2 hours feels like forever...

We jumped out of bed from the beeping of the alarm Monday morning at 3:30am. We set the alarm so we could give London his last bit of liquid (water) before his surgery. We were panicked because we slept through the 11:30pm alarm and London didn't get to have his last bit of formula. Even though we knew he was starving already London was laughing and smiling adorably even at 4am. We packed up what we needed and were out the door by 4:45. We made it to the hospital in no time and checked in about 5:30am. We were greeted by a very sweet nurse named Ashley who kept me calm and empathized with how hard this kind of stuff is for parents. London was awake and pretty content at this point. This actually continued throughout the entire pre-op waiting period. Kary and I were super nervous but London was just adorably smiling and playing with toys in his precious little hospital gown. He was letting most of the nurses hold him and was quite the attraction.
When it was time for London's surgery a nurse asked to see him "for a minute" I thought she was just going to check his temp or something and the next thing I knew she was wrapping him in a blanket and carrying him away. He started crying and turned back and reached his arm out for me...I reached my arm back toward him and then turned to Kary and burst into tears...that was the hardest part, letting go, putting my baby's care in the hands of people I barely knew.
Kary and I went back to the waiting room. We were given a tracking number for London so we would know where he was. There was a screen with the numbers posted and there he was...number 15457...my baby was now a number and it instantly lit up blue which meant he was officially in the Operating Room. I ate some "breakfast on the go", played a family guy: what's different game on my phone and kept glancing at the hospital screen every 3 seconds. I knew he'd be in there about an hour but I couldn't help but glue my eyes to that screen. Kary kept me calm and even managed to make me smile joking about how London's urologist responded to our "good morning" with a whole bunch of penis talk and finger motions. Kary kept saying that's how he says good morning to everyone, shaking his pointer finger and saying penis penis penis...haha. I did catch a glimpse of tears in Kary's eyes but he knew he had to stay strong or I'd lose it.
At about an hour and a half into the surgery I was obsessively glancing at the hospital screen, I wanted that number to turn purple so I knew he was ok. We both started to worry as time ticked by and it was now 2 hours after he was admitted. A nurse came by a few minutes later and said, "He's still in surgery but all is well." We breathed a sigh of relief but I was getting really impatient.
At 2 hours and 19 minutes London's number turned purple. I jumped up and yelled, "Yes, he's out!" The people in the waiting room looked but just smiled at me. A nurse came to get me minutes later (only one parent was allowed in first recovery room) and I grabbed the diaper bag and rushed behind her.
As the big doors slid open into the recovery room I could hear the sweet cry of my baby boy. I recognized his cry right away but I could hear pain in his cry. There was a sweet man nurse rocking him and he instantly jumped up and yelled, "Mommy's here!" The nurse informed me that London guzzled down 2 bottles of pedialyte and needed formula~stat! I made him a bottle and grabbed my sweet London. I rocked him in the rocking chair and spoke to him assuring that mommy was here and everything was ok. His throat was really scratchy from the breathing tube and he only drank about an ounce of formula. His eyes were still closed but he held onto my finger tightly and pulled me close smelling my hair. I started to sing to him and said some silly stuff that usually makes him laugh. He just looked into my eyes and didn't crack a smile...that made me sad. I felt so guilty for putting my baby through all this, I hated seeing him hooked up to all those monitors, and just wanted the pain to go away.
Dr. Perez came to talk to me as I was rocking London and the first thing he told me was that London would need another surgery because he could not finish the procedure due to something with his urethra. My heart sank...ugh...just when I thought I could take a sigh of relief I realized we have to go through all of this again.
After being monitored for about 30 minutes we were ready to move into the next recovery room and London could see his daddy. By this time he was passed out and sleeping comfortably. Kary was super happy to see him but I know it hurt him seeing him look so pitiful. A few nurses came by to comment on his cuteness and one asked if she could please take him home.
We were given our final home-care directions, got London dressed (well sort of) and finally were discharged.
The first day and night were pretty rough. London threw up his pain meds and would wake up occasionally with a hoarse painful cry. We couldn't really cuddle him because if his peep was pressed up against anything it would hurt. London spent the first few days high on codine and "yo gabba gabba" is pretty trippy already I can't imagine how it was all hopped up on pain killers.
London had to wear 2 diapers for 3 days. We had to poke a hole in one, pull the catheter through that one and then put a larger size over top of that one. Our poor baby had a giant crotch.
I took London for his post-op appointment today and Dr. Perez removed the catheter. London was so tough. He barely cried and just squeezed my hand.
His privates are a wreck. It's hard to picture exactly what it looks like now. He will definitely need another surgery and as of right now, my baby pees out of his ball sac (well right above it) that will be fixed later...who else can say that?...hahah... For now, we're just happy he's home safe and we can enjoy our happy adorable baby.