The 1st Surgery (And Some Fun Stuff Too!)

Firstly, we need to apologize for (and explain) the length of these Blog Posts. We know that they're a bit cumbersome to read... Lots of detail and lots of information, which translates into a very long post.

Our problem is that we're trying to address all of the questions we've been getting from so many different fronts. Hopefully these posts will get shorter (and less frequent) after a while. Nevertheless, thank you for reading :)

This is a picture of Claire laying on our bed in a "Little Pumpkin" outfit that was given to her by Grandma Lynda. Very cute stuff.

Of course, the big question everyone's asking is about Claire's surgeries. Fortunately, we have finally started the process - one down, many more to go.

But, before we get into all of that junk, there are a lot of really fun, cool things that have happened over the last month, so let's start there.

THE BELLY BUTTON CORD

The belly button cord finally fell off on October 2nd, but, when that happened (In the Pediatrician's Office), we learned that Claire has an abdominal wall hernia. Her belly button sticks out on her stomach about 1-2 inches (depending on if she's pushing (a.k.a. pooping or crying) or not).

This is a picture of Claire celebrating her "freedom" from the nasty belly button cord, while laying on the butcher paper at the Pediatrician's office.

This picture is a close-up of her belly. Even though the cord is gone, we still thought that it looked kind-of gross.

And before anyone asks... No, we did not keep the belly button cord. Yuk!

ROCKIN' AND A ROLLIN'

Even though our little one's body parts never "met in the middle", apparently her brain came together perfectly. She has been hard at work figuring things out, and on October 6th, she rolled over from her stomach to her back. Dave was at Catechist Class, so he missed it, but Jen called to tell him the good news. Quite exciting!

No photographic evidence exists of the first "rolling over" (so you'll have to take our word for it), but we did manage to get a rollover on video a few days later. The video at the link below was taken on October 23rd. It runs about 2 minutes.

Click HERE to watch the video which should open up in a new tab, but if it doesn't you may need to use your "Back" button. FYI.

LET'S WASH SOME OF THAT STINK OFF

We finally gave Clairelynne her first bath on October 7th. She hated it.

Jen was mad because Dave was trying to document the moment with a photo (for all of you fine folks) while Claire was screaming her head off (see photo above).

After a few more tries, she learned to chill out a bit and to enjoy the warm water (and the pampering). She's a champ now.

This is a picture from the 2nd bath.

A little bit of modesty is in order, right?

HALLOWEEN 2012

Grandpa Merle and Grandma Suzy visited during Halloween week, and we had a really good time. We bought Claire a little watermelon outfit, which was really cute. She hated it, but really, in the first year, it's all about the parents anyway, right?

Peyton had been feeling rather neglected, so, we felt that we couldn't leave her out of the party. We're pretty sure that Peyton has designs on trying to eat the baby (especially since we've forgotten to feed her a few times since the Claire's birth).

We were hoping to get a black beret, a striped shirt, and a big wooden mallet to attach to Peyton so that Claire could be a Watermelon and so that Peyton could be Gallagher. That didn't end up happening, but it's still a pretty funny thought.

This is a picture of the duo. Obviously, they're great friends. Claire was a Watermelon and Peyton was the Pup-Perazzi.

This is a picture of Claire sitting next to her first pumpkin. Dave carved it. Make sure to take a look at the wording that is carved into the mouth of the jack-o-lantern.

SMILES GALORE

The last of the (recent) big "cool things" happened on November 13th. Claire finally smiled in response to the faces that we were making at her. Her first smile was really cute and she continues to smile a lot.

Here she is loving life in Daddy's Notre Dame Hat. We shall fetch that girl up properly! No to USC, Michigan, and OSU. YES to ND!

Really, it's amazing how much more "like a person" Claire has become. She's no longer just a strange, mutant, alien body laying around our house crying, pooping, eating, siphoning us out of every last penny, and, in general, wrecking our very understanding of the phrase "Our plan is to...".

MAKING NEW FRIENDS (EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE STUFFED)

Grandpa Merle and Grandma Suzy gave Clairelynne a Raggedy Ann and Andy set, and one day, we needed to put her down for a moment, but we wanted to prop her up so that she'd stay asleep. This set-up was completely unintentional, but too darned cute to leave out of a blog post.

Even with all of that cute stuff, there's still more to report.

THE BAPTISM OF CLAIRELYNNE MARIE BRUNSMAN

On October 26th, in preparation for Claire's first surgery, which was supposed to be on October 29th, we got Claire baptized. Because of the timing of the "scheduled" surgery, we were not able to get Claire baptized in Indiana (our original plan), but we were very blessed to have an amazing turnout of friends in California.

In all, about 60 (that's right - SIXTY) people attended the baptism. The turnout was completely overwhelming (and surprising). We were very fortunate to be able to share this blessed day with so many friends.

The ceremony was officiated by Father Olin Mayfield at St. Clare's Catholic Church. Our friends Edgar (photographed) and Max (videoed) covered the baptism for us so that we could enjoy the day, and our friends Ian and Anita stood in as Proxies to the Godparents, who were unable to attend.

Claire was so great. She got handed around, soaked with (cold) water, rubbed with oils, picked up, put down, etc... and she didn't cry AT ALL, which was a huge shock to us (but we'll take it).

The video below runs about 20 minutes, so make sure you have a little bit of time if you want to watch the video. At the moment where Claire receives her water and her oil, you'll hear little "ooohs" and "ahhs" from her if you listen very carefully.

We'd recommend that you watch the video in its entirety. Our priest really did a fantastic job. Fr. Olin has a way of making everything cool and special.

Click HERE to watch the video of the baptism. Again, the video should open up in its own window, but if it doesn't, you can use your "back" button to get back to the blog.

Here is a photo of Claire receiving her water.

The first photo here is of the lighting of the Baptismal Candle, and the second photo is of Dave, never serious, waving the lit candle over Claire's head in a goofy, yet menacing fashion.

You can see the congregation in this photo, but, there were more people further back in the church who are not visible. Truly, the turnout was amazing.

Claire received some really nice gifts and cards for her Baptism from everyone in attendance. She also received "Congratulatory" cards from Grandpa and Grandma Brunsman (Bob/Billie) and from Great Gram and Grandad (Sell), who also gave her a beautiful gold heirloom cross necklace. Claire can't read right now, and she's not old enough to wear jewelry, but we're sure that she'll appreciate all of that stuff later in her life :)

ENOUGH OF THE FUN STUFF - ON TO SURGERY #1

This is going to be a bit wordy for a moment (but, if you know Dave, extensive wordiness shouldn't be a huge surprise to you).

Like we said before, the surgery was supposed to be on October 29th. On October 25th, the Doctor's Office called and cancelled the surgery (which had been planned for over 3 weeks) because the Anesthesiologist thought it'd be better if we waited. That reasoning was totally fine with us, but, we felt that he shouldn't have waited until the last minute to cancel. Apparently, he was on vacation (a valid excuse) and his back-up just wasn't responding to e-mail (not a valid excuse).

Have you ever felt like you're standing on the edge of a cliff not wanting to jump into the freezing water below, while your nemesis pushes on your back, edging you closer and closer to the edge?

It's hard to explain this, but we really had to prepare ourselves mentally to be ready for this surgery. Giving over our 10-Week old baby for surgery with anesthesia - we were scared, concerned, anxious, frustrated, but also, truthfully, a bit excited. We really wanted to get the process started.

We purposefully scheduled the surgery during the time that Grandpa and Grandma Milhoan (Merle/Suzy) were to be visiting us so that we wouldn't be alone - banging our heads against the wall out of frustration and concern during the operation, so, when the surgery was cancelled at the last minute (regardless of the reasoning), it was as if a huge weight had crushed down onto our shoulders, breaking our knees.

But, ye shall push onward! After the scheduling debacle, we got a new date set for November 26th, with a Pre-Op Consultation with our Surgeon on November 21st.

Needless to say, Thanksgiving weekend was due to be rather stressful.

SIDETRACK #1 - THANKSGIVING 2012

Thank goodness for good friends! Our friends (we've mentioned them a few times before - honestly, we have no idea what we'd do without them in our lives), Ian and Anita invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them (at Ian's mothers house), which was a nice distraction for us.

This first set of pictures is of the outfit we purchased for Claire to commemorate her first Thanksgiving. Her little feet-boots say "Gobble Gobble".

This next picture is of Ian feeding Claire for the first time... but not before we had stuffed our faces with turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry relish galore.

SIDETRACK #2 - NOTRE DAME VS. THAT CALIFORNIA SCHOOL

As an additional distraction, on Saturday, we decided to have some people over to watch the Notre Dame/USC Game. Our friends Ian and Anita, along with some new friends, Trevis and Sissy, came over to watch the game with us. Notre Dame won the game (Still undefeated since Claire's birth), and now, apparently, they are in contention to play in the BCS National Championship Game because they are the only remaining eligible undefeated team in NCAA Division 1 Football. Considering that the Irish have not had an undefeated season since 1988 (Dave was 11 and Jen was 8 in 1988), 2012 is a very exciting time to be a fan of the Fighting Irish!

But you're not reading to get a history about Notre Dame Football, so, we'll digress...

This is a photo of Trevis and Sissy holding Claire during the Notre Dame game. You may notice that Trevis is wearing a Colt's hat. He's actually from Indiana, and he graduated from Ball State University on the same (snowy) day as Dave.

We met Trevis and Sissy at a bar down the street. Since we don't get the Colts games in California, some people go to a bar at 10am (Remember that we're on California time) to watch the games.

BACK TO THE SURGERY STORY

On Sunday, Jen, Dave, and Claire went to church. We really had a hard time holding things together during the service. So many emotions were running through our heads.

Let's be completely honest for a minute. Here's what this feels like for us.

Why did this have to happen to Claire?
Why did this have to happen to us?
What did we do to deserve this?
What if she doesn't wake up from the anesthesia?
Are we bad people?
Did we do something wrong during pregnancy?
What if the doctor messes up the procedure?
What if the anesthesiologist messes up?
We're going to be in the waiting room alone.

Basically, the very worst things imaginable cross through your mind when facing a difficulty such as this. It's a very, very scary thing to have to endure.

Claire has a rough road ahead of her, and she's going to need a lot of surgery - probably over 10 by the time she's 18 years old. Getting the first surgery out of the way, however, was a big deal for us - a huge turning point.

When we got home from church, we had a message on our machine (yes, we still have an answering machine) from the Doctor's Office stating that they had to cancel the surgery (again) which was scheduled to happen on THE VERY NEXT DAY!

Well, that's where things took a "turn", let's say. The stress we had been experiencing was palatable (bad pun) to say the least.

Dave called the office to find out what the problem was. Apparently, they booked us in an Operating Room that had been having a ventilation problem for over a month and they couldn't "guarantee that she wouldn't get an infection."

This information didn't sit too well with Dave and he basically told them, in no uncertain terms, that we were going to have surgery on Monday if he had to do the operation himself with a butter knife.

The surgery happened, as scheduled, in a non-contaminated Operating Room.

These photos are of Claire right before her surgery. Get a load of that big blue bonnet on her head.

SURGERY DETAILS - AS MUCH AS WE UNDERSTAND THEM

Here are a few before/after pictures (The before is on the left and the after is on the right). If you're not a doctor, you probably have no earthly idea about what you're looking at. Read the notes below the pictures for an explanation.

A note about the surgery:

The first procedure was called a Lip Adhesion. It's a staging surgery which is done in preparation for a full upper lip muscle and skin repair (which is scheduled to happen on December 10th).

We've included a diagram of Claire's cleft lip (she also has a cleft palate) for your reference in order to make this explanation as easy as possible. This is one of the first pictures taken of Claire when we were still in the NICU Ward at the Hospital.

If you look at the "Before" pictures, you'll see where Claire's upper lip is split and kind-of hanging there loosely on the sides - not really connected to anything in the middle.

The mass under Claire's nose (on the diagram) is a combination of a few things... The bulb of skin in the middle (#1) is the middle part of her upper lip (where you have that dip under your nose), and the skin on either side of her middle upper lip (#2) is her upper gums, where her four front teeth should grow in.

In the "After" pictures, you can see where the side upper lips have been stretched and attached (sutured) to her mass of gums and middle lip.

The purpose of the Lip Adhesion is to stretch the skin and muscle tissue so that, later (scheduled right now for December 10th), the entire lip can be put together muscularly, as a fully functioning lip.

A secondary purpose of the surgery is to begin the process of stretching the entire mass (under her nose) "down" into her mouth where it belongs. Rather than cutting and pasting, our Surgeon, Dr. Lee, is taking a more natural approach to getting the clefted gum mass into her mouth, which apparently, in the end, will have better "looking" results (fine with us!).

In general, the procedure is minimally invasive, but the risk is always with regards to the anesthesia, which obviously went perfectly.

THE NEXT SURGERY

During the procedure on December 10th, Dr. Lee will actually create the proper muscular and skin composition on Claire's upper lip making it fully functional, and as one piece, rather than three.

CUTE EVEN AFTER SURGERY

We wanted to include a few pictures of Claire post-op so that you could see the cute little arm braces that she needs to wear. The purpose of the braces is so that she can't bend her arms to scratch and pull on her face, which could damage the sutures in her lips.

The first picture here is a close-up of Claire right after the surgery. The markings on her forehead and nose are notes so that the Doctor doesn't accidentally cut off her leg or something crazy like that. The second picture is of Claire laying in her crib with her little arm braces on.

The braces (called No-No's) have brought us some much needed levity. One day, we were trying to push Claire's arms down next to her side, and they kept popping back up, which reminded us of the Winter Coat Scene from "A Christmas Story".

Click HERE to see what we're referring to for yourself.

The camera-phone is truly the greatest invention of all time (next to the light bulb, of course), don't you think?

Enough with the anatomy and medical lesson. In the next post, we'll talk about Surgery #2, the Christmas Tree, our first "Play" Date, Peyton's Birthday party, and Claire's newly discovered (and surprising) musical preferences.

In the meantime, as always, thanks for reading! We've been overwhelmed by the unbelievable support we continue to receive. This is a tough time for our household right now and we appreciate everything more than you'll ever know!

Love,

Dave, Jen, Clairelynne, and Peyton (the dog)