Surgery tomorrow
CantWait2Be
member
Ds has his surgery tomorrow on his kidney/ureter. We have to be at the hospital at 6:30 am. He usually sttn but tonight I have to wake him at 1:30 to give him baby food, 3:30 to bf him and then 5:30 is the latest he can have water or juice or pedialyte. Not sure how long the surgery will take but he'll be in the hospital for at least 3 days. I'm planning to stay with him the whole time. I sure will miss my own bed but I don't want to be away from ds. I hope the surgery goes perfect and the doc can repair whatever she needs to without complications and ds heals quickly with no residual problems or new ones. I'm going to be a wreck tomorrow when they take him from me.
Anyones lo have surgery where they were in the hospital for a few days? Did you leave at all? Did you pack diapers and toys and food for lo?
Re: Surgery tomorrow
D has been hospitalized 2x for febrile seizures. The first time, he stayed 2 nights. He was 2 years old. He had 3 seizures in the span of 5 hours. We were visiting family in North Dakota. He needed to be transferred from the small rural hospital/clinic to the larger hospital in Grand Forks. I hardly had anything with me other than a full diaper bag and his favorite blankets. They had us stay 2 nights since they wanted him to be seizure free for 24 hours before releasing us since the hospital was over an hour away from where we were staying. The staff there was wonderful. They brought DVDs in the room for him. Plus they had a wagon he loved taking rides in. I used the diapers in my bag and once I ran out, they gave me a package of Pampers. He ate the hospital food. I stayed both nights with him...DH was home...he didn't go to ND with us.
His 2nd stay was only 1 night. He was 3. We went to the ER and didn't expect to be admitted for observation. So all I had once again was a diaper bag and his blankies. DH was the one stayed with him overnight since I was 9 months PG(this happened only 3 days before I was induced). When I came back in the morning, I brought the laptop and some movies along with more diapers. The hospital had already given DH a package of diapers. We were released before lunch so he really didn't eat other than some fruit that we ordered him for breakfast.
If I were packing for a several day stay for Alex right now, I would bring some diapers, a couple favorite small toys/books, etc. and some snack type foods. If he were still eating purees, I would throw some of those in the bag too. If your LO eats table food, I wouldn't worry. You can order food for him. At both hospitals, fresh and canned fruit were available at every meal. At breakfast, they have usually have several dry cereals so you can just order some cheerios or something. At dinner/lunch, they had several types of veggies on the menu too.
At both hospitals, Danny was in a room with a crib, a bed, and a sleeper chair. Be warned...the crib has high bars that go all the way up...looks like a baby jail. Normally, parents get the sleeper chair but both hospitals let us use the extra bed.
Danny had minor surgery when he was 1.5. They gave him some tylenol with something else in it to relax him before they took him away. Made him very loopy. When he was in recovery and woke up, he was screaming...he was a mess. he didn't know what was going on and was scared. It took awhile to calm him down, even though I was holding him and both DH and I were talking to him. I wish I knew ahead of time that that is normal because it freaked me out!!!!!
Good luck to your little man and to you too!!!!! Hope everything goes well and you have a short hospital stay.
Our DS was much younger when he got admitted to the hospital and we were there for 4 days. I left once to shower and it was because I needed to, LOL. Otherwise DH left and went home a few times. I stayed there, slept there, ate in the room (we got room service), and I never left except the one time to go home and shower.
We did not take diapers because they provided them, and he was to young for toys but I can tell you that they had toys there that DS was able to play with, appropriate for his age. So I assume they would have toys for your LO's age. If anything take an extra bag packed and leave it in the car with a stock of toys, diapers and anything you aren't sure of. Then in a small bag carry a few diapers, a few toys, anything you need just to get your LO by for a short time, just enough time to get situated in the room and then run to the car and get the other bag out of the car. Good Luck!
ETA: DS did have surgery recently but did not stay in the hospital but when he woke up from the anesthesia he was not upset at all, he came in very calm and was not crying or anything. I just wanted to add that so that you know that it's possible your LO will wake up from surgery calm and not upset.
Oh and another thing that PP did mention, they do come in constantly to check vitals, but once your LO is stable you should be able to request that they go a little longer with no vital checks. The childrens hospital I was at did this and they went Midnight to 6:00 in the morning with no vitals, they just threw a sign up on the door outside and DS was able to get some good sleep. Good Luck!