Blythe Has Surgery

For some time now, and perhaps from the beginning, Blythe has had a little lump on her belly right above her bellybutton.  I have wondered what it was, but we had a couple of doctor's visits without mention of it, and I didn't worry.  At Blythe's two-year well child checkup, Dr. Lauret not only noticed, but referred us to a pediatric surgeon to get it fixed.  She has an epigastric hernia, which will be an easy fix.

Here is a picture of Blythe's belly.  Brandt is pointing out where the hernia is which is evident when looking at her, but invisible in the picture.

Belly avec hernia.

So I had two pictures of the kids here, one showing Blythe's belly and the other showing Brandt's.

Thing is, I was getting a lot of traffic from this post, and I can't figure out why.

When I clicked on the link, it came up with the picture of Blythe.

Makes me a bit edgy.  

I don't want to think of people looking at my daughter in an inappropriate way.

The picture was totally innocent, but I don't know what else it could be.

So no more picture.

And here is Brandt who wanted a picture of his belly too, because that is only fair.

Belly sans hernia.

No picture of Brandt either.

The fix happened today.  It was a very short procedure and Blythe did very well.  We had to wake her at 5:30 to get to the hospital, but she was very cheerful, even at that early hour.  She just beams.  She was very patient as the nurses took her temperature and blood pressure, and when it was time to give her the versed pre-surgery, she opened her mouth and took it like a champ (she always does).  Versed doesn't taste very good, however.  After swallowing it she said, "Ew."

In her hospital jammies as she is getting ready for her surgery.  

She was happier than she looks in this picture and actually liked the jammies.

The surgery itself took about fifteen minutes and Blythe recovered well.  The first half hour or so after she woke up was a bit rough.  She cried and didn't know what she wanted, kicked and screamed when we wanted to get the jammies off and her diaper changed, and fought like a banshee when we put her in her car seat.  Kent and I both had to fiercely restrain her.  She cried for the first ten or fifteen minutes of the drive home, but eventually fell asleep as I whispered sweet nothings to her, and slept the rest of the way home.

Being snuggled by her bestest Dad in post-op.

Within an hour of being home, Blythe seemed completely normal and unaffected by the surgery.  She ate a good lunch, took a three hour nap (hey! she was up at 5:30), and then was right as rain.  We went to the grocery store in the late afternoon to pick up a couple of things for dinner, and Blythe got out of the cart and jumped down the aisle, literally.  The only evidence that she had anything done is the bandage in the center of her belly which is supposed to stay on for a week and is going to fall off tomorrow.  We are so happy that everything went smoothly, that she seems to have no pain, and that the hernia is taken care of and will give her no problems.