Our Growing Family

Well, I just took a look at how long it has been since I updated Kai's list of signs. It's been months! If I counted correctly, he is at 115 to date. There is a chance that there are a couple that I can't remember, but I try to record them in a journal as he goes.

So let me tell you, Kai IS killing me! He woke up crying the other night, so I went in to comfort him. He needed to be held in order to relax. Okay, no problem...since his surgery, I do this once a week or so. He put his head on my shoulder and took in a slow deep breath. Perfect, I think; he's going to fall back asleep quickly and I will get my sleepy self back into bed. It is just before 2 a.m. and we have an appointment to meet with his surgeon later that day...I want he and I to be well rested for this visit. In the darkened room I realize that Kai has spread his arms wide. The silence is suddenly broken with the sound of my son clapping. What??? Is he mocking me, I ask myself? Suddenly he is alive with the rhythm of music that ISN'T playing...did I mention that it's 2 a.m.??? And so, we we're up. I had tried to put him back to bed once I realized that he couldn't be rocked back to sleep, but to no avail. He was leaping and bouncing in his crib, playing his musical lullaby toy, kicking on the wall with his little footie pajama feet, and talking at full volume. Eventually I caved and brought him downstairs for an early breakfast. I naively thought that I could make him drowsy with food and then set him down for a long nap. No such luck. He only slept and hour and a half at 6 a.m. By the time we were on our way to the hospital, he was in rare form. He was an unhappy camper on the way down, but he perked right up once we were in the waiting room. Kai is quite the little ambassador (for those of you who have not met him). He charmed all the families in the waiting area. He is a riot. Oh, and the best part...The little boy that was terrified of medical personnel loves, loves, loves his surgeon and the nurses in the office. This is probably because he has no idea that this doctor is the one inflicting all the pain of surgery on him. He is still very anxious around anyone wearing scrubs or lab coats, but the progress he has made is HUGE. You would think that he would be all about sleep after his extended day, but he napped only briefly on the way home, he was cranky as all get out at dinner-time, and had zero interest in sleeping come bedtime. He's kill'n his Momma.

As far as the doctor's visit, he is scheduled to have palate surgery on Jan 12th. His open palate was "repaired" in China a few weeks before we travelled to adopt him, but it wasn't done properly. As result, Kai had to wait until now to have it fixed (the scar tissue needed 6-9 months time to heal before it could be touched again). Unfortunately, the existing scar tissue makes it harder for the newly constructed palate to retain the sutures. Fistulas (holes) can develop and would require future repair work. Kai will have a restricted diet for 6 weeks. The first two weeks will be strictly liquids and purees. {YIPPIE}. The following 4 weeks will consist of very soft foods such as slightly undercooked eggs, overcooked noodles, etc. Oh boy, Kai is not going to be happy about missing out on his crackers. Kai will stay in the hospital overnight 1-2 days depending on how well he is able to drink. Nothing will be able to enter his mouth during this healing period, so he will not be able to use utensils or put his fingers in his mouth. Kai will have to be fed his food using cups and extra large serving spoons that are too big to go into his mouth. Oh yeah, can't wait to tell my two year old that he can't be independent at mealtime. I am going to request different pain meds; maybe we can avoid some of the side-effects that we saw with his last operation. It's not going to be easy, but we will get through it. We have a very talent surgeon working on our little guy, so he'll be in good hands.