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going to hospital with 14 mo ds for small op - advice and reassurance for worried mother please!

6 replies

LiegeAndLief · 27/09/2007 13:06

Ds (14 months) is booked into hospital for a small op - he'll need a ga and we should be in for 2 nights. I don't really have any idea what to expect and am panicking slightly, although I've seen some threads recently about ga that were very helpful. Would be very grateful for any tips, advice on what to take, how to get through the starving (REALLY not looking forward to this!) etc from people who've been through it before. Ds was in SCBU for 7 weeks so I feel like I should be an old hand, but it's going to be very different this time round!

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39andcounting · 27/09/2007 20:06

Know its a big age gap but my DD in the summer hols (age 7) was admitted unexpectedly. Had had not previous experience.

She was admitted at 12pm but op not done til 9pm. In that time the "play team" on the ward brought her a tv and games player. They took her off and did crafts and had a pretend party with her and some bears and dolls and we wondered about alot.

Hopefully you will have a play team too and they will be a godsend to you. I know there is a big age diff but thats what they are there for.

The playteam talked thru the forthcoming events with a simple picture book with DD and I.

As for the going under with the ga, my DD freaked at the last mo (la cream had been applied to the front of both hands with clear tape over, ready for the canular to be put in, in the anaesthetic room) They put the ga in straight away while I was holding her sitting up. She went to sleep immediately and yes its bloody awful but that was it done.

I would advise you take bits for you to nibble on. I did not eat in front of my DD and in fact when my DH let me wonder off for 5 mins I did not have the heart to do it secretively either. Have his favourite snack bits ready for when he can eat. A very kind auxilliary got us two cardboard sanwiches, and on any normal day they would have gone in the bin, but we were so grateful. I would imagine he will be allowed to eat once he has proven he can keep liquids down and does not have any adverse reaction to the anaesthetic.

If I have missed something I may be able to answer pls ask. Oh yes, take a spare tampax/pantyliner, the shock and emotion of the days events made me come on and I had to use a maternity pad coz the shop was shut.............. lovely eh ?

Take your favourite tea bags/coffee/book/credit on your mobile/change for the phone/favourite bed time bear so he/she can have a name tape put on too !

Blah blah blah...... thats the end of this brain fart for now !

He and you will be fine. If your not sure about something, ASK until you are.

Best Wishes

LiegeAndLief · 28/09/2007 13:18

Thanks a lot for answering, I hope your dd wasn't too ill and is all recovered now. Also thanks for the warning about the tampax, I would never have thought of that! Still breastfeeding and haven't had a period since August 2005 (!) so will be really annoyed if the same thing happens to me!

How was your dd when she came round from the ga? Was it just like waking up or was she groggy or confused? I have never had one either so no idea what it will be like...

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belgo · 28/09/2007 13:23

Liegeandlief - may I just ask, do you have a connection with Liege?

And Lief is dutch for love...

Hope everything goes well with your ds

popmum · 28/09/2007 13:24

my DS had small op yesterday and today he is fine. the GA was actually the worst bit (he is 19 months) and i was worried about the starving,but there was loads of toys to play with and he was fine. Agree take snacks for yoruself as well as child - mine ate a bit of everything i had but not much overall. They brought a TV round for him to watch which was great.
Be prepared fro NO ROOM for stuff (had forgotton about hospital cubicals being so tiny) so take a roomy bag you can root for stuff in without having to emtpy everywhere

good luck

39andcounting · 28/09/2007 14:48

LiegeAndLief, my DD was absolutely fine when she came round. She had caught her heel at school the thursday b4 they broke up 4 summer hols. It was fine on Sunday night. Monday morning was a little sticky and sore looking so took her to see Nurse at Health Centre, she thought she had impetigo in it and got us a script for anti b's. By Wednesday morning it disgusting, oozing, the whole foot was swollen and red. Str8 2 Docs and emergency admission as the wound was so close to the achilles tendon and they were worried the infection was in the bone !

Fortunatley me being an over cautious mum, we caught it while it was still an abcess.

Under GA they cut away the already dead skin and jet washed the wound out.

She came round so well and when DH and I went into the recovery room she was telling the nurses that the size of the dressing was too big and it was not fair as she had new monsoon flip flops to wear.

Cannot fault the service we were given at the North Hants Hospital in Basingstoke (crap maternity tho !)

I was allowed to sleep in a pull down bed next to my DD and hope you can do the same also as they need Mummy close by.

Have a good weekend

LiegeAndLief · 29/09/2007 12:58

Popmum, thanks for that, good to know your ds didn't mind the starving too much! Glad he recovered so quickly.

39andcounting, that sounds horrible! Hope she is fine now. Very reassuring to hear how well she came round from the ga. I know that I will definitely be able to stay in with ds, but not sure whether I will get a bed...can't imagine I'll be sleeping much anyway...

Belgo, afraid not, it is just the name of one of my favourite albums - don't know where the (English) band got the name from though - nice to think I have "love" in my name!

Thanks everyone for replying, you've definitely made me feel better about it all.

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