Surgery Day

I woke Alayah up right before we left to go to the hospital. I wanted her to sleep as long as possible since she wasn't allowed anything to eat or drink. She woke up a little after 9 and we left at 9:30 so it worked out well. She was in a good mood on the way there, but that was only because I didn't tell her where we were going.

As soon as we pulled into the hospital parking lot she started screaming and crying that she didn't want to go to the doctors. Not a good way to start out the day for either one of us. We were told to be at the hospital at 10 and that her surgery would be around 10:45. Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist was held up and Alayah didn't get taken back to the pre-op area until after 2pm. It was a very long wait for someone who hadn't eaten and was thirsty. Once they took us back the nurse showed Alayah her bed. Alayah heard dead. Screaming and crying of "I dont wanna be dead" carried whenever a nurse walked by. If the nurses tried to touch her or put anything on her she would scream "it's going to kill me!" It was horrible. I was dreading them taking her from me when it was time for her surgery because she was so upset being there. Luckily, she fell asleep right before they came to get her, so she didn't even know that I left.

The surgery only took 45 minutes, but it seemed like forever. I was called back and my poor girl looked so small laying in the hospital bed. All the other kids that had gone before Alayah had already gone home except for one and he was getting ready to leave when I got back there. The nurse told me Alayah was going to need to stay the night so they could keep an eye on her. I was really disappointed because I didn't understand why she had to stay when everyone else got to leave. They said she could go home during the night if she did well, so I let it go and hoped we would be leaving soon.

Alayah was moved upstairs to the pediatric unit and again was freaked out anytime someone would come into the room. I felt so bad for her and I just wanted to go home. They brought her a tray of food and she ate all the corn on the plate and a whole cup of jello. Later, I found out the tray wasn't for her, but for someone who was in the room before her. I guess she wasn't supposed to be eating that type of food so soon after surgery.

Alayah was extremely afraid of her i.v and for several hours we had to hide her arm under her blanket so she couldn't see it. Today did not go as I had expected and everything from the very beginning seemed to go wrong. I never imagined having to stay the night in a hospital with my baby. It is something I never want to do again.