What To Expect – Daddy’s Point of View
The purpose of this post is not to scare anyone. It is just to tell you what I saw and how I felt at the initial phase of Natalie getting her spica cast put on. I went into the whole thing pretty calmly as I think most men do. I am naturally an optimistic kind of person so I felt that dealing with the whole situation would be rather easy for me.
Unfortunately, it was far from one of the easier things to see. They took Natalie and when they got done with the surgery we were able to see her for the first time. She did not appear to be in as much pain as she was just scared with the nurses and mama and daddy no where to be seen. As soon as my wife held her she seemed to calm down a bit.
However, it was hard for me to see my daughter in a spica cast. The thing seemed so big in comparison to her it was really kind of scary. I got a little teary eyed when I saw her for the first time with it on. It certainly is true that it is probably harder on the parents than it is on the child at that age.
The night was not so great either but I think it primarily had to do with the anesthesia wearing off. I guess it affects people differently but for Natalie she kept jerking and waking herself up. So basically every couple of minutes she would jerk as if something had startled her and would cry for another 30 seconds until she was able to go back to sleep. This was rough on my wife as she spent pretty much all night next to the bed.
Things quickly got better for Natalie as she began to get used to the idea of not being able to move her legs. I know it was hard on my wife who did the majority of the diaper changing which seems to be an all too regular occurrence when trying to keep the cast dry. In the end though, Natalie coped very well and with a little bit of a learning curve, we learned to cope with it as well.
