Post-op Appointment Today

Today was Aiden's post-op appointment with his plastic surgeon, Dr. Martin. He didn't seem too concerned about his lack of fluid intake and told us to just keep giving him what he will take. Here is Nana feeding him his favorite food, a fudge bar.


Everyone can not get over how much he looks like his daddy. Dale's little mini-me.

His newest thing: sticking his tongue out ALL the time. Dr. Martin said that some kiddos do that after their palate repair because the kid feels like their tongue won't fit in their mouth since they are used to sticking it up in the palate. Aiden used to love to floss his nose with his tongue all the time, now he just leaves his tongue hanging out of his mouth. He will eventually figure out his tongue fits in there and stop sticking his tongue out at everyone he sees.

As we waited in the room Daddy was trying to keep him occupied. "Is that a doggy I have on my head?Once Dr. Martin came in it was no longer fun and games. This is a rare photo-op with Dr. Martin. He is a man of few words and really hard to pin down for a picture. Here he is examining Aiden's palate and says everything looks great. He took the blue stitches out of his upper lip and said that the stints and arm restraints will come off after his appointment next week.

Here is a close up of his new lip without the stitches. Notice the big crocodile tear on his cheek. It took Daisy (his nurse) holding his head still, Daddy holding his arms, and Mommy hold his legs to keep him still for Dr. Martin to take out the stitches. He is a VERY strong baby and has been since birth.

Aiden has spiked a small fever this afternoon that we will be keeping an eye on. He also has been having a lot of loose dirty diapers. Dr. Martin wants us to give him a call tomorrow if it persists but doesn't think there is a problem. Might just be from the pain meds and the antibiotics he has been on the past week.

We asked him if he thought the NAM did it's job and was worth all the work. He said there would have been no way they would have been able to do it all at the same time if he had not gone through all that work. The gum line and palate had moved enough to be closed, eliminating multiple surgeries. As far as surgeries in the future? There is nothing he will need structurally done, maybe just a lip or nose revision as he grows. This is a major praise. His orthodontist, Dr. Garcia, gets tears in her eyes everytime she sees him now. We went to visit her before the post-op appointment and she just gushed all over him, showing him off to everyone in the office. They could not get over how different he looks now. She did an awesome job with him and really loves him very much. Dr. Garcia and her assistant, Jose, even came and saw us during surgery and afterwards while we stayed in the hospital.

Where do we go from here? We will have a craniofacial appointment around his first birthday, where they will check his progress and then evaluate him for speech if there are issues. In the mean time we get to start him on baby food next week after the stints and arm restraints are gone.

Sorry for the long windedness and all the pictures. Lots to share today. Hope you all have a wonderful night and continue to pray that he steps up his fluid intake.