We fully intended to write another update much sooner than this…but with we’ve slipped into the “sleep when baby sleeps” mentality, which unfortunately for Peanut that means she isn’t sleeping well. 🙁 I actually began writing update #2 on Halloween, but with irregular sleeping patterns and focusing all our energy on Peanut when she’s awake, it didn’t allow for a good time to sit down and finish this post.

Well, here I am…VERY well rested and ready to bring you the happenings of the past few days. The one thing that I believe makes this a top tier children’s hospital (no they’re not paying us to say this) is that their focus is always on making sure the kids are happy and involved. Peanut may not be old enough to remember the Halloween celebration here at UIHC, but they pulled out all of the stops for these kiddos! Complete with nurses in costumes (101 Dalmatians theme – they even had a Korella De Ville), parade/trick-or-treat all around the hospital for the patients, music, goodies & gifts, etc. It was amazing to witness, and I have no doubt that each of those patients – even if for just a split second – took their mind off of the reason they were in the hospital, which was the whole point! Peanut wasn’t keen on wearing her baby Lion costume, so she wore her cute Halloween outfit from one of her grandparents. We joined the patient trick-or-treat already in progress when she woke from a little nap. I can only imagine what she thought of the combination of costumes while being on morphine 🙂 but I can tell you she was wide-eyed and content! Here are some photos from the trick-or-treat parade:

Peanut and Nurse Trang ready to start trick-or-treating!

Joining in the parade of patients! Notice all of the Dalmatians (nurses) around.

Peanut took time out of trick-or-treating for a photo-op with her surgical team:

Peanut and Dr. Shilyansky, Head of Pediatric Surgery & Peanut’s primary surgeon.

Peanut and her surgical Fellow & Residents. A great group of people…really they are so kind and personable!

In the evening we enjoyed looking at Peanut’s goofy siblings through picture messages sent by relatives.

The Honey Bee, The Princess, and The Ninja

Uncle Funny Man and his main squeeze Weather Girl brought Peanut her own Halloween basket complete with “special treats” just for her – since she can’t eat candy.

Peanut, Uncle Funny Man, Weather Girl!

Peanut reads her new books!

They also brought pizza for mom which was pretty darn good!!! Thanks so much!!!!!

In case you were wondering…Peanut accomplished her three goals…on Halloween! The big guy upstairs must have received an abundant amount of prayers for poop…because once she started, she didn’t stop! You can all stop praying for poop now…please! 🙂 She also began taking most of her pain medications by mouth (instead of IV), and she started having bottles & pedialyte.

On Friday, both of her IV’s that were placed during surgery went “bad”, so she had to have a new IV placed 🙁 She made the switch to all oral medications, including morphine, which didn’t sit well with her. The morphine made her vomit, so since Friday morning she has been on ONLY tylenol and ibuprofen, and she seems reasonably comfortable. We did get her very first smile post surgery…well, rather Curious George on IPTV got her first smile. The DH and I switched places late in the day on Friday…he needed his Peanut fix, and I needed sleep and to see my other three monkies. Dad got Peanut’s first giggle post surgery on Saturday, along with a pile of poop. I think at one point he changed 7 poopy diapers in 30 minutes! It isn’t that she is pooping an enormous amount each time, but with it her stool being liquidy or loose, it really irritates the skin. So as soon as she goes, even a little bit, it’s time for a diaper change and thick layer of special butt cream.

Peanut also had a small setback, as her incision has developed an infection. This afternoon they opened up part of her incision to drain the puss and relieve pressure. They will reassess in the morning. If it looks better, then antibiotics may not be needed to treat it. Peanut’s appetite is also not quite back up to speed. She is no where near where she was for volume of food pre-surgery. In fact, she is losing weight. So our next goal is for Peanut to eat and drink more!

Potato Boy, Sissy, Lulu and I came back down to Iowa City earlier today so I could switch places with the DH…and as you can imagine, Peanut was over the moon happy to see her siblings!