one!  We met with a string of different hospital personnel, as well as the surgeon to discuss Monday’s surgery & what to expect.  I really feel like all of my questions have been answered, and although I’m not looking forward to this, I do feel like I am very well prepared.  The Child Life Specialist at the hospital even sent home a bag with hospital gowns, drapes, bandages, masks, etc for the kids to play with this weekend.  The hospital we have chosen has the nicest staff of any medical facility I’ve ever been to, it is amazing.  Here’s a rundown of Monday:

• No food after midnight.  Milk is ok until 1:30 AM.  Clear liquids ok until 5AM.
  
• Arrive at the hospital 6 AM
  
• Surgery at 7:30 AM
  
• Surgery duration is approximately 2 – 2.5 hours. 
  
• One night’s stay in the hospital.  He can come home Tuesday if his blood oxygen level is normal & he is drinking adequately.
  
• Our surgeon says NO arm restraints, Will can suck his thumb as soon after surgery as he wishes.
  
• No official dietary restrictions beyond common sense (no pretzel sticks, chopsticks, chips, etc).  He can use his bottle & sippy cup as normal.

It was a long, hard day, so Will is sleeping it off right now.  The big kids don’t want to come home from their babysitters’ houses, so I get a bit of down time.

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With the big kids back in school, I have been busy shopping, planning, nesting, and otherwise getting ready for Will’s surgery, which is in just 5 days.  It’s something we’ve been talking about since last June – even before we were approved to adopt Will.  And now it is here.  I have a headache from all of the things I am having to plan out to get ready.  I have babysitters lined up for Margaret and Jack for Will’s pre-op appointments on Thursday and Friday, and Brad’s sister is keeping them overnight Sunday and Monday after school.  After that . . . ???  We’ll see when we get there.  I bought so much at the grocery store today that I’m worried the freezer door won’t stay closed.  I also realized that I’ve been obsessively buying children’s pain relievers every time I visit Target or Walmart for about the last two months.  If you happen to need any Children’s Motrin, Tylenol, or Benadryl, just let me know.  We have enough for two years!

I though I should take some pictures of Will’s cleft so he can see what his mouth looked like when he was born.  Easier said than done.  I think I need a different camera — but here’s what we came up with.  The first picture is just because Will’s cute.  The second one shows the split in his uvula.  The third shows how you can see clear up into his nasal cavity.  No wonder Teddy Grahams come out his nose!  His palate actually looks nothing like we expected it to, and is pretty non-threatening.  But it does have to be fixed if he ever wants to talk.  Ooooh, I can’t wait to hear his husky little voice making actual words.   

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