What was I up to 1 year ago today?

On this date last year, I was at Scottish Rite in Atlanta having surgery for Laryngomalacia. When I was born at Northside Hospital, I was in the NICU for 5 days and the doctors were not sure what was wrong with me. When Mommy and Daddy took me home, they had strict orders to go straight to the Pediatrician. So I saw my doctor and he sent Mommy and Daddy immediately to the ENT doctor and said I might have something called Laryngomalacia.

My ENT did say that I have Laryngomalacia because he put a tube down my throat to see what it looked like in there. I didn't like that part...and neither did my Mommy! The ENT got me set up with an apnea monitor to make sure I did not stop breathing during the night and to make sure my heart rate stayed good. That monitor went off about 4-6 times per night....scary for Mommy and Daddy!

Basically, I have this flap above my vocal chords that was closed up too much. It is common for some babies to have this problem and usually they have some noisy breathing, but 10% of babies need surgery because it is too closed up. So lucky me, I was in that 10%...I keep hearing mommy say that I'm in that 10% for everything! :)

So on surgery day (September 18th, 2009), we had to be down at Scottish Rite at 6:00am! Nana and Grandma stayed up with me the night before because I was not allowed to have any milk after midnight and mommy couldn't bear seeing me without being able to feed me!

On surgery day, I had lots of people come to see me. Nana, Aunt Dana, Grandma, Grandpa, and Marilyn all came to see me and make sure I was doing well....I think they were also there to help Mommy and Daddy make it through!

I got a cute little surgery gown and I did so well on my surgery. My stay in the NICU was hard for Mommy and Daddy because at first I was hooked up to so many tubes and I was fighting not to have them on me. The nurses said I was very strong! It was also hard for Mommy because I was only 2 weeks old and she was right in the middle of learning how to nurse me and this totally disrupted that....I got used to feeding tubes and bottles at the hospital.

After 3 days, I got to go home! I remember it was SO rainy...in fact the day I came home was the start to the big Atlanta Flood in 2009..it rained for almost 10 days and everything got flooded.

Mommy and Daddy were glad to put my surgery behind them and were ready to move on to the fun parts of parenthood. Mommy and Daddy said this was going to be the end of my medical problems....little did they know! However, Mommy and Daddy did say they were so thankful that I was so strong. There were lots of tiny tiny babies in that NICU who had a lot of hurdles ahead of them. The nurses, doctors, and staff at Scottish Rite were AWESOME!!!!!!! :)

Here are some special pictures of my surgery!


Me sitting with Daddy in my surgery gown!

Mommy and I just before my surgery! I'll be ok mommy!!

Me in my bed in the NICU. Nothing can prepare a Mommy and Daddy to see this!

After surgery, I was asleep for most of that day. I had a lot of tubes hooked up to me, which Mommy and Daddy said it made it difficult to try to hold me and change my diapers!
Mommy and Daddy holding me! Mommy and Daddy slept at the hospital for 3 days in a community room.