The Whichard Family: David, Rebekah, Kathryn, Evan, & Sullivan: 3 months home!

February 7th was the 3 month home mark. It's amazing it's already been 3 months! I feel like we've made huge strides in so many ways since we have been home! I will get in to that in a bit, though.
Monday, Feb 3rd was Evan's palatoplasty (palate repair). We arrived at the hospital at 5:45am for a 7:30am start time. They took him back at 7:10, and we had been told it would be about 3 hours for them to get everything done. It ended up taking 5 hours in all, but went well according to the surgeon. We headed up to recovery a little after noon, and spent about an hour there before we were taken up to his room. He was groggy most of the day, but he did get very thirsty that afternoon and drank several cups of juice (which was a good thing--he had to be drinking well before they would discharge him). He and David stayed the night in the hospital, while I came home and got Kathryn from my Mom's and brought her home. I went back Tuesday morning, and we worked hard on getting him to drink some. He finally drank enough that they were happy and were able to discharge him. He was discharged early afternoon, and we headed home.

The worst part of it all was the all liquid diet he was on for the first week and a half. He pretty much lived off boost (strawberry has been his favorite) and juice. About a week after surgery I started venturing out a little, and got some stage 2 baby foods and watered them down enough so he could drink them. I also started feeding him from the side of a spoon at that point, which helped tremendously. We were trying not to eat in front of him (as he would get very upset when he saw us eating), which required Kathryn and I to eat in the stair well. It was really rough there for a few days, as he gave us some dirty looks. Anyway, we saw the doctor last Tuesday and he gave us the go ahead to start soft foods on Friday (yesterday). It had only been a week and a half, but getting to this point felt like an eternity! He'll be on soft foods until the 3 week point, at which time he can start eating a regular diet for the most part. He still won't be able to eat really hard or sharp/pointed items (i.e. chips, cheese its, cheerios) for a while, though. He'll also have to keep his no-no's (arm splints that prevent him from bending his arms and putting things in his mouth) on for a while. Luckily he hasn't fought the no-no's too much, and actually wants us to put them on after we take them off for baths and what not.

So, we are making it through. He will have lip repair in April--i'm begging for a mid-April lip repair, even though the doctor really wants to do it in late April/early May. I'll be having a c-section the last week of May, so we're really wanting all the recovery and follow up appointments to be over prior to that point.

We've been taking it pretty easy around here while Evan recovers, but David did get a chance to take Kathryn to her first father daughter Valentine's dance on Tuesday evening. She had an absolute blast!! I'm pretty sure David had fun as well!

As far as making huge strides, Evan and I have come so far in the last few weeks. I'm grateful for all the people that have been praying for us over the last few months. It has been a tough transition for he and I, but we are making it through. A lot of change has happened between us over the last month. It started about a month ago when I went away for a girl's weekend. He was on edge all day as he was watching me pack, take the car seats out of my car (as David needed them for his car that weekend), and he lost it when I left. After I left he ran back out of the house and down the sidewalk, crying, after me. I was really surprised to hear this as he is so attached to David. Apparently he was a bit moody all weekend. When I returned on Sunday, he got a big smile on his face and came running over to me. He's run up to me a lot more over the last month, grabbing hold of my legs and hugging me tightly. He will also hug me tightly around the neck. Of course he has also needed me a lot more since his surgery, and has relied on me to give him his liquids, etc. I am super grateful for these leaps and bounds that we have made--we are definitely becoming more attached to each other!