Zoya update

Well it's been 9 days since Zoya had her surgery and I wanted to give a little update.

First of all, I have learned a lot about Zoya in the process of having to keep arm restraints on her at all times. I guess I shouldn't say I have 'learned' a lot, because I already knew these things about her, but her personality traits have become even more evident.

Zoya is independent. She is resilient. She is tender hearted, and she is a pleaser. It has been an incredibly challenging 9 days for me, her mother. And it has been incredibly challenging for her. (And goodness, we have another 11 to go!)  Arm restraints are teaching Zoya what a mother is for. It has been an incredible bonding experience for us, because there are certain things that you just can't do, no matter how independent you are. She knows she is not supposed to put things in her mouth for these next few weeks , and I am so unbelievably proud of her for trying so hard. Last time I blogged,  I told you she can get out of the restraints with little effort. However, it has not been in an attempt to break the rules about hand sucking or eating. Instead she keeps taking off the restraints to blow her nose, or to pull herself up on a swing set,  scratch an itch, or change her clothes. She just doesn't seem to understand that she can ask me for help. She even removes the restraints so she can disconnect herself from the feeding pump in the morning.

We have been playing a game, and it's called Pretend You are My Baby. I am the mom, and she is my baby, and I have to take care of her for awhile until she can get her arms back. Then she got the idea that SHE wanted to be the mom, and that *I* would be the baby. So now our bedtime ritual includes me laying on her bed with her while she rocks me and sings me lullabies. ha. What a little mama she is.

Anyway, all of that said, as hard as we have tried, and as compliant as I think we've been with keeping things out of her mouth, it appears that the stitches in her palate came out prematurely, and as of tonight a small hole in her palate is back. I emailed the nurse a picture of it, and she says it does not look good and it looks like we're going to have to do this all over again in a few months.

I don't think she has been sucking on her hand-although I don't know for sure since she has gotten the restraints off in her sleep once or twice. However, any snoring or sucking on her tongue, which she does both, causes pressure on the sutures.  I think that is what did it. So, this is not what we wanted to hear obviously, but we did know it was a risk, especially with her being the age that she is. We will have a follow up appointment next week so we should know more after that. Meanwhile we keep doing what we're doing until we can get back to the doctor.

*On an unrelated but more positive note, our insurance company has finally agreed to pay for the  Pediasure. So to those of you who have clipped coupons or sent us your extra cases..Thank you! You have gotten us through a tight spot and now it looks like we're set from now on.