Mia's Surgery

I feel like I have started all of my recent blog posts by saying - "I'm so far behind on my posts" BUT....  Well the fact of the matter is I am so far behind on my blog posts.  Life is busy at the Portie household with 4 children, to say the least.  In the madness of the Christmas Holidays, the New Year Holiday and me returning to work Full Time - we did manage to squeeze in Mia's palate closure surgery.  This surgery, in my opinion, was long overdue for my sweet girl but with the shortage of Surgeons on the CLEFT Team at Texas Children's we had to wait longer than we expected.  January 24th, which happens to be Maddie's GOTCHA DAY, was the day of surgery.  The process of pre-op was a bit cumbersome and long and nothing we were experienced with.  I grew increasingly more anxious as we finished the pre-op process and the time of the actual surgey came upon us.   Mia was such a trooper and was ignorantly blissful playing with all the toys at the hospital and soaking up all of Mom and Dad's undivided attention.  She pleasantly endured all the poking and prodding that comes with preparing a little one for surgery which made it a little easier on me.  The decision was made to have tubes put in her ears while she was already asleep.  A hearing evaluation revealed a small decrease in hearing in her left ear but mainly due to some standing (non-infectious) fluid behind that ear. 

(The LARGE identification bracelet had to be used for Mia's ankle because her leg is so chunky - LOL)

(My sweet smiling baby girl playing before surgery)

(Mia got into the little tikes car and off she went with the surgical staff to the operating room)

Surgery was a quick 2 hours and was successful - in that her palate was successfully closed.  As the surgeon says, the proof is in the pudding - we will know it is successful if in a few months it begins functioning as she learns to speak.  He prepared us for what we would encounter in the recovery room - but does anything ever prepare you to see your baby (big or small) attached to monitors, wires, eyes swollen from surgery and in pain?  She was quiet and still laying in her bed when they brought us into the recovery room UNTIL she heard my voice.  She started to cry and the nurse was gracious enough to let me hold her for the remainder of the time we spent in the Recovery room.  Keith cried and tried to comfort her as best he could.  I held her close and sang to her to try and comfort her.  She finally awoke enough to be transferred to a room.

Keith and I decided that I would sleep with Mia in the room and he would return to the hotel to get a good nights rest. Mia and I made the night as best we could. Everytime we would settle in and fall asleep the nurse would come in and need to give medication or poke or prode poor Mia. But the nursing staff was great and took great care of Mia.

It is amazing how fast our bodies bounce back. The next morning she was up playing and wanting to get up and walk around. The restricted diet was the biggest post surgery obstacle for us. And I say us - because we all suffered through with her.

We made it through the hardest part - closing the palate.  Now we move into the next phase which is speech development.  Her follow up visit with the surgeon was good.  We will return for another hearing evaluation in March and a speech evaluation in April.  We have already noticed some changes in her speech.  She is now able to make sounds that she wasn't able to before.  Da Da  now sounds like it should most of the time.  Blanket is also very understandable as well as "Snack".  She is definitely making progress. 

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support during her surgery.