The Pavelka Family: May 2013

Maddy's Surgery
Well, we once again have some wonderful news - Maddy's surgery was completely successful! Dr. Smith and his team successfully removed the part of her ureter that was abnormally narrow. Dr. Smith said that the part of her ureter that he removed was as small as the head of a pin. Her kidney and renal pelvis should now start going down to a normal size, and we shouldn't have to worry about any infections anymore!
The surgery took about 6 hours, which was the longest 6 hours of our lives. Maddy did SO well with it. Dr. Smith said that Maddy was adorable, sucking her thumb on her way to the recovery room. She was very uncomfortable that first day, but the amazing staff at CDH took good care of her, and kept her adequately medicated. She has 4 incisions total, 3 being from the surgery itself, and another being from the drain that they had put in place. We were able to go home on Saturday evening.
Maddy has been doing great at home. She has been having some trouble sleeping, both during naps and bedtime, but her pediatrician said that this is completely normal, and that it will take some time to reestablish routines. Her pain level is fine - as I am typing, she is bouncing around in her jumperoo with no problems at all! We will go back on Thursday to have her incisions looked at, and for Dr. Smith to check her progress. We are hoping to have an ultrasound done to see how normal her kidney and renal pelvis will look!

Ready to go in for surgery! (Tongue sticking out - my new thing!)

Hanging out with daddy in my gown

Loving the IV pole!

A couple of hours after surgery, and I'm still the happiest baby ever!

Taylor's First Sleepover!
Because Maddy's surgery was early Friday morning, our good friend Erica had Taylor sleep over on Thursday night, which was her first "friend" sleepover! She was so excited, she kept counting down the days! She and Gianna had so much fun together!