The next thing I knew, DH was yelling down the corridor to his brother, "What time is it?" "Quarter past six." CRAP! BIL made us poached eggs on toast, which were wolfed down in record time. I had to choose between brushing my teeth and drinking coffee, and the coffee won. We got out the door at 6:35 and walked up to the Mater Children's Hospital reception at precisely 6:45. Whew!
We were sent to the waiting room of the children's day surgery. We were told Elizabeth would be the second case of the day, after a big case which was going to take a while. So the 8:30 surgery time we were expecting was more likely to be 11:00.
At around 9am, Elizabeth started getting a bit shirty, so the nurse rang the anaesthetist and asked if she could have some juice. She was allowed 35 mL but didn't want a bar of it.
I started chatting to a mum with a 10 year old boy who had a repaired cleft (they're easy to spot once you've seen a few!). He was there to have his bone graft operation. His mum was pregnant with her 5th child- she has 4 boys already, two of whom were cleft bubs. She was so down to earth and we had a great chat.
The nurse told us if we wanted to go get a coffee, we needed to be back by 11am. DH went and had brekkie downstairs around 9:30 (E was asleep in the sling), then I went and did the same. 11:00 came and the anaesthetist came and explained what was going to happen. She said that the case before us was about half finished. That meant we still had ages to wait.
Elizabeth was very hungry but was pretty happy to suck on her dummy and be carried in her sling. I can't remember how many times I walked up and down that damn corridor. She fell asleep a total of 3 times during the long wait.
Finally, at 1pm, I made a coffee and said to DH, "I bet they'll come get us now that I've made a coffee". Sure enough, before I'd even taken my first sip, a nurse came to get us.
We went into the pre-op foyer and Elizabeth was very upset at this point. She must have sensed what was coming. After about 3 minutes, a couple of nurses and the anaesthetist came out and said it was time to say goodbye. I tried to be strong but it was so hard. I held my baby in front of my face and said, "Goodbye sweetheart, you're going to get a new face. I love you". I then handed her to DH but didn't hear what he said because I was crying. Then they whisked her away and I stared at the doors that swung shut after them. DH and I held eachother for a few minutes and then I went to express because my boobs were aching.
We walked to South Bank and got some lunch. We were both in pretty good spirits. The worst part was over- the dreaded waiting with a starving baby. Now all we had to do was wait for the surgeon to do his work.
We went and waited in the parents' lounge. After about 40 minutes, the phone rang. One of the mums answered it and called out, "Elizabeth's parents?" I bounded to the phone and the lady on the other end said that we could go to recovery and get our daughter. We were both so excited, we practically skipped down the hallway. I pressed the intercom button outside recovery and told them who we were. We went in and a nurse said, "Elizabeth [not our surname]?" And I said, "No, Elizabeth [our surname]". "Oh", she said, "We meant the other one". So we had to go backwith our tails between our legs.
About 20 minutes later one of the surgeons came in to tell us that the operation was over and that it had gone very well. He said that she should be ready in about half an hour. Of course, it was closer to an hour.
When the call finally came, DH said he needed to pee. When he came out I grabbed his hand and we practically ran to Recovery. We walked in and a nurse with a big grin ws beckoning us over.
When we first saw our baby, I gasped in shock, amazement and surprise. I knew that she would never look the same again, but I was not prepared for how different she looked. Her whole face seemed to have been transformed. Gone was the wide mouth and round face- now her mouth was a tiny little rosebud, and her face seemed more heart-shaped. She looked so tiny and innocent in the big bed with her arms in splints.
We went up to the ward and she opened her little eyes tentatively. She was emitting little groaning noises like she was in pain. When she cried, it was the saddest little hoarse cry and sounded nothing like my baby.
After DH left, I sat and stared at her for ages. I just wanted to pick her up and cuddle her but was scared of all the tubes. She had her first feed around 6pm. The nurse held up her head while I squeezed the milk in using a squeezy bottle and pipette. It took her about 30 minutes but she had the whole 100mL. The next feed after that she took about 70mL in about an hour, and it went downhill from there. We had a pretty crappy night- she woke in pain every 2 hours and it took upwards of an hour to get tiny amounts of milk into her.
I was totally exhausted by 5am and fell asleep as soon as she'd fed. When I woke, it was 9am. I was in such a deep sleep that the nurse had to wake me because E had been crying for ages. She told me that the surgeon had been to see us. I was annoyed because I really wanted to talk to him. The nurse said that he'd told her that E could feed using her regular teat after the tough time she'd had that night.
Her feeding became marginally better throughout the day, but not good enough for us to go home. Her IV fluid was reduced by half in an attempt to get her feeding more, and her morphine drip was turned off and she was given Panadol every 4 hours.
This is her nasal stent, without the tape holding it in place. It is to be worn for 3 months and will shape her nostrils.That night, at 10:30 she had been crying for an hour and I was exhausted. The nurse came in and asked if I wanted her to take E so I could sleep. I handed her over, hopped into bed and promptly fell asleep. The next thing I knew, it was 2:30 am. The nurse had E and I said, "You haven't had her this whole time, have you?" and she said that E had just woken up. I gave her a feed, expressed, and went back to sleep at 3:30 then woke at 7:30. It was so good to get a good night's sleep.
One of the plastic surgeons came around 8:30 and said that we could go home, so I rang DH and spent the morning waiting for him. My family arrived around 10:45 and I bid the staff goodbye and thanked them for being so lovely and helpful during our stay.
Now Elizabeth is getting used to her new face, and so are we.
