Day 6 and belly pictures.

Enjoying his recovery with big sister!

Tobias is doing great. I am still pretty much holding him and carrying him everywhere, but we are letting him walk a little everyday. His pain is manageable but some movements make him hurt and cry.


I know I have never posted pictures of Tobias O, we didn't get to take any of his unrepairted O. I actually never got to see it myself. But I know how important it was for me when we first learnt about his O, to be able to see pictures of real babies pre and post-surgery. So I would like to add Tobias' pics to this blog for all my fellow O-moms.

This was taken right before surgery.



This one was taken yesterday. He still has some fluid retention underneath the skin, but he has a flat belly now!

He is still a little bit shy about showing his belly.

Tobias esta muy bien. Todavia lo estoy alzando la mayor parte del dia, pero lo dejamos caminar un poquito cada dia. El dolor es manejable con acetaminofen, pero algunos moviemientos todavia le duelen y lo hacen llorar.

Yo se que nunca he puesto fotos del O de Tobias. La verdad cuando nacio ni siquera yo lo pude ver. Pero cuando yo estaba embarazada, ver fotos de otros bebes antes y despues de la cirugia fue super importante para mi, asi que me gustaria anadir las de Tobias para todas las mamas que estan esperando bebes con omfalocele o que estan esperando la cirugia.

Day 4 and 5

Here is how are day went yesterday

Asi es como nos fue ayer

7:30am. Order breakfast from the liquid diet (oatmeal, apricot nectar and milk)

7:30am. Ordenamos la comida del hospital del menu de "liquidos" (avena, nectar de durazno y leche)

He ate three tablespoons of oatmeal..that was it. I was feeling like we were going to be at the hospital for a long time

Tobias solo se comio tres cucharadas de avena, nada mas. Me senti como si fueramos a estar en el hospital por un tiempo muy largo

8:00. Surgeon on call came by and said we could go ahead and try solids. Which I don't remeber if I commented on that in my last post, but that was the only thing that Tobias seemed to care about, but of course couldn't have. The surgeon also said that if he managed to start drinking fluids, then we could get rid of the IV and maybe go home later that night!.

8:00 El cirujano reviso a Tobias y dijo que podiamos empezar con solidos. No me acuerdo si lo mencione antes, pero Tobias parecia tener hambre y querer comer solidos el dia anterior, pero como nos habian dicho que no podia, pues ni modo. El cirujano tambien dijo que si Tobias emepzaba a tomar liquidos, depronto podriamos ir a la casa esa noche!

Right after the surgeon left I gave Tobias half of my bagel with cream cheese. And he ate the whole thing!

Apenas se fue el cirujano, le di a Tobias la mitad de mi bagel con queso crema. Se lo devoro!

11:00. For the first time drank his milk. Not all of it, but the nurses were pleased. Unfortunately, right after that we gave him some tylenol for the pain and he is not very fun of the tylenol, so he threw everything up, including the precious milk.

11:00. Por primera vez se tomo su leche. No tada, pero suficiente para impresionar a las enfermeras. Desafortunadamente despues le dimos acetaminofen para el dolor y no le gusto mucho, entonces se vomito todo, incluyendo la leche.

2:00pm. His IV got out by accident, I freaked out seeing a lot of blood staining daddy's t-shirt, but it turned out to be a good thing, because they just took the whole thing out and let him free of needles and cables.

2:00pm. La aguja intravenosa por donde le daban el suero se le salio y le empezo a salir un monton de sangre, y yo por supuesto me asuste un monton. Pero al final resulto una buena cosa, porque le quitaron el suero y lo dejaron libre de agujas y de cables.

2:30pm. He wasnt feeling so well, but I thought he looked just sad from being held in that room so long, so we went for a ride around the hospital.

2:30pm. Tobias no se sentia muy bien, pero me dio la impresion que era solo triteza de estar en ese cuarto del hospital por tanto tiempo, asi que decidimos dar un paseo alrededor del hospital.

He also managed to drink his milk, more than the last time!

Y mientras dabamos el paseo se tomo toda la leche!

3:30pm. The surgeon decided that since he was drinking and eating (albeit just a little), he was tolerating his food, so it was time for us to go....home!!!
3:30pm. El cirujano determino que como estaba tomando liquidos y tolerando la comida, era hora de irnos.... a casita!!!

4:15pm. So happy to be going home!!!

Muy feliz de ir a casa!!

We got home later evening and we were all exhausted, we just have time to eat a little bit, Tobias got a sponge bath and then we all went to bed.

I wasnt sure about leaving the hospital so soon, to be honest, but it was the best decision. Tobias slept much better, although he is still attached to me, which I dont mind. And daddy got the honor to get up in the middle of the night to fix his bottle, while mommy stay in bed with the little guy (which I didn't mind either)

This morning he gave his very few steps after surgery and looks very happy to be home with big sister and brother and with Grandma Paulette.

Thank you all so much again for all the prayers and thoughts. There are no words that I could express here to show how grateful I am for having all of you being part of Tobias O Story. I just know that all your prayers and positive energy played a huge role in his succesful surgery and ongoing recovery and lets just say, if I could pay you somehow, you all would be billioneirs. God is definately good!!

Llegamos por la tardecita y obviamente estabamos todos rendidos, asi que solo tuvimos tiempo de comer un poco, darle a Tobias un banho de esponja y derechito a la camita. Para ser honesta yo no estaba segura si salir del hospital tan pronto era buen idea, pero ahora veo que fue la mejor decision. Tobias durmio mucho mejor que en el hospital, aunque todavia esta super apegado a mi (lo cual me parece perfecto), y al papa le toco el honor de levantarse por la noche a preparale el tetero mientras la mama se quedaba en la camita junto al chiquitin (lo cual me parece aun mas perfecto).

Esta manana Tobias dio sus primeros pasos despues de la cirugia y se le nota dichoso de estar junto con su hermano y hermana mayor y con la abuela Paulette.

Muchas gracias a todos por su continuo apoyo, oraciones y energia positiva. No hay palabras que puedan expresar lo agradecida que me siento por tenerlos a todos usteded haciendo parte de la historia del O de Tobias. Estoy convencida que todas sus oraciones, pensamientos y energia positiva jugaron un rol gigante en la exitosa cirugia y en su continua recuperacion. Solo digo, que si les pudiera pagar de alguna manera de todo lo agradecida que esoty, todos ustedes serian multi-millonarios!. Dios es definitivamente muy bueno!!

day 3, part 2

It is almost 9, and I am definetely sleep deprived, but I thought I would make another post before trying to get some sleep.

After our initial happiness from the green light to feed Tobias with some liquids, we turned into slightly frustrated parents when he refused to eat! So, we are still on liquid diet, not that he is eating much anyway. I finally got him to eat half a cup of tomato soup, so hopefully his tummy would tolerate that.

On a different note, Tobias had a very special visit with his wonderful babysitter and her family. After he made sure that she knew I was to blame for his stay in the hospital and current events, he had an amazing time with her and her daughter and read books, talked and even danced. Of course he was exhausted after that but it was all worth it and I am sure he had a lot of fun. Thank you Martha so much!!

Ya casi son las 9, y aunque no he dormido mucho estos dias, pense en escribir un poco antes de intentar dormir.

Despues de que nos pusimos tan felices de saber que Tobias ya podia tomar liquidos, nos sentimos un poquito frustrados al darnos cuenta que el no queria tomar nada. Asi que por ahora seguimos con la dieta de liquidos (aunque el no ha tomado mucho). Hace un ratico logre que se tomara la mitad de un pocillo de sopa de tomate. Esperemos que le siente bien a su barriguita.

Por otro lado, Tobias tuvo una visita muy especial hoy. Su maravillosa ninera y su familia vinieron a visitarlo y el se puso feliz. Lo primero que hizo fue quejarse con ella y asegurarse de que entendiera que los hechos del dia y su estadia en el hopital eran solamente mi culpa. Despues de eso se dedico a pasarla muy rico en compania de una de sus personas favoritas y leyo, hablo y hasta bailo. Por supuesto despues de eso estaba super cansado, pero toda la energia que gasto valio la pena, estoy segura que Tobias se divirtio muchisimo. Muchas gracias Martha!

Day 3

This picture was yesterday evening. I tried really hard to make him smile and finally did it!. Well, the frog helped a lot. Even though it only lasted a couple of seconds, it made my day!

Esta foto es de ayer por la nochecita. Me costo mucho trabajo hacerlo sonrier, pero finalmente lo logre. Ok, la ranita ayudo tambien. Aunque solo duro un par de segundos, me arreglo todo el dia!

We havent been able to see his belly. The dressing will be removed only when we are discharged to go home, I am sure Dr. K did a great job!

No hemos podido ver su barriguita. La faja solo se la quitaran cuando ya nos den salida del hospital, pero estoy segura que la Dra K. se lucio con su trabajo.

This one is also from yesterday. He was able to spend a couple of minutes in an upright position and even showed interest for his musical book.

Esta foto tambien es de ayer. Tobias estuvo sentado un ratico mientras leia su libro de los sonidos musicales.

Today has been a better day. Even though last night we (Tobias and mommy) didn't get much sleep either, Tobias' pain was manageable only with tylenol and his heart rate was in a much happier place than before (120s instead of 180s). He also started passing gas early this morning and finally did a little poop an hour or so ago. The surgeon finally did her rounds and authorized liquids for today. However, I can already tell it is going to be a long process. Even though he asks for food and wants to eat, he only had a couple of teaspoons of jello and didn't want to touch the apple juice. We'll try more later. The most important thing is for his little system to be able to tolerate the clear liquids and then we can move to milk and then solid food.

Happy Easter!!


Hoy ha sido un mejor dia. Aunque anoche tampoco es que hayamos dormido mucho (Tobias y la mama) el dolor se pudo manejar con solo acetaminofen y no morfina y tambien su pulso cardiaco mejoro bastante (120 enves de 180). Esta manana tambien empezamos a sentir los primeros peditos..jeje y hace como una hora hizo un poquito de popo. La cirujana vino hace un ratico y ya autorizo liquidos durante el dia y depende de como los tolere, solidos por la noche. Todo parece indicar que va a ser un proceso larguito, aunque Tobias estaba pidiendo comida y queria comer, solo comio un poquito de gelatina y ya no quizo mas. El jugo de manzana no lo quizo ni mirar. Pero seguiremos intentando un poco mas tarde. Por ahora lo importante es que su barriguita tolere lo poquito que le entra y de ahi vamos avanzando poco a poco.

Felices pascuas!!!.

Day 2

Let's start with the good news. Tobias is slowly being more awake and aware. He also peed, right after the nurse said she may need to put a catheter in, so no need for that.

The not so good news are his lack of bowel movements, which can be explained by the anesthesia and the morphine, but it is also a little bit worrying giving his intestinal history. He also threw up early this morning, so the surgeon said to not give him anything to drink or eat until he passes some gas or has a bowel movement.

So, needless to say we are praying for poop.

Other than that he is doing fine, and I realized that even though I don't like the idea of giving him morphine, it is the best we can do right now. We tried just Tylenol last night and didn't go so well.

Thank you all for your texts, calls And prayers!

Empezemos con las buenas noticias. Tobias ha estado despertandose mas y también ha empezado a estar mas atento y pendiente de las cosas. También hizo chichi, lo cual fue muy bueno porque la enfermera le iba a poner un catéter para vaciar la vejiga, pero a los 5 min de que ella dijo eso, nos dimos cuenta que el panal estaba mojado. Así que nos salvamos del catéter.

Las noticia no muy buena es la falta de popis. Puede que sea solo parTe de los efectos de la anestesia y de la morfina, pero también es un poquito preocupante por su historia del omfalocele. Esta mañna como a las 4am también vomito! Entonces la cirujana dijo que no le podíamos dar nada de tomar ni de comer hasta que no pase algo de gas o haga popis. Así que estamos rogando por popo.

Aparte de eso, todo esta bien, ya mi no me gusta mucho la idea de la morfina, pero después de intentar acetaminofen por la noche, me di cuenta que la morfina es lo mejor por ahora.

Muchas gracias a todos por sus mensajes my oraciones.

Recovery update

Despues de la cirugia nos dejaron bastante rato esperando en la sala de espera y al fin pudimos ir a ver al chiquitin a las 12:30. Una hora mas tarde nos movieron de la sala de recuperacion al cuarto del hospital. Tobias ha estado durmiendo la mayoria del tiempo, aunque un par de veces se ha despertado y mira alrededor como diciendo donde estoy?. A las 2 mas o menos le tuvieron que dar mas morfina porque se estaba quejando un poco y el pulso se le subia mucho. Despues de eso ha estado mas o menos tranquilo y hasta se tomo 5 onzas de jugo de manzana. Como no le dio mareo ni nada malo, por ahi a las 5:30 vamos a intentar con leche y poco a poco hasta que pueda comer solidos.

Por ahora todo va muy bien gracias a Dios, y esperamos que siga asi. Apenas pueda ver como quedo la barriguita despues de la cirugia pongo unas fotos.

In the recovery room, about one hour after surgery.

He just needed a little bit of oxygen blowing towards his face to keep his oxygen levels.

In his room, still trying to wake up from the anesthesia.



Awake, but not so happy. I can't wait to see his sweet smile again



After surgery we had to wait about an hour until we were able to see the little guy. We finally went into the recovery room at about 12:30 and he was still sleeping, actually, he has been an out of sleep most of the afternoon. He has been awake a couple of times, enough for the nurses to decided he needed more morphine (his heart rate was a little too high), but also was able to drink 5oz of apple juices. Since he has been able to keep that down, we will try milk in half an hour or so.
Everything keeps continue to go very weel, thanks God!. As soon as they take the dressing off his belly I'll take a picture and post it. I am really curious myself to know how his little belly looks now.

Everything went well!

El gordito ya salio de cirugia. Todo salio bien, la cirujana nos dijo que estaba muy contenta con los resultados. Ni siquiera perdió sangre. Todavía no nos han dejado ir a verlo, nos toca esperar a que se despierte de la anestesia. Pro por ahora estamos muy contentos y muy agradecidos con Dios. Gracias a todos por las oraciones y buenos pensamientos. Como siempre, funcionaron a las mil maravillas.

Toby just got out of surgery. The surgeon was very pleased with the results and told us he didn't even lost blood and he didn't need a mesh. We haven't seen the little guy yet, he is still sleeping from the anesthesia. But we are very happy and thankful to God for everything.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and good thoughts. They worked wonders, as always.