James had surgery

**CAUTION: If you are afraid of talking, hearing, or reading about the male genitalia, then this post is not for you!

James had surgery Friday on his man parts. He was born with a concealed penis,which means that his little man part was hidden under the pubic skin. You could not pull the pubic skin down to reveal the head of his penis, there was a lack of attachment somewhere. The pediatrician referred us to a urologist who informed us that surgery was necessary. The urologist, Dr. Close said that if my pediatrician would have tried to circumcise James it would have remained trapped and he would look like he had two belly buttons. Apparently this is quite common. Dr. Close did 4 of these surgeries that same day on other boys. She described the surgery like peeling a banana, sewing some of that skin onto the penal shaft and then doing a circumcision. When it is all said and done, he will look like any other little boy who had a routine circ. I was not too concerned, the only thing that made me a bit nervous was that fact that they would be putting him to sleep. No I would not want them to do that to him while he was awake, but there is always the chance that he would have a negative reaction to anesthesia.

We arrived at Mountain View Hospital at 1:15 in the afternoon. After we registered, Scott came and we headed upstairs to wait for his scheduled surgery at 2pm. James was not allowed to have any milk after 11am, so by the time we got settled in the waiting room he was starving. We were able to give him a bottle of pedialite that made him perk right up. We waited in the waiting room until about 3:30.

When they finally called us back, the nurse had us put a hospital gown on him and she weighed him. He was 17 pounds 7 ounces.

She took his blood pressure and listened to his heart and tummy. She said that his little stomach was growling. You think! He hasn't eaten for 5 hours now.

He was such a good boy! Look how happy he is. He was content for the most part and let the nurse do what she needed to do!

After waiting in the pre-op room for an hour and a half James had had enough! Scott took him for walks up and down the hallway and this kept him somewhat happy. He always enjoys new things to look at.

He finally gave up and fell asleep!

He hadn't been asleep long, when they said he was ready to be wheeled into surgery. It was about 5:30 pm. It was hard to let them take him knowing all that his little body would go through. He was in surgery for a little over 2 hours. The doctor said his was a severe case and took a little more work than usual, but that everything went well.

They brought us into the recovery room when he woke up. They said he woke up happy but soon got upset. After he ate he was as happy as could be! What a champ! We did not end up leaving the hospital until around 8:30 or 9pm. We were all exhausted. My friend Melanie came to my house and watched my other kids so we could both be at the hospital. THANKS MEL!!! And thank goodness for wonderful friends. With no family in town it is so nice to have such great friends that are willing to drop everything to help us out.

James had a little cast on his penis. In order to protect the incisions he had to wear two diapers. The first one we cut a hole in so he could pea out into the second diaper and so it would help protect the incision from his poop. It was quite a process to change his diaper for a few days. This Wednesday we went back to Dr. Close's office to get the cast removed and check his progress. She said it looked wonderful and that we did not have to come back for 3 more weeks. His package is still a little swollen, but other than that it does not seem to bother him. We are grateful that it is all taken care of and that James did so well!