This is somehow familiar

I guess that was Aaron's version of a clip show. Thank you for tiding over the adoring fans.

The main result of the surgery is I now have 48 Vicodin. Perhaps they think I am an elephant in need of sedation?

Everything went really well. I got there at 8am yesterday and was home by 12:30pm. It was a much better experience than last time I was in the hospital, possibly because it didn't involve any hemorrhaging. And no new people have come to live with us this time (not that that was a bad thing, but no more for the moment, please). The anesthesiologists were apparently not used to patients asking about or wanting to discuss the specifics of the agents they are going to use, and really they weren't that open to it. But it turned out they weren't using the few things that I thought might not be great for Dylan, so it was fine. I never get tired of the look of people's faces when they are taking my medical history and I get to tell them about the ketamine. It was nice to have an uneventful medical experience as I am deeply suspicious and distrustful of the whole medical establishment.

Right now it feels very similar to when we first got home with Dylan, except she weighs twice as much. And this time my very demanding dissertation is not being held at bay very well, so I'll have to be back in full force by Monday. Right now I can't do very much, I'm exhausted, I can't use my abdominal muscles at all, and I can't walk very far. I can't pick Dylan or anything else up because I am terrified of popping my stitches open. Note: not being able to pick up the baby presents practical difficulties.

Warning, somewhat gory details ahead.

I am actually thrilled about how the surgery turned out. I know that sounds odd for a hernia repair (oh yeah, the surgery was to repair an umbilical hernia), but my stomach is much much better than it was. It never went down after the pregnancy to smaller than when I was five months pregnant (I am not exaggerating here). Part of that was because my stomach muscles separated down the middle and never went back together and part of it was because of the hernia. The muscles are still separated, but I would say that my stomach sticks out 3-4 inches less than it did. I am hoping this will make it easier to, say, wear pants. It was frustrating during the pregnancy because I knew the muscles were separating A LOT and all the doctors were like, oh, that will go back together afterwards. And then afterwards everyone was like, oh, it takes a long time for your body to recover. And all along I thought, this seems somehow more extreme than that.

Up tomorrow: BabyFatReport, 6-Month Edition