Seth's Set for Surgery

On top of the craziness of camp preparations this week we had two surgical consult on Monday afternoon for the two eldest boyz. Gabriel had a run of the mill follow up to check on the progress of his tubes in his ears from the surgery he had last summer. All is well, they are still in there and things are normal!

The second consult was for Seth, our eldest. Seth was a slightly premature baby, mostly because my body did not handle the first pregnancy well at all. I was pregnant eight months, almost six of which were consumed with some form of bed rest. I was induced a month early and he was a late April baby instead of the Memorial Day baby he was supposed to be.

Surprisingly he was pretty much the picture of health. Despite being on the small side, even for his gestational age, he was able to breathe on his own and could regulate his temperature just fine. The only hiccup in our hospital stay was a case of jaundice that kept him in the nursery under the lovely lights for one additional day.

When he came home on May the first, four days after he was born, he was a tiny four and a half pounds. We went in the following week to the pediatrician and they spent quite a bit of time, residents and all, huddled over his belly button. He had an umbilical hernia. Nothing to severe, it should close by about age five, everything looks okay. So for every physical since then we have had the discussion about Seth's belly button. At five I started asking our then pediatrician if it was time to do something about it. He said no, and no again year after year. Last year we changed pediatricians. Seth had his first annual physical with the new doctor two weeks ago.

Let's just say the new doctor was not pleased. He wanted Seth to have a surgical consult as soon as possible. So off to the surgeon we went on Monday. She too agrees. Setharoo needs his first surgery. An umbilical hernia repair. Very minor, outpatient work. In fact, it should only take a matter of minutes to put in the few stitches in the abdominal wall. The biggest part will be the in and out of anesthesia.

Seth has taken it pretty well. He saw his younger brother have surgery at the age of four last summer. He's nine, he can do this. His biggest concern is that his belly b will no longer be the outie that he loves, but will transform into the dreaded innie. Tears were shed. The surgeon was asked. She says she can't make promises, but will do her best to keep it out.

My favorite parts of the visit were discussions of how often he poops, consistency, etc. She asked him about his gas using the dreaded "fart" word, to which my great little boy says "we're not allowed to say that word". There was talks about fruits and vegetables and water consumption. And then post-op came into the conversation and we learned that there will be no saxophone playing (darn ;P) no more swimming and no gym for six to seven weeks. Then she looks both my five and nine year old in the eyes and explains, beneath a thinly veiled smirk, that they are not to rough house, wrestle, tickle fight or any other form of may lay that often erupts around here.

So Tuesday, August 4th keep Seth in your thoughts and prayers as he undergoes his procedure. And then after, keep us all there as we are about to venture into unheard of territory...a forced calmness for a month and a half the likes of which has never been seen in this next of the woods!