Dilation #1, A Success!

Avery and his big boy bottle!
(No more tube feeding!)

Avery had his first dilation today using his wire and g-tube with the tucker dilators. We were scheduled to be the first case of the day (7:30) and told to arrive at 5:30...ugh. This meant waking up for Avery's last feeding at 3am (at least 4 hours prior to surgery) and leaving the house by 5. We managed to do this and sneak sleeping Avery into his carseat without much fussing on his part. Of course, we get there, get admitted, and wait around with tired hungry baby until 8:30...at which point they tell us that Dr. Paidas won't be able to make it in until 10. Are you kidding me!?! So we take tired and now very hungry baby out into the waiting room for another two hours. All in all, Avery did very well. He whined and fussed now and then, but he also slept a lot, too.

They took him back a little before 10. We spoke with anesthesia (Dr. Robertson, who worked on Avery's case when the g-tube was put in- love him!) and surgery. We made it perfectly clear that the residents were welcome to watch but Dr. Paidas would be the only one touching our baby...we were taking no chances this time. Dr. Paidas assured us that that was the only way he'd have it ever again anyway (after all the problems caused by GI's botched attempt to dilate), but our least favorite resident still managed to stomp away with a sour look on her face. I am not sorry that our baby boy will not be her "hands on learning experience" for the day. She is awful. Enough said.

It took less than an hour for the procedure, and the doctor said that everything went great. His esophagus was actually bigger than it had been before (maybe when they perforated it in GI they actually made one good pass down it as well). He was a little fussy in recovery but ate very well (and very excitedly) from the bottle and slept off and on. Because he did so well both during and after, they decided to let us come home instead of having to spend the night like we thought. What a great surprise! Next dilation will be in 3-4 weeks. Also, he will get his g-tube replaced with a "button" that will sit flush with the skin during that procedure as well. All in all a great day and worth all the waiting around. : ) Thank you friends and family for the continued thoughts and prayers.