One week on

Phoebe has handled the expanders very well. Henry has looked upon his sister with a new found fascination. By Friday Phoebe right eye was extremely swollen, to the extent that Phoebe could barely see through it. The white of the eye (called..?) was very blood shot and around the temple and corner of her eye it was starting to show signs of deep bruising. By Saturday Phoebe's eye was green-ish, much to Henry's amazement. By Saturday afternoon it was a burgundy. Henry was frequently giving us updates on Phoebe's changing skin colours (his clever sister the chameleon). The whole of Phoebe's face has bruised up to some extent or another but by day 7 this is all yellow-ish and definitely appears to be on it's way out. By day 6 I stopped all Phoebe's codeine and occasionally give her a bit of paracetomol if I think she needs it. I am not sure if I mistake 20 month old tiredness and general grumpyness with pain or discomfort. Phoebe has proved to be very resilient and adaptable. For example she knows she cannot face plant the sofa, so instead chest plants with her head arched back. Henry has done incredibly well in altering his play to suit his now rather delicate sister, although he had a relapse on Day 4 when Seal caught Henry holding his sister in a head lock.
Phoebe has had to adapt her sleeping to suit the fact that she has 3 expanders and 3 remote ports in her head. She has been a bit unsettled in the night (but if I think back no more than usual really, I just blame the expanders now and not teething). Phoebe is in a cot still and it did occur to me one night when I caught her using a rather large teddy to lie on, that perhaps she needed a pillow. Well the look of delight I received when we went and found her a pillow was priceless and worth the look of dismay on Seals face when he realised I had given Phoebe his pillow! Her nights sleep seem to have been much calmer and quieter as a result. Yipee.
We went to hospital for our 7 days post op check up and all is progressing nicely. The tapes on Phoebe's face were changed and the small incisions where the expanders were inserted have healed amazingly. Perhaps this is just the amazing rejuvenation of young skin. The plan is one more check up at day 14 post op and then the first fill up will commence the next day.
A funny little story; we took Phoebe to a local DIY store on Sunday. She wore her usual (extra large) floppy pink hat and her bright red sunglasses. As we entered the store there was more than the odd look from fellow shoppers, which was to be expected I guess. When I looked at Phoebe I had to chuckle, with her get up and face bandages she reminded me of some old Hollywood filmstar just returning home from her face lift surgery and trying to be incognito.