One tough cookie

Taking guidance from his daddy, Matthew did fabulous today!  From start to finish, I am so impressed with how well everything went, and how good he seemed to handle things.  Surgery took about 1 1/2 hours.  The doctor was able to get his little testicle down to the correct place, and fix the hernia he found.  We did not necessarily know about the hernia ahead of time, but Matthews' doctor had told us 90% of the boys who have the undecended testicle, do in fact have hernias also.  I don't know if one thing causes the other or not, but they seem to be related in some way.

Here is Matthew enjoying his last cup of milk at the hotel the night before the surgery.  I did not spike this cup of milk, but for some reason we had HYPER baby on our hands.  I guess he was just too impressed by the digs for the night and he took a while to wind down for bed.  Once there though, he slept the whole night without a peep.

Matthew and daddy enjoy playing in the waiting area.  We didn't have to wait too long before they called him back to the presurgery area.

All dressed up in his cool hospital gown, hanging out with Mommy.  (I have no idea what Mommy is looking at, cerainly not the camera).

The coolest thing since Elmo.  Matthew was in love with the hospital bed.  He ran back and forth inside the crib playing until the pre-meds kicked in.

Speaking of pre-meds, here he is all hopped up on Versed.  They gave him some medication to help relax him.  It pretty much made him goofy.  As I carried him to the doors of the OR, he was like a little limp noodle in my arms.  I handed him off to the nurse and he gazed lovingly into her eyes smiling.  Sort of made the hand off a bit easier.

After surgery Matthew woke up in the recovery room.  We were not allowed to see him until he got back to his little space in the first area we were in. I walked in to find the following.  Matthew sitting up in the crib, eating a popsicle.  The recovery nurse told me how all the nurses in recovery wanted to keep him because he was just "too sweet and so cute."  Too bad I told them he wasn't up for grabs.

After the initial popsicle seen above, it got a little harder to see.  As he came more out of the anesthesia, he was quite inconsolable for a while.  Poor little man cried and cried and could not be calmed.  Finally we were able to get him more comfortable and he was quite distracted by an Elmo video.  Two popsicles later, he was discharged.  Here he is on the three hour drive home (with orange chin from his last frozen treat):

A bit blurry, but once home, he was quite happy.  Grabbed his stethescope (one of his favorite things to play with--and no, not from the surgery, we just had one here that he is quite fond of), and took off playing.  He is in pain off and on, but the pain medication helps wonders with that.

And with that, my boys are done.  They've been through more than I have, I suppose, but I certainly feel like somehow I'm the one done.  No more surgeries please!