Kai Update :)

Just realized that the last post I had was the day we came home from the hospital, so I thought I would give everyone a quick update! :)
Kai is doing really good.  He was NOT a fan of having the wound dressing changed, nor was his mommy.  He would SCREAM and fight so hard that one of us would literally have to hold him down as the other would put the gauze and stuff on. Definitely not a highlight of my life.  We had to be super careful not to get stool on his incision for obvious reasons, but his incision started right above his crack so that proved to be a challenge as well.  They had given us some drapes to put on him, but they were hard to keep in place and seemed like they didn't do much.  Thankfully we did ok and got a good report when we went back for his 2 week wound check in Iowa City. His incision is pretty big compared to what I thought it would be.  My guess would be around 6+ inches starting at his crack and going up. It doesn't seem to be painful from what I can tell as we obviously lay him on his back to change him, etc.  The only real issue we are continuing to deal with is with bowels and bladder.  When we first got home, he would pee EVERYWHERE when we tried to change him-like everywhere....there was no controlling that little firehose!  I would just have a small washcloth right next to the changing table to cover him, otherwise it was quite the disaster.  That has very much improved (if I change quick, I don't need the washcloth anymore :)) but he still kind of "leaks".  Plus he seems to have no control at all over his bowels.  I realize that he is a baby and that is to be expected :) but this is different than that.  A normal 10 month old baby has a dirty diaper maybe several times a day at most.  Kai pretty much always has a small amount every diaper change.  It's not constipation. Hard to explain, but just suffice to say, it's not normal! :) Silver lining of the whole situation is that when you have no feeling around your little hole, horrible bloody diaper rash with terrible sores doesn't seem to bother you! It broke my heart.  I have never seen diaper rash like that poor kid had.  I don't know if it was all the drugs coming out or all the laxative stuff they had given him or just the constant dirty diapers but it was absolutely heart breaking.  More than likely it was a combo of everything.  Normally I would just pop him in the tub with some Dreft, slather on the A & D, and we'd be golden, but I couldn't do that because his incision couldn't get wet and he had to get his diaper changed so much that I honestly don't think the A & D had a chance to do anything! His bum still is sore, but at least its not a bloody mess anymore.  Called up my favorite doc, who just happens to be my big brother :) to get some advice.  Noah had terrible diaper rash like that when he was a baby and being Travis, he did some research :) and came up with his own concoction that seemed to work really good, so we are trying that too.
The first couple weeks at home were brutal to say the least.  Dr. Mike had told us that the sedation doesn't really put them into a good REM sleep, so Kai's sleep schedule was completely shot.  Imagine how you would feel if you really didn't get good sleep for 4-5 days and multiply it since he is a baby!  NOT a good situation.  He was just so overtired that he didn't know which way was up.  I think it was the second night we were home he SCREAMED until about 2:30 in the morning.  He was almost asleep, but just couldn't settle down.  Everytime I would get him asleep and lay him down he would INSTANTLY wake up and scream and scream and scream!  Frustrating to say the least! We had to do some "cry it out" finally, which I ABSOLUTELY HATE doing, but that was the only way he would get any decent sleep! It took a while, but I think we are finally, within the last week or so, getting back to normal.
Ellie, Darren, and Claire....well they were a whole 'nother story!  Oh my goodness-naughty doesn't even begin to describe them.  I knew they would be naughty for a while since they had to be so good the whole time we were gone, but DUDE!  I was NOT expecting that!  The whining,  the back-talking, the fighting....there was more than one day Mommy just about went postal!!! :) Let's just say there were lots of early bedtimes all around for a while!  It was almost like they were testing to see if all the same rules still applied as when they left. LOL I said more than once that it was a good thing they are all so cute! :)
Our other downfall of the whole situation was that we are officially done with nursing now.  Kai was kind of starting to self-wean a little before surgery, but would still nurse a couple times a day and before bed.  After surgery, he couldn't have table food or baby food, only milk.  My body wasn't used to be being the sole source of nutrition for a very hungry little boy, so we gave him some formula which turned into all formula!  I wasn't really too upset being that he was almost 10 months at that time.  My goal was 6 months, and being that I wasn't able to nurse more than a few weeks, if at all, with my other kiddos, I was pretty proud of myself for making it as far as I did. The problem arose when my stubborn little stinker decided that the ONLY thing he would drink was the premade (EXPENSIVE) stuff they give you in the hospital.  He wouldn't drink powdered formula or pumped milk.  We tried different kinds of bottles, sippy cups, you name it we tried it.  We finally had to get him the expensive premade stuff, which KILLED me as I had tons of pumped milk for free in the freezer!  We had finally graduated to the liquid concentrate which is slight bit cheaper (but not much), when someone told me to mix up the powdered formula and put it in the fridge overnight before feeding it to him.  BINGO! I now mix up a big batch, stick it in the fridge, pour in a bottle when I need it and we are good to go!  I have been mixing in my milk too so we are using that up as well as stretching the formula a little further. I do have my moments when I really can't believe I am done nursing and find myself missing it. It seems kind of wierd at times, but i do enjoy having my body back and not having to find a private place to nurse since I was never comfortable enough to do it in public.
Now that I've given you all the gory details :) I will tell you that honestly Kai is doing absolutely wonderful.  As I am typing this, he is standing on the arm of Ellie's little chair trying to yank the curtain off the wall so he can see out the window. :) He isn't walking yet, but he's very close!  He cruises along stuff and I think he could stand if he could get up the courage.  He is a crawling, jumping, dancing machine! His favorite thing continues to be wrestling with his big brother and sisters and he has a smile that literally lights up his whole face when he sees them. He loves picking on Claire and I have to smile at how well she just tolerates him.  I know that will change someday, but for now they are hillarious. He LOVES splashing in the water in the humidifier (which he knows is no-no) and has seriously amazing crawling speed when he hears the basement door open.  He has been loving being outside with the big kids too!
We head back to Iowa City on March 16th to meet with Dr. Menezes and we have an appt with a Peds GI doctor too, so hopefully will get some answers.  They had told us that there would be issues since they have to manipulate the nerves when they detether, but my mommy heart sometimes has a hard time being patient!
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.  They mean so much to our family!