Gannon had his cleft surgery on Sept. 11, 09. The morning went by quick. After checking-in and a small wait the family was ushered down the hall to the family waiting room area where Gannon was changed into his scrubs and his height and weight were taken. Daddy was very hands on here with the diaper changing and all.
The nurse decided that Gannon was too tall to lie down on the scale so she had him sit up while she took his weight. Then we were taken to "our"
family waiting room. This is where we met with nurses, the surgeon, and the anesthesiologist team before the surgery. It was a bit nerve racking when the anesthesiologist told us they would have to breath for our baby while he was under just before they carried him out the door, and down the hall.
Then we were sent to sit in a waiting lounge which slowly be came packed with other family members waiting for their own someone to come out of surgery. Grandma Cathy soon came and took Royce and Giovonnie to her house. (Thank you so very much Cathy.) While he was in surgery a nurse would call us to let us know how Gannon was doing and where he was at with the surgery. Dr. Sidman first checked the tubes in Gannon's ears to see if they would need to be replaced, but we received a phone call to tell us that all was well there the tubes were completely clear and in-tacked (areal blessing). Then they started the cleft surgery which took about 45 mins. Again we received a call to let us know that the surgery went well, that Gannon was going to the recovery room for about an hour, and that Dr. Sidman would be out to speak with us in a bit. When Dr. Sidman found us we were answering questions for a nurse in order to move Gannon up to a hospital room. He said, "the surgery went as smooth as butter." Once Dr. Sidman left we finished answering questions for the nurse and then we were directed to wait in the family lounge again. The hour passed and we received a call letting us know that Gannon was still a bit tired, and they would keep him for another 20 minutes. Joe and I played an "I spy" game with a drawing that was hung in the hospital hallway as we waited. Forty-five minutes went by, and still no Gannon. I turned to Joe, "What could be taking them?" Joe shrugged, "I don't know." Fifteen more minutes went by, "Joe, it's been two hours from when he went into recovery, and the last time they called they said 20 more minutes - that was an hour ago. Would you go check?" Joe went to talk with the volunteer at the desk in the family lounge returning with news that Gannon would be in another 20 minutes. Those twenty minutes passed by way to slowly for my liking, plus another 10 and then we finally received the call that we could go see our baby and take him to his room. Once we caught up with the nurse Joe took Gannon from her arms and carried him as we followed her to the hospital room which we would be staying in.
On the way she explained that Gannon although waking from time to time was having a hard time staying awake and was on blow by oxygen the whole time, and that he may need it up in the room too. After getting settled in our shared hospital room and all the bells and whistles were attached to Gannon the many nurses decide it would be best to put Gannon back on the blow-by O2. Every time he would wake up he would start to cry, and realize that it was more painful to cry, so he would hold his breath which would make his O2 levels go down and his heart rate go way up setting the alarm bells off and nurses rushing in.
Gannon slept off and on the rest of the day, and in the evening he finally ate Popsicles. He loved the orange ones the best. Joe went to stay at Grandma Cathy's with Royce and Giovonnie while I stayed at the hospital with Gannon.
The baby next to us was released to go home, so the room was all ours until 4am when another little girl came in with her dad because of a bad tooth infection. She had to have oral surgery the day before her 4th birthday! (What a wonderful birthday gift that was.) Anyhow, between the two little ones with the alarms going off for IV stuff, and med stuff, heart rate monitors, and O2 levels going off every 10 minutes or so and nurses coming and going I don't think I got any sleep at all. Gannon was up at his normal 7 am, and he was ready to play. Joe came back to the hospital about 9 am with Royce and Giovonnie. Gannon was glad to see his brothers. He even smiled at them; it was too cute. Gannon became quite hungry and ate some pudding, took two drinks out of his sippy cup, and then settled on Popsicles. When the nurse asked about how much he was drinking I said, "not much, but he has ate more then I expected. When we told her that he had 4 twin pops (a total of 8 Popsicles) she said excitedly, "Popsicles count." We were then released to go home Saturday at 1 pm instead of on Sunday, so we went to Uncle Randy and Aunt Kelly's so the boys could see Cameron for a while, and Gannon and I took a nap. (Naps are so good.) Then we went over to Grandma Cathy's to eat dinner, and to get a good nights rest before heading back home. On Sunday we left Daddy at Uncle Randy's for his bothers Boundary Water trip, and head back home. Thank you to those of you who rembered Gannon in your prayers he has felt better every day, although at night he seems to be in some pain yet, in the day he is feeling well enough to play, crawl around, and walk around the furniture.
He doesn't even seem to mind the arm braces (called NO NOs) that keep his hands from getting to his mouth once they are on, but he can and does pull them off from time to time. I think that we will both be glad when we will be able to take them off for good, only two more days.
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funiture. On the first day he would cry after he got himself up because he was to afraid to let go so that he could get down. He also started saying his first words, besides mama and dada, he added on "nigh-nigh" and "amen". On the 5th of August, Gannon had his 9mo check-up (almost a month ago). Every time I get his growth stats I am amazed because when he was born we were told that with the cleft palette it was likely he would be smaller then average. I’d say with the height of 30in, head circumference of 18 ½ in and a weight of 25 lbs at 9 months our boy is not small at all! The following day, August 6th, I took Royce and Giovonnie to register for school; neither boy was excited about the idea of school starting soon, but now it was close to being here and we had to start to prepare with buying new backpacks, supplies from the class lists, and new school clothes. Gannon cut his first tooth that week, and was taken completely off the bottle too.
August 11th we finally had the hail damage repaired on our Magnum, which proved to be a pain between the irritating claim adjuster and the hail removal guy… Anyhow, we took a quick last minute trip to Wisconsin for a Cox family reunion on the weekend of the 15th. I was able to see my mom and my Brother Aaron’s family the day before while going shopping for the boy’s school clothes at the Outlet mall in Wisconsin Dells. Royce and Giovonnie thought it was unfair that Dad got to stay behind and play with Papa Royce while they had to face their weakness and go shopping! It was along day and after shopping for what seemed like ages to the boys we went out for pizza. (Thanks to Laura Ann for this quick pic. of Gannon with
a spoon on his nose.) After pizza we hurried back to the farm to meet up with Joe and Papa so that we could go see the movie GI Joe. That Sunday, the 16th, we went to the Cox reunion. It was so good to see everyone again, and a grand bonus to win the 50/50 raffle (must have been our lucky year - again). I regret not pulling my camera out to take pictures because I could have got some real good ones of Royce and Giovonnie trying to catch crawfish, and minnows in the creek. Royce at least tried hard not to get his new school clothes and shoes full of mud, but Giovonnie was covered from rear to foot. I made him undress to his underwear before getting in the car. Afterwards we returned to the farm to pack-up our things, and to give Giovonnie a bath before we headed for home. That week we finished buying school supplies, as well as when I noticed that Royce Lee was again maturing; taking on responsibilities without being prompted or reminded, taking extra care for Giovonnie so that he wouldn’t feel like it was always about the baby (or so he told me), and even offering his assistance with other things besides his own chores. I am a proud mama. Giovonnie also changed a bit, and lost his purple snaggle tooth; actually, Joe helped him yank it out with a string to be exact. Then the weekend of the 21st came bringing Royce’s 9th birthday along with it. He knew just how he wanted his birthday cake; he ordered it as a chocolate cake with white vanilla frosting, and red Pull & Peel Licorice to write his name, and Redi Whip on 
the side. He even went to the store to pickup the ingredients with me the day before his birthday. August 23rd we celebrated Royce’s birthday by letting him chose what we would do together on his special day. We played games, watched him open gifts, measured his height on the “growth chart 
door” and then later met Uncle Scott and his family at Pizza Hut for dinner and cake, and on the way home was serenaded over the phone from his cousin Cameron with the birthday song. It was really just a simple birthday, yet he said, “It was the best day ever!” Then the very last day of summer vacation snuck up on us, so we spent it lazing around the house before attending the open house at the school that evening. 
