Makena had surgery but is recovering nicely

Makena had been spitting up quite a bit. But, her big sister Karis used to spit up, too (In fact, she had trouble swallowing and would often begin choking and then vomit out the milk.) we didn't think much at first. Additionally, Lena was getting frustrated with Makena's inability to remain latched while feeding so she went to meet with a lactation consultant April 15th. We discovered that Makena had no problem latching, but rather she was purposely detaching because she was getting too much milk. In fact, she shot up from being 25th percentile weight after birth to 90th percentile at one month. The consultant gave her some tips on how to slow down the distribution of milk so that Makena wouldn't struggle as much. We hoped this would end the frequent spitting up episodes.

However, they continued into the next week. In fact, it turned into vomiting (without choking) non-stop nearly 24-hrs starting Tuesday evening (with the exception of two middle-of-the-night feedings). We called the doctor and he wanted to observe for a day thinking it could be the stomach flu. The symptoms seemed better for one night and then the vomiting returned. So Lena called back to the doctor and we were given a referral to see radiologist for an ultrasound on Friday. We wanted to rule out pyloric stenosis which is genetic and something I had as an infant. The surgery to fix it involves cutting the outside of the muscle that operates the flap from stomach into the small intestine. The flap remains closed ("stenosis") because the pylorus muscle is too thick/strong. (LINK to medical description.)

Friday afternoon's ultrasound was sent to radiologist and our doctor for review and consultation. We were admitted right then to ER for a second opinion. We waited around for about 3 hours for the doctor to show up to give us his opinion. Then, suddenly, we were advised that Makena was headed to pre-op even before the consult. Apparently, they were certain it was pyloric stenosis and wanted to operate immediately. It snuck up on us as we knew it was a possibility because I had it, but with the whole getting too much milk and likelihood of flu, it wasn't fully on our radar.

Here are some photos of her pylorus muscle before the incision, of the incision, and then after showing the membrane beneath. For frame of reference, the pylorus is about the size of your thumbnail (for small hands, the size of the last joint on thumb to tip of nail).






















All the while our babysitter for Karis needed to leave, but thankfully our wonderful roommate offered to watch Karis while we were at the "quick" doctor's appointment. Little did he know it would turn into "feed Karis dinner" and then even "give her nighttime bottle and put her down for bed." He did fantastic and he says Karis was fantastic and without fuss. (We're going to get notes from him and how to do all that without fuss by the way.)

I was pretty calm about the surgery as it is pretty successful nowadays. The surgeon performed same surgery on a couple from church a couple of months earlier. My scar from almost 40 years ago is about 7 inches long from the side of my belly button up towards my neck and comes complete with scars from staples and stitches as well as a scar in the shape of an 'x' on my ankle where they inserted the feeding tube. My niece had the same surgery 20 years ago and has a thin 1.5" horizontal scar beneath her rib cage. It's much cleaner and harder to see. Makena will have three very small scars (see last photo below). Anyhow, I was good after they whisked Makena into surgery until Lena said, "They're cutting open our baby!" When put that way, it hit home. The next 90 minutes were going to seem like days. They finished earlier than anticipated (45 minutes) and shared it was a success. Yay!

Lena and Makena were to stay at the hospital until Sunday. But since Makena was doing so well they released her Saturday night. Here are some photos of Makena post surgery.















































If you received this as an email and do not see the photos, please visit http://sweetfamilyrobinson.blogspot.com and read the actual post.

The Day Makena Was Born

Some information about the day up on our room board. We checked in at 7 am and things got started at about 8 am. Our goal was to have the baby by 1 pm!

Experiencing some contractions and waiting for the intensity to increase.

In the meantime, Derek was updating our friends and family. He and Julie were also looking up some new baby names to consider.

At 2 pm, Makena Grace was born (though we didn't decide on her name until two days later)!

She was healthy, weighed 7 lbs 2 oz, and measured 19 1/2 inches long.

Makena Grace is born!

(I'm back-dating this to Tuesday, so forgive me if I mess up the verb tenses).

Makena Grace Robinson was born Tuesday, March 16 at 2:00 PM. She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Lena was again quick to dilate... not as quick as last time. But she did jump from 7 to 10 cm just as fast as she was from 6 cm to 7 cm. Although we warned everyone and the doctor knew it, too, we (Lena) still caught them off-guard.

Julie and I were focused on the machine showing contractions and heartbeats. Lena or the baby would shift every so often, and we'd have to readjust the band that measures the contractions. At the end, Lena thought baby was shifting again... the baby had, but she was primed and ready to come out. [FLASHBACK: With Karis, I could she part of her head when they checked her. It was about the size of a quarter and they advised Lena not to do a practice push. We had to wait on the doctor to arrive. Upon doc's arrival, Lena pushed 4 times in about 12 minutes for Karis to emerge. ] Once again, Lena had arrived at 10 cm. They again enforced the "no push" rule. They called her doctor so she could rush from office to hospital. She apparently rushed a little too much and was pulled over for speeding (20 MPH over posted limit). When she explained her patient was at 10 cm and waiting, the officer advised she wasn't going to be able to assist if she were in an accident from speeding but left her off without a ticket.

Doctor arrives and is prepping at the foot of the bed. Don't know who said something to make Lena laugh (probably her hilarious husband), but she started laughing. The crowning that began even more than the quarter size of Karis, began to grow more. With each laugh, the baby was coming out. We had to add a "no laughing" rule until doc was ready. When she got the green light to push, Makena joined us on the first push. Lena almost literally birthed her from laughing. Reminded us of Abraham's wife Sarah in the Bible who was laughing as she didn't think she could be pregnant at 90 yrs old. They named baby Isaac which meant laughter. But we couldn't find a female equivalent that we liked.

Upon further baby name research, one of the top three names ("Makenna") had a variation in spelling that had a meaning we liked. Makena means "happy one" in Kikuyu (a tribe of Kenya). We were sold on it but cautiously took our time to make sure it fit. We can both attest that there is more pressure when you go into the hospital without a finalized name. I still like that we didn't go in with one name picked and that we were open to a selected few, but it was harder than I thought to narrow down. We even opened search up again.

I could tell a difference in the baby being born earlier in day. It seemed much easier on us both. Karis was born at 10:30 PM or so. It seemed like the doctors and nurses kept us up later with tests and such.

Sadly, Karis wasn't allowed into the hospital to visit her little sister. We didn't get the memo that no one under 16 was allowed up because of the flu scare. My mom and c0-worker Yukie worked really hard to get to the hospital so we could get a family photo at the hospital. But Grandma and Yukie both got to meet the unnamed baby at that point in time.

Thankfully, Lena was experiencing no pain afterwards all around. She did incur some sore plumbing apparatus as a result of a baby that sucks hard. We do need to take Makena to the pediatrician before the weekend as she's lost more than the acceptable amount of weight (7% vs the allowed 5-6%) and is showing signs of being jaundiced. She has still been spitting up fluids that had surrounded her and she ingested because perhaps she didn't have it forced out with many labor pushes. Prayers for healthy and quickly recovering mom and baby are appreciated.

We've posted photos and videos on Facebook (you don't need account to see them). Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55148&id=1483001948&l=837f3e92cb. We'll likely continue to add photos there, so bookmark it if you'd like.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for your continued prayers. We have a lot of learning and adjusting to do. We're very grateful that Grandma is here to help for another week.