Day 3 began rather uncomfortably but turned into a great recovery milestone. She developed a high fever in the night that the pain meds brought down, but it worried us as we weren't sure if it was some kind of infection that was causing it. The fever was gone in the morning and some of her appetite returned. Also she did well with just Motrin for the rest of the day, so we were off Tylenol Codeine already. Another big win.
During the course of the day (including midnight onwards) she had 3 bowel movements. The stools were hard, softening just a little every time. I tried to feed her papaya, but she wasn't interested. It's usually one of her favorite fruits. The swelling went down just a bit, but we were still using preemie diapers on the inside.
We had some of the strangest bed arrangements. Before the surgery she slept in the playard in our room. We were planning on continuing that arrangement with the addition of a wedge pillow. But the playard had to go, it was too low and the cast had added a lot of weight. We used the playard mattress as the base on our bed since our mattress had too much 'give'. We placed it against the headboard and changed the direction of sleeping to across the bed. Dad went down on the floor on an air mattress while I was next to her on the king bed. Then we used a lot of pillows to position her. Because of the femoral osteotomy, we weren't allowed to sit her upright. And her position had to be changed every few hours to give her relief. We were taught the 'turn and roll' method to change her position so her weight was properly distributed as we moved her. So she was allowed three positions: on her back and on each side, tucking pillows for supporting the leg that would end up hanging in midair. We used the same technique when we moved her to the living room floor and used the recliner couch's sides instead of the headboard for added support.
The turn and roll method:
Tuck one arm just under the cast of the torso and the other under the bum between the legs. Turn and roll towards yourself so that the leg closer to you rests on the bed and the other leg hangs in midair. Tuck pillows behind the back to hold the position. Then tuck more pillows under the hanging leg to ensure it is fully supported.
Lifting her also got easier but it was a workout nevertheless. Changing her diaper single handedly was still difficult as I wasn't allowed to flip her over to get to the bottom. So one person had to help with positioning the diapers, cleaning the bottom etc.
I did sponge her exposed areas clean in the morning and tried to get the tangles out of her hair with a Mercier brush (those things are magic!) Changing her clothes was easier than I had expected, but I had to be careful not to lift her by her arms and shoulders so as not to have the weight pull down on her stitches.
She began to get bored due to the inaction. So keeping her entertained was tough. I think I'd invest in a lot more interactive book apps on iPad/iPhone. Apps by 'Fox and Sheep' are beautifully designed and the Stella and Sam story pack too. I highly recommend them. The highlight of our day was playing pillow toss with her, the grandparents and I. She had a complete blast!
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