Hannah's 'Special' Bump!

When Hannah was born, the Midwife found a little bump on her right clavicle/collar bone during the newborn exam. We took her to see the pediatrician at the Army hosp. They took x-rays, all the pediatric staff came to 'see' and it, and yet no-one knew what it was. They sent us to a pediatric orthopedic Dr. he couldn't' figure anything out, so we have just 'watched' it over the years.

We had x-rays again a little bit before she turned two, and they thought it showed that there had been a 'break' in her clavicle, and they asked me all kinds of questions... "had it been a difficult delivery?" "was she a large baby?", etc. My response was no it was a very gentle nice home birth delivery. She was only 6 lbs 12 oz. at birth. The bump had ALREADY been present at birth, how could there have been a break - that had already caused calcification to be formed/grow on the bone AT birth.

We had hoped that it would stay the same, and as she grew it would become less and less noticeable. (you had to really look for it to 'see' it as a baby). As Hannah grew, so did her bump...

We had x-rays taken every couple of years to check it see if it looked like a problem. If we wanted to have it removed it would have been purely cosmetic surgery, and as such, not covered.

In the past year or so, it had become a problem for Hannah. It was now protruding enough that it was causing her difficulty. It would get bumped and it was tender. She couldn't carry her backpack on that shoulder as it would rub and put pressure on it. So, we got another referral to see the orthopedic Dr. here. He agreed that with it causing Hannah discomfort, we could remove it.

So, Yesterday, Hannah had her little surgical procedure to remove her bump. I will admit I was a bit nervous as she had to go under general anesthesia. Dad gave her a fathers blessing that all would go well. We dropped Liam off at K's and he even got to go on a field trip with the K sisters. He said he had lots of fun! (earlier in the week Liam had said the K was his Best Friend!). He cries whenever we drop him off anywhere, but he calms down pretty quickly, or so I'm told, and has a good time.

We spent more time sitting around 'waiting' for the surgery to get started than it took to do the actual procedure. That part went really quickly. While we waited dad read a book to Hannah . The Tales of Beadle the Bard. They took us back to her in recovery, and she was still 'out'. Then all of the sudden she came around. looked at us, but was most definitely unamused! Dad was trying to crack jokes and she did not find them funny. ;-) OR was just too out of it to bother to respond still.

When we finally left, it was abt. 1:00 pm. She was starving, as she had not been allowed to eat anything since the night before... I asked if they had anything that she could eat, like crackers or anything, they'd already given her apple juice. She was still hungry after that and she wanted waffles from IHOP. She was released around 1 pm, and off we went to IHOP after stopping off to get her prescription for pain reliever filled. Rebekah got out of class early, so we had her go pick up Liam, and be home for Marissa when she got off the bus, in case we weren't home yet.

We had also promised her she could get a stuffed animal/web-kins, so after eating we stopped at Hallmark. She picked a cute little Ground Hog. I thought that was good so that she would remember him from her surgery day and that it was near (2 days after) Ground Hogs Day. I thought she should call it Sergio, and call it Surg(e), for Surgery... No one liked my idea. ;-) After they took her I.V. out of her arm they wrapped it with this sticky wrap thing. They let her pick her color. Liam thought it was really cool, because it was Green (his favorite color), and it had a long neck (he's into his dinosaurs lately). The nurse told her that after she got home if she wanted to keep the wrap part for a while she could put it on a special doll or stuffed animal or something. So today Groundy the groundhog has a belt. ;-)

We stopped at target to buy some chocolate pudding to try to disguise the taste of the medicine, which she had already taken her first dose of at IHOP, after getting something in her stomach, and she had gagged and thought was horrible. Of course while we were at target, and while she was 'hurting' having just undergone surgery... we were suckered into buying all sorts of things. She got some new sweat pants for while she is laying around trying to be comfortable, and several snacks that were not-needed. Bill noticed that the swimsuits just came out and so instead of waiting till they had all been picked over and the season was upon us... (like we usually do), we went ahead and let her pick out a bathing suit for summer as well.

The Dr. didn't think that she would WANT a sling, as he said, most kids don't, but she felt like it gave her more stability to not move her arm around and cause herself pain, so we asked for a sling. The Surgery Center didn't know if they even had a small/child sized sling, but the nurse finally came up with one. She is under orders to do no throwing, pushing, pulling, running, jumping, for the next three weeks.

As for other events of the day, a mom that I'm working with had called to say she was at 6 cm when she went to her Dr's apt. earlier in the day. her dr. offered to induce her, for excessive dilation. She declined as she went through an induction with her first baby and it was a horrible experience for her. She wanted to go into labor on her own.

I was expecting to get a call soon (over the weekend at the latest), and so when I got home from picking up Marissa from Activity days, I was told she had called. I called her back and this was it. I got to her house just after 8 pm. we went to the hosp. shortly afterward, and she had a beautiful little baby girl at 10:30 p.m. I didn't get home till 2 am, though so I am kind of wiped out today...

I GUESS I can just plan that if we ever have a surgical procedure planned, someone is going to go into labor... it was a big day to be sure.