The one with a Penny, Part 2.

So off we went to Primary Children's.  We just sat in the waiting room for a few minutes, and Luca enjoyed the toys and fishes.  However, he hated that bracelet.  Anytime it touched him he flipped out.  And of course the thing hung off him a ton, so it always touched him.  We ended up tucking it into his jams for most of the night so he would relax.

Then they brought us back to our "temporary" room.  I put that in quotations because we spent a solid 4 hours in there.  Fern Gully and The Smurfs 2 played all the way through while we were in there.  There was this tiny skinny bed, and a hard bench and one chair in here, and the doctors stool.  We entertained Luca as much as we could, but in the end it was a battle lost.  The kid wouldn't sleep--we were in this room from 1-4am.  He was hungry, but of course not allowed to eat, and so tired that he couldn't sleep, so neither did we.  We tried to rest and close our eyes but it was useless.

They took his vitals when we got back there, and it was a battle.  Luca hated when the nurses or doctors would touch him.  He would stop immediately as soon as they stopped and stepped away.

The nurse brought in some toys to help keep Luca entertained, Jose and he blew bubbles and played with the little alphabet barn thing quite a bit.

Then they came to put his IV in.  That was horrrrrrrrible.  My land.  2 nurses and Jose and I all had to hold the poor child down and completely still.  He apparently has mommies hard to find veins.  So they poked him once, and couldn't find it, and had to use their light thing in the dark to find one.  They also ended up having to do it in the exact spot I always get mine in now too.  Right on the side of my wrist.

It took him a bit to get used to his misshapen claw, but he did it sooner than I expected him too.  After less than an hour he was banging on the toys again and occupying himself by turning on and off the lights.

We tried so hard to get a little bit of sleep in, but man were those chairs hard.  It was just impossible.  And to only help matters, Luca was so not about to sleep.

Then around 4:15 they finally put us in a real room.  With a crib for Luca, a bed and a rocking chair.  Jose took the first shift to get Luca to sleep, which he of course fought for another half hourish, and I got the bed to attempt to sleep.  Once Luca was finally out I slept for about an hour.  Then the nurses came back in and took some vitals--which Luca did not even wake up for--thankfully, and Jose and I switched spots.  I didn't get much more sleep, I woke up to every beep, voice, snore or movement anyone made.  But it was restful to lay in the dark.

I also have to say--I happened to bring one of Luca's blankets from home--and I am so glad I did, since it took so long--but I noticed that there was a handmade quilt in Luca's crib for him to use.  That was so beautiful.  I have never really thought twice about those blankets, or charity's or groups of people that make them, but it really is a wonderful feeling when you are in that situation!

Then at 7 the nurses came back and did one more vitals test, and told me that they were just waiting for the surgeon and he should be ready to take Luca soon.  They came back at 7:30 to tell us the surgeon was ready to roll.  We got Luca changed into a hospital gown and followed a nurse up to the OR.  We met with the anesthesiologist and OR nurse and they explained what they would do.  They had to sedate him, and then put in a breathing tube, then send their scope down to find the penny, pull it out, and then check the esophagus to make sure there weren't and lacerations.  It usually takes 15-40 minutes to do this, so that's all we had to wait.

A lot of times they can just push the penny into the stomach and let it pass naturally, but since his had been in there so long, they had to take it back up.

Then Luca headed off with the pregnant OR nurse, he didn't cry or even look back, he was good and distracted.

Jose and I headed to the waiting room, and had some snacks. We had basically been up all night and were starving, but there were only vending machines around, so that is what we ate.