My Beanie is lippy!

So, the operation went really well.  I was so worried about her reaction to the anaesthetic gas (one hears horror stories about children fighting it and being very upset by it), but my darling angel just kept sucking on her dummy and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.  The anaethetist, Dr Neville Botha, was wonderful.  He did not put a mask on her, but rather detached the pipe from the back of the mask and just cupped his hand around her face so that she could breath the gas in.  She seems to have her mom's problematic veins, so they unfortunately could not put a drip in.  This just meant that she woke up from the anaesthetic not only completely disoriented (the anaesthetic and premeds do that), but also quite dehydrated. 
To say that feeding her post op was upsetting would be an understatement!  She had so much blood in her little mouth that she didn't want to swallow, but once she realised she was getting her milk, she drank from the syringe like a champion!  My child really is such a star!
After a good feed, she had a lovely sleep and woke up in a bit of pain.  We quickly gave her the suppository pain killer and I gave her a few drops of coca cola (the sugar calms them very quickly and puts them on a bit of an endorphine high - NICU trick) and she settled nicely and slept some more.

The surgeon was very happy with her progress, and they let us bring her home (thank heavens!).  In the car she took to her dummy and has since been loving it like a long lost friend!  So much so, that she didn't want to take her bottle.  I got a little worried at this point, but was also so exhausted, so I left her in the capable hands of the other members of Team Bean (Grant and my mom).  When I woke up, they had 'MacGuyvered' her medicine dummy into a feeder and she is once again, drinking like a champion and is having a wonderful sleep! (For other cleft mom's, I will add a separate post of all the feeding tricks soon).
On an emotional note, it is quite overwhelming to have your little one dazed and confused and in pain and not be able to speak to her and tell her that it is going to pass.  But, remember, that they just need you and your love, and then the rest is up to their awe-inspiring will to survive and thrive.  Every day my daughter teaches me lessons in patience, joy and the true pleasure of unconditional love. And for this (and an infinity of other reasons) I am so grateful that she decided to chose me as her mother.