Honestly, I can't believe how time flies! I couldn't tell you how many people told me, WARNED ME, to enjoy every moment I can with my little baby because they grow so FAST! My little Wy guy is almost 3 months old! I can say that with astonishment AND a smile on my face because not even a month ago, I was barely staying above water!
I had this image in my head of what the moment I saw my baby for the first time would be like, and what he'd be like when I took him home. However, nowhere in those images did I imagine the crappy scenario that would unfold before me the day of his birth...or how I would be crying far more than my newborn would be. Everyone told me that it was normal...that the hormones make you feel like you are on an emotional roller coaster...except, this roller coaster never seemed to pull up...it was just in this never ending dive and I was holding my breath, making it through every day praying it would get better. It was interesting to me when my doc diagnosed me with PPD. That's one thing that wasn't really talked about by anyone I knew...until I started telling people that I was diagnosed with it and suddenly, more people than I ever thought possible were telling me of their experience with it! It was a scary darkness that I never want to visit again. I am so thankful for the love and support that I received from family and friends. I know I wouldn't be where I am right now without them!
I'm so happy that I can spend each day with this amazing little person! He has the most friggin' adorable personality! (I suppose I'm biased, but I think he's the cutest kid in the WHOLE world!!) I really am surprised at how quickly he is GrOwInG! During his last pediatrician appointment, (at 11 weeks) his doc said he's the size of a 4 - 5 month old! All of the sudden he doesn't fit in most of the 0-3 month old clothes. His onsies have this tight "off the shoulder" look...which is a pair of tights and a tutu shy of an identity complex!
He's getting soooo much better at going down for naps and bed at night too (thank goodness!) I purchased this SnuggleMe (a.k.a. baby straight jacket) from Babies R Us, cuz he's such an escape artist! If you don't wrap the kid up tight, his spaz hands wake him up! He's at the low end of the size chart for the SnuggleMe, so it's a wee big on him. The first night I used it, he slept 5.5 hours! The funny part is, I can't give the SnuggleMe all the credit...apparently the kid LOVES to have his face covered! This is how we found him the first night we used it...
He seems to like to have a fan blowing on him too. So I took the front part of his bumper and moved it out of the way so that the air could pass from the floor fan, through the crib bars to him, but not be blowing directly on him. He sleeps on a slightly elevated wedge (as seen in the picture above). Well, one night he was having the hardest time going to sleep, so I attempted to give him a bath. He was NOT HAVING IT, so I put a diaper on him and wrapped him up in the blanket without any other clothes on. Somehow, during the night, he wiggled his way out of the blankets...kicked them to the foot of the crib, dug his heals into the mattress and pushed his way to the head of the crib...directly in front of the fan....in nothing but his diaper...and there he slept, content as can be...sucking his thumb! :) OH YEAH, he sucks his thumb now...which I think is completely adorable! (yes, I understand it can jack up his teeth or be a hard habit to break...but whatever folks...HE'S SO DARN CUTE DOING IT!!) I tell ya, he's one talented little escape artist!
And now on to my "dilema". As you all know, our little guy went through a double hernia surgery. You are also very well aware of the horrible experience that we had with the circumcision that was performed at that time. Well...it only gets worse...(WARNING: graphic descriptions below)
The doctor that performed the surgery is a children's surgeon. He was gracious enough to squeeze us in two days from the initial consultation so that the surgery could be performed under my employers health plan, as the new health plan that we obtained to replace my employee plan has a $2,500 deductible...OUCH! That on top of all the other fees would have KILLED us financially.
Originally, when Wyatt's pediatrician examined him, she said that she would wait until Wyatt was at least 6 months of age to have the circumcision completed as he didn't have enough foreskin to easily remove. A month later, when she realized that he needed hernia surgery, she recommended that the surgeon perform the circumcision at the same time, which the surgeon did.
Well, after the ordeal with the plastibell procedure, I didn't think that the end result looked right. There was slight jagged scaring where the plastibell had been torn away from the penis by his diaper...and not only that, it didn't look like enough foreskin had been removed. Also, the foreskin that remained cannot be retracted to show the "mushroom" part of the head of the penis
During his 11 week appointment with the pediatrician, I asked if it looked right to her. She attempted to pull the remaining foreskin back but realized, as I had, that the head of the penis could not be seen. She told us that he would need to be circumcised again...AGAIN!!! After all that!!! She recommended that we wait until he is 6 months and at that time she would refer us to a urologist to complete the procedure.
Well, you see...Steve and I, we aren't made of money...shocking, no??! Wyatt's medical bill tallied up to 15 grand. Of that, we are responsible for about 2 grand. That, plus the hits that we took from my hospital stay, and the ER visit shortly thereafter took a pretty significant hit to our savings. The savings that was to get us through this tough economical time while we chose for me to stay at home and raise our child. So you can understand why we are worried about how we are going to pay for a urologist to finish the job that the gracious surgeon should have done the first time around.
I don't know what to do from here. I'm sooo grateful that the surgeon fit us in and did what he could to help us keep costs low...BUT, I'm frustrated that he didn't make any kind of mention that maybe the procedure wasn't enough...that there was a possibility that he couldn't remove enough foreskin and the procedure would need to be repeated. At no point during the consultation or even after the surgery did he tell us that we might be doing this again, or that Wyatt wasn't developed enough to have the procedure performed successfully in the first place. Instead, he told me during the consultation that it was "No problem", he could easily perform the circumcision while he was at the hernia repair. Even after the surgery, when he came to give the results to Steve and I in the waiting room, he said, "Everything went wonderfully".
Part of me wants to go back to the surgeon and show him the results. See what he has to say. But I don't know what we are going to do if he offers to do it again, but for a fee. It's one of those things that I feel should have been done right the first time...and should be reconciled. However, I know that even if he waives his fees...we have the possibility of additional fees from the hospital and/or anesthesiologist (if one is used again).
Reality is, since 2005, only about 56% of infant males have been circumcised. Yes, circumcision has been proven to significantly reduce the risk of HIV acquisition (which I'd hope wouldn't be an issue for Wyatt) and that some believe that circumcision should be performed for hygiene reasons (however, I think any man can be taught good hygiene). So a bigger part of me doesn't want to put him through this again. At 6 months, if he is developed enough and all looks well, I don't really feel that he should have to endure the process yet again. There's just no garuntee that the end result will look the way it's supposed to.
I guess this is one of those wait and see kind of cases...I just wish things could have been easier for him. Seems like nothing thus far has gone as easily as first anticipated. Great part is, he's growing so well and is such a sweet and joyful little guy. I'd give him the world if I could and as his mother, I will strive to do all that I can to protect him.
I had this image in my head of what the moment I saw my baby for the first time would be like, and what he'd be like when I took him home. However, nowhere in those images did I imagine the crappy scenario that would unfold before me the day of his birth...or how I would be crying far more than my newborn would be. Everyone told me that it was normal...that the hormones make you feel like you are on an emotional roller coaster...except, this roller coaster never seemed to pull up...it was just in this never ending dive and I was holding my breath, making it through every day praying it would get better. It was interesting to me when my doc diagnosed me with PPD. That's one thing that wasn't really talked about by anyone I knew...until I started telling people that I was diagnosed with it and suddenly, more people than I ever thought possible were telling me of their experience with it! It was a scary darkness that I never want to visit again. I am so thankful for the love and support that I received from family and friends. I know I wouldn't be where I am right now without them!
I'm so happy that I can spend each day with this amazing little person! He has the most friggin' adorable personality! (I suppose I'm biased, but I think he's the cutest kid in the WHOLE world!!) I really am surprised at how quickly he is GrOwInG! During his last pediatrician appointment, (at 11 weeks) his doc said he's the size of a 4 - 5 month old! All of the sudden he doesn't fit in most of the 0-3 month old clothes. His onsies have this tight "off the shoulder" look...which is a pair of tights and a tutu shy of an identity complex!
He's getting soooo much better at going down for naps and bed at night too (thank goodness!) I purchased this SnuggleMe (a.k.a. baby straight jacket) from Babies R Us, cuz he's such an escape artist! If you don't wrap the kid up tight, his spaz hands wake him up! He's at the low end of the size chart for the SnuggleMe, so it's a wee big on him. The first night I used it, he slept 5.5 hours! The funny part is, I can't give the SnuggleMe all the credit...apparently the kid LOVES to have his face covered! This is how we found him the first night we used it...
He seems to like to have a fan blowing on him too. So I took the front part of his bumper and moved it out of the way so that the air could pass from the floor fan, through the crib bars to him, but not be blowing directly on him. He sleeps on a slightly elevated wedge (as seen in the picture above). Well, one night he was having the hardest time going to sleep, so I attempted to give him a bath. He was NOT HAVING IT, so I put a diaper on him and wrapped him up in the blanket without any other clothes on. Somehow, during the night, he wiggled his way out of the blankets...kicked them to the foot of the crib, dug his heals into the mattress and pushed his way to the head of the crib...directly in front of the fan....in nothing but his diaper...and there he slept, content as can be...sucking his thumb! :) OH YEAH, he sucks his thumb now...which I think is completely adorable! (yes, I understand it can jack up his teeth or be a hard habit to break...but whatever folks...HE'S SO DARN CUTE DOING IT!!) I tell ya, he's one talented little escape artist!
And now on to my "dilema". As you all know, our little guy went through a double hernia surgery. You are also very well aware of the horrible experience that we had with the circumcision that was performed at that time. Well...it only gets worse...(WARNING: graphic descriptions below)
The doctor that performed the surgery is a children's surgeon. He was gracious enough to squeeze us in two days from the initial consultation so that the surgery could be performed under my employers health plan, as the new health plan that we obtained to replace my employee plan has a $2,500 deductible...OUCH! That on top of all the other fees would have KILLED us financially.
Originally, when Wyatt's pediatrician examined him, she said that she would wait until Wyatt was at least 6 months of age to have the circumcision completed as he didn't have enough foreskin to easily remove. A month later, when she realized that he needed hernia surgery, she recommended that the surgeon perform the circumcision at the same time, which the surgeon did.
Well, after the ordeal with the plastibell procedure, I didn't think that the end result looked right. There was slight jagged scaring where the plastibell had been torn away from the penis by his diaper...and not only that, it didn't look like enough foreskin had been removed. Also, the foreskin that remained cannot be retracted to show the "mushroom" part of the head of the penis
During his 11 week appointment with the pediatrician, I asked if it looked right to her. She attempted to pull the remaining foreskin back but realized, as I had, that the head of the penis could not be seen. She told us that he would need to be circumcised again...AGAIN!!! After all that!!! She recommended that we wait until he is 6 months and at that time she would refer us to a urologist to complete the procedure.
Well, you see...Steve and I, we aren't made of money...shocking, no??! Wyatt's medical bill tallied up to 15 grand. Of that, we are responsible for about 2 grand. That, plus the hits that we took from my hospital stay, and the ER visit shortly thereafter took a pretty significant hit to our savings. The savings that was to get us through this tough economical time while we chose for me to stay at home and raise our child. So you can understand why we are worried about how we are going to pay for a urologist to finish the job that the gracious surgeon should have done the first time around.
I don't know what to do from here. I'm sooo grateful that the surgeon fit us in and did what he could to help us keep costs low...BUT, I'm frustrated that he didn't make any kind of mention that maybe the procedure wasn't enough...that there was a possibility that he couldn't remove enough foreskin and the procedure would need to be repeated. At no point during the consultation or even after the surgery did he tell us that we might be doing this again, or that Wyatt wasn't developed enough to have the procedure performed successfully in the first place. Instead, he told me during the consultation that it was "No problem", he could easily perform the circumcision while he was at the hernia repair. Even after the surgery, when he came to give the results to Steve and I in the waiting room, he said, "Everything went wonderfully".
Part of me wants to go back to the surgeon and show him the results. See what he has to say. But I don't know what we are going to do if he offers to do it again, but for a fee. It's one of those things that I feel should have been done right the first time...and should be reconciled. However, I know that even if he waives his fees...we have the possibility of additional fees from the hospital and/or anesthesiologist (if one is used again).
Reality is, since 2005, only about 56% of infant males have been circumcised. Yes, circumcision has been proven to significantly reduce the risk of HIV acquisition (which I'd hope wouldn't be an issue for Wyatt) and that some believe that circumcision should be performed for hygiene reasons (however, I think any man can be taught good hygiene). So a bigger part of me doesn't want to put him through this again. At 6 months, if he is developed enough and all looks well, I don't really feel that he should have to endure the process yet again. There's just no garuntee that the end result will look the way it's supposed to.
I guess this is one of those wait and see kind of cases...I just wish things could have been easier for him. Seems like nothing thus far has gone as easily as first anticipated. Great part is, he's growing so well and is such a sweet and joyful little guy. I'd give him the world if I could and as his mother, I will strive to do all that I can to protect him.
1 comment:
Poor little fellow. Sounds like you are doing okay mom! You are his greatest defender!
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