Palate Surgery - September 12

This week I confirmed with Ryder's plastic surgeon that his palate surgery will be on Friday, September 12 at 7:30am at CHOC. I was a bit of an emotional wreck after hanging up the phone. I knew this day was coming but something about setting a surgery date brought this wave of emotions that I didn't really know was in me. After I hung up the phone I walked over to Ryder, held him and just cried. I told him how sorry I was that mommy couldn't fix him and that he'd have to endure yet another hospital stay with more pokes, prods and pain. It's heart wrenching to see your baby undergo surgeries, to wake up in pain, bruised and bleeding. To watch them suffer, struggling to eat and drink. Ugh! We ask for prayers as we prepare for Ryder's palate surgery. 

As of now we are anticipating a 2-3 night hospital stay and a 6-8 week recovery. We'll have to syringe feed Ryder for the first couple of weeks and he won't get to drink out of his bottle post-surgery so we can officially start saying goodbye to the haberman (haberman = the type of bottle Ryder uses). My hubby and I also need to give blood in the event that Ryder needs it during his hospital stay. We have yet to schedule our pre-op with Ryder's plastic surgeon but will blog update with surgery particulars after our appointment. Good news is that Ryder will be able to start eating "regular" food post surgery and this is HUGE for us! The older Ryder gets the more he wants to explore and taste table food and I hate having to limit his food intake so bring on the In-N-Out and ice cream cones! Ryder is ready!! Oh and veggies and healthy foods too :) 

Don't mind the lack of makeup in the following pics - this was post phone call and Ryder was giving me kisses to cheer me up - mission accomplished!!!