All Butt-er!

My surgery and hospital visit are all done! Mom and Dad told me I was very brave and did a great job through it all. I didn't think it was really all that bad, but I'm pretty excited to be putting it behind me now (get it??!! come on, you've got to be able to laugh now that it's all done!). Here's some pictures of the whole ordeal and little story about it all...

So I arrived at the hospital a day before the surgery because I had to get all "cleaned out". It started with an IV.... that was not so great, but it only hurt for a little bit. The worst part was that I couldn't suck my right thumb anymore (that's my favorite thumb).

I kept trying to suck it through that plastic thing, so much so that I was scratching up my pretty little face. Luckily they have nice soft foam padding wrappers, it was still somewhat too big for me, but it did the trick!

After the IV, it was time to get all those fluids to flush me out. I made it clear I was not about to drink that nasty stuff, but I didn't realize they were just going to stick a tube down my nose! I might have agreed to drink it had I known that. I got used to the tube pretty quickly though and was even able to sleep through most of the night. Luckily Dad stayed the night with me, so it wasn't so scary!

Early the next day the surgeon came to get me for the operation. They talked mom and dad through the surgery and then told them to go get breakfast and relax! I wasn't scarred at all, I knew I was in good hands and mom and dad would be there when I woke up.

I also woke up to a pretty pink Hippo (thanks Joey)! I looked a little swollen and chubby because I was sort of upside down for the surgery, but that went away quickly. The first day I was not very active and enjoyed sleeping with the help of some pain meds (and mom, who spent the second night at the hospital with me).  Then, by day two I was feeling pretty good...

Mom brought all my favorite toys and books to the hospital and we got to play all day. I started to get a little testy towards the end of the day because I really wanted to eat, but they wouldn't give me any food until I pooped. Does that even make sense to anyone else!?!? How am I suppose to poop if I don't eat anything? You should have seen me when they brought around my tylenol, I was like a little gerbil trying to suck every last drop because I was so hungry! Then, on day three, a miracle... I POOPED!

See how happy I am now? Oh yeah, bring on the food! After that it was smooth sailing. I spent one more night in the hospital and then on Sunday I got ready to go home. They took all those annoying wires off of me...

And then Mom put me back in actual clothes again (being naked for five days wasn't all bad) and packed me up to go home! So exciting!

I've been home for a little over a week now and the recovery is going great; I'm sleeping through the night again! I still have a ton of stitches, but they'll all dissolve on their own and until then everyone's really gentle when cleaning my bum. I'm so lucky!

Thanks to everyone for keeping me in their thoughts and prayers throughout this whole ordeal and for all your get well wishes! Thank you all so much!!