He was a trooper. He couldn't eat past midnight of the evening before, and he was not allowed to have any formula or water 4 hours before the surgery. After some minimal fussing, he played with dad's half-empty OJ bottle and watched the news with us for an hour, until the members of the medical team came to our ready-room to go through all the details of the surgery, and to get consent forms signed.
They all commented on how relaxed and happy he was, considering he had not had anything to eat or drink in at least 12 hours. He then proceeded to roll on his back, eat his feet and gurgle like Chewbacca, winning the hearts of all the doctors in short order. Here are a couple of pictures of him in his pint sized hospital gown.
The nurse gave me a small bottle of Pedealyte to see if he would tolerate it well, before she would allow us to give him his bottle. She turned away, and then turned back around - the bottle was almost already gone. So yes, he tolerated it very well and was HUNGRY, so we gave him a bottle of formula and sat cosily together for about 45 minutes. They took his dressing off, took out his IV, and sent us home.
I'm happy to say Riley doesn't to let on that he even went through surgery, with the exception that he sleeps a lot. The pain medication prescribed to him is good stuff, but his temperament is such that only something really uncomfortable would get in the way of him eating everything in sight and having a jolly good time in general. We are glad the ordeal is over, the healing has begun, and we can move forward to other exciting things, like teething!
Hayley
