It was hard not to laugh on surgery day …  we had a camera crew following us around for goodness sake. Not that I don’t hope this will help others, but if given the choice as to how I’d become famous it  A) wouldn’t be from having a sick baby and B) I’d chose something that allowed me to wear, oh I dunno make-up, contacts and definitely NOT that blue hair net thingy they put on your head for surgery ! I can only imagine how AWESOME I must have looked !

Anyways, I was freakishly calm for the entire process.  I had my husband with me, my parents and my brother …   they were all so worried ( my mom was about to puke , poor thing ) I think they took all that nervous energy from me and I was able to just breath …

It also helped that the “crew” was the same.  I had just seen all of their friendly faces less than a week ago and amazingly enough they all still remembered my name , so I knew I was in good hands.  Again they prepped me as if I was about to have an emergency c-section. This surgery is so delicate, that one wrong move and that’d be it.

Again I was  A WAKE for this surgery … they put something in my IV to help me relax, but I was aware of conversations going on around me , I ABSOLUTLEY heard Dr. chamit say the dreaded word SCALPLE YUCK …    Other than that I mainly felt pressure as different needles and what not were inserted threw my stomach.

The first thing Dr. Chmait did was give me the amniotic infusion …   All of the sudden I heard everyone giggle and then Dr. Chmait said ” Hannah, Andrew has just grabbed the shaft of the needle with his hands” !!!   How freak’n cool is that !  I immediately felt my little guy  start moving around … all I could think was how happy he must have felt to finally be able to stretch out.

After filling me up with about 4cc’s of fluid , Dr. Chmait began massaging my stomach trying to get Andrew to roll over and into a better position , so that he could place the shunt.  This went on for a while … finally I felt the first incision , but my stubborn child moved .  So on to the other side of my stomach …

After more massaging, I heard Dr. Chamit praise Andrew for finally cooperating ! First they gave Andrew a shot in his thigh for pain and something to help him hold still , then  the second incision was made, and about 7 minutes later it was all over !!!

The staff applauded, I smiled and breathed a sign of relief …

After I was settled in the recovery room , Terri brought my parents in and Dr. Chmait came in to talk to us.   As a last resort he was forced to go threw the placenta …  It bled a bit, so now he’ll keep an eye on it to make sure it clots, and is reabsorbed by my body.   The shunt is in however  ( it’s aluminum, was screwed threw Andrew’s abdomen into his bladder.  The part that’s on the outside of his body makes a 90 degree angle and lays flat on his tummy ).

When I return next  week we hope to see more amniotic fluid , that his bladder is now collapsed around the shunt and hopefully that his kidneys aren’t as dilated.

For the meantime, I’m on strict bed rest …  No driving, cleaning, cooking or chores of any kind.    I have a very active 3 yr old … tell me, how in the heck is this suppose to happen ?