Nip/Tuck

We went into the Mannheim Klinikum on Wednesday, August 26th for Stephanie's surgery. First of all, we had to find our way to the registration desk for her particular "house" which was an adventure. When we finally found it, there was a looooong line - and Germans are in no particular hurry for anything - and Penny and I found a seat while poor Steve waited forever to be seen. Of course, the lady in there speaks absolutely no English, but they managed to communicate and get the forms all completed. Sidebar - yes, we know it is horrible not speaking our host country's language, but we are working on that. From now on, I will always be a lot more sympathetic and empathetic towards foreignors in the United States who do not speak English. It is frightening, exasperating and lonely to be in a country where you do not speak the language. We are learning, but medical terminology is still way out of our range.

Anyhow, we finally make it up to our floor and to our room. Then, because I will be staying with Stephanie, I have to go back down to the registration office and get myself registered. Fun, fun! Luckily, the tech assisting us was kind enough to write in German what I needed so that I could just hand it to the lady downstairs. There goes another hour of waiting in line! While I'm gone, Stephanie has to get her IV inserted into her hand. Steve said she didn't even cry!

Of course, I hated seeing my baby with that thing in her hand! I hated getting the IV when I went in to deliver, but I ain't no crybaby either!

The first day/night in the hospital was so they could monitor her and check her heart. We went down to cardiology for an EKG, and the tech there gave Penny so much sugar water to, ironically, calm her down, I just knew she'd be bouncing off the walls later. Penny was in such a good mood the entire day - she had no worries and seemed to not even suspect that something was amiss. We shared the room with a one-month old, Frederic, who was also having hernia surgery. His mom actually spoke English, so that was cool.

The hard part began when she had to fast a few hours before surgery, since her stomach had to be empty for the anesthesia. She, and Frederic, couldn't eat after 3:30 AM, since their surgeries were first thing in the morning. The nurse came in to wake us at about 3 AM for their last feedings. Penny was not accustomed to sleeping for so long apart from me, so I fed her and just brought her to bed in my little cot. She was hungry when she awoke in the morning, and she seemed to keep looking at me in confusion when I wouldn't feed her. All I could do was stick her binky in and cuddle her. She was not happy, but she quieted down. Broke my heart, and I just kept talking and explaining to her that I couldn't feed her just yet, but I would as soon as she was able to eat again. I left her with Steve for a few minutes so I could grab a much-needed cup of coffee and try to shovel down my breakfast. I made it back to the room just in time - the nurse had come to wheel her down to surgery.

Here she is all dressed for surgery

She seemed to be looking for me, and kept her eyes on me and Steve as we made it down to the operating room. We made it to the big, frosted glass doors, and the nurse tells us, "It's time to say goodbye." So, we kiss her and stroke her and they take her away. I hear her start to cry, and of course, that makes me cry, too. We sit for a few moments in the little, dark waiting room, until the nurse tells us it will be a couple hours, so we decide to go outside for a walk. We sit by the river and chat about any and everything to pass the time.

We head back to the room about an hour or so later, and the nurse finally lets us know that she is ready and we can head down to see her. She was still under the anesthesia, and I really hated seeing her hooked up to all those machines, but I was so relieved that she had made it through surgery fine. I managed to sneak a couple of pictures with my phone.

We were down in the recovery room for about an hour before she was cleared to head back upstairs. We had to take turns sitting with her, since only one of us was allowed at a time. That first day, she seemed to be in pain when she woke up, and she got two doses of pain medicine (at different times, of course).

It seemed that the main reason she was in pain was because she ate too much at first, and her poor stomach was so tight that it pushed against the stitches and wound, causing her pain. After a while, she ate with no pain afterwards. That first night, there was a lot of free-floating gas in our room. Penny was farting like a grown man, and Frederic was belching like a frat boy! We mommies got NO sleep that night, but at least the gas gave us something to laugh about. There were no complications or anything, so we were released the next morning. I couldn't wait to get home and get some sleep! Penny and I went to bed almost as soon as we got home.

She has had no more pain, and the whole thing doesn't even seem to bother her. She was back to her usual smiling and cooing self the day after surgery, and hasn't stopped. She seemed to make up for not eating for the next couple nights though, wanting to nurse every couple hours.

We're back to normal, and she now has a cute new belly button!

Before: