Two Surgeries & A Helmet.....All Under One

Holden will be uno año in a few weeks.  First of all, OMG!  I still can't believe it.  In the middle of all his birthday party planning and mailing out invitations, we had yet another surgery.  Now don't let me mislead you, my kiddo isn't super sick or have a super bad ailment, just had a few things we needed to fix.  :)  So let's rewind back to March, Holden was diagnosed with Plagiocephaly.  If you haven't read my previous blog ----> Plagio-What check it out!  It will tell you all about his diagnosis. But to keep you on track for this post, plagiocephaly is where babies have flat spots on their heads.  So to make a long story short, Holden go this helmet in April 2013, and did swimmingly with it and got it off in August 2013.  One month later after our 6 month visit in April, we were referred to a Urologist for Holden's undescended right testicle.  We were told at 3 months that it had descended, so we didn't worry about it any more.  By the time he was 6 months we had changed Dr.'s b/c we had issues with the doctor/staff at the previous office; and the new Dr. told us that no, indeed his right testicle was not descended and referred us to urology.  Grrrrrrrrrreat!  Well found out he needed surgery, but first available wasn't till September, so put that on the back burner to deal with life at is was.  So after that visit, fast forward two months to June 2013.  Holden had a frenectomy done.  Holden, inherited one and ONLY one thing from me, he was born tongue tied.  That little tiny piece of skin under your tongue, well his was super duper short and made it almost near impossible for him to stick his tongue out.  That was one thing I noticed when I was nursing, he never got a good latch, because of his tongue tied.  I wanted to avoid any chance of speech delay or speech impediments, so we got this fixed when he was little and wouldn't remember it. I however got this done as an adult in 2010.  HORRIBLE idea.  Honestly, I did it out of sheer curiosity because my tongue was super short and lets just say Kenny thinks I'm a much better kisser.  Man I feel sorry for all my previous boyfriends......sorry for all the bad kisses dudes!  ;)~  He recovered like a champ, was great!  Now, fast forward again to 3 months later, it's now September.  Holden's surgery was this past Monday he had an Orciopexy--a surgery to move an undescended testicle into the scrotum and permanently fix it there.  Talk about intense!  They do a small incision in the groin area and a small incision in the testicle.  The pull the undescended testicle from the abdomen area and pull it down to the scrotum and suture it in place permanently.  This little dude is my hero!  He was quite cuddly/sore/tender/tired/mad all on Monday, but Tuesday you'd had no idea he had surgery.  He slept through the whole night and took his normal nap time the next day.  He was awesome, such a trooper!

We have had two minor surgeries and a helmet all under the age of one!  You never imagine as a mother to go through anything but happy and fun time with your baby.  I never in a million years imagined my son would have had those two surgeries and a helmet for 4 months.  But it made me a stronger Mom, more educated and we bonded in a different way than any other mother and son could bond.  I know Holden won't remember any of these things that happen to him, other than photos and Kenny and I telling him what happened.  But I'm glad I experienced it, not glad that all that happened to him, but grateful for the positive outcomes we got out of them.  Holden is now a strapping almost toddler who no longer has a flat spot on his head, who is no longer tongue tied and who has two testicles where they are supposed to be!  Doing any kind of surgery on your child is scary, but when you have God in your life and you give your child to Him when they are going in for their procedure, you know everything will be O.K.!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie