Adventures at the Children's Hospital

Albert went to Lurie Childrens' Hospital on Wednesday.  He had to have surgery to repair a minor birth defect. 
He had to be put under using anesthesia so he wasn't allowed to eat after 4:00am.  He was pretty hungry by the time his 9 o'clock surgery rolled around. 

We had to be creative to keep him entertained and distracted from said hunger.  Here Daddy was doing his part to keep Albert happy.  It looks like it was working.

Daddy was trying another method of distraction. Albert was pretty fascinated by his drumming.

While Lurie's has moved and changed it's name (it used to be Children's Memorial) since Asher was there, the entire experience brought back quite a few memories from his time there.  The crib is very similar.  After Albert came out of surgery, he had a big wrap around his IV that was just like the one Asher had (and looked just like a huge club). The nurses and doctors are just as talented and wonderful as they were with Asher. We've been so blessed to have such an excellent hospital so close for both of our boys.

Things went really well. It was a nearly 3 hour surgery and the doctor was very pleased with how everything turned out.  He came out of anesthesia well and was even in a pretty good mood afterward.  He was definitely very tired and maybe just a little loopy but he kept trying to play with the nurse's arm and hair as she was taking his vitals.  All of the nurses kept commenting on how happy he was, especially considering the surgery he had.
As you can see, he's doing really well since the surgery.  He seems to be feeling well, even since we've scaled back the pain medicine to almost none.  We'll go in next week to get some stitches removed and then again in another 4 weeks for a complete post-op appointment.  While we have at least a couple of months of recovery ahead of us, things look really good right now.  Thanks to all of you who prayed for him and us.