Florida Jaw Check Up

Two years ago I had major jaw surgery. The discs in my jaw were disintegrating and breaking apart. I also had some major arthritis in my jaws. So two years ago I traveled down to St. Petersburg, FL to the Piper Clinic and had a special jaw surgery.

Dr. Piper went in next to my ears and removed the discs. He took fat from my belly and did a complete fat graph. The entire process is just amazing. The fact actually solidifies and becomes viable tissure. It's crazy! What's even crazier to me is that I have basically been PAIN FREE for two years!!

For the first year after the surgery I had the pleasure of HAVING to fly to Florida every three monts for a check up. My check ups have been going great. At my LAST check up I was 3 months pregnant so I wasn't able to get my final CT. Dr. Piper said he wanted to see me one last time to get the CT.

The boys and I (and my mom) arrived the evening of the 4th just in time to hear the fireworks. None of us had any desire to watch them. :( I know if Jon was there he would have dragged me out to watch. I wish he was there. The boys were very festive on the 4th. I don't have a picture of them in their day outfits (while shirts with a blue collar and blue and red motorcycles on them and blue shorts). Here is a picture of the boys in their 4th jams.

Here is the view from out balcony at the hotel. Very pretty.

We had a blast while we were there. I was pleasantly suprised with the most amazing well behaved babes! I thought that their sleep schedule would be thrown out the window. Being in a hotel I didn't feel comfortable with allowing them to cry for even a minute. I was assuming I was going to be holding and snggling and singing and etc the whole time. Which trust me, I woulnd't have been upset with the holding and snuggling, but I did know that if I threw all my rules out the window it would take a while to get them back when we got home.

Suprisingly enough there were NO tears when we were there! I put them down for their naps and they fell fast asleep. They slept through the night every night but one. One night Gunnar had a hard time falling asleep . I was so tired and couldn't keep picking him up from the low crib and rocking and bending back over to put him back in, so I put him in bed with me. I've NEVER done that before. Not even for a nap. Oh it was lovely! I held his bink in for a little bit and we both fell fast asleep. In the middle of the night I woke and put him back in his brib and he slept the rest of the night.

This was the first time that the boys continuously woke from their naps and night time sleep with smiles. I could even leave one in the crib while feeding the other. The babe in the crib and I would just look and smile and coo at each other. It was so sweet.

My Aunt Doris, who lives in Vero Beach, FL, drove the three hours to come play with the boys. They wore a special shirt that she bought them when she came out to NJ to meet them for the first time.

While in FL we had a lot of swim time. One-three times a day we would go down to the pool during our wake time to go for a dip. My mom and I had so much fun swiming with the boys.

My mom and MicaiahMe and Gunnar.My mom and Gunnar.Me and Micaiah.

We even tried bringing them to the beach. YIKES! My mom went down there during one of their naps and set up a big SPF tent. After the boys woke and ate I brought them down to the beach. Gunnar didn't seem to mind too much, but I don't think Micaiah really liked it. He had a hard time opening his eyes. I know it was bright, but no brighter than at the pool. I wonder if the sand or salt water stung his eyes a little. After about 5 minutes I called it quits and brought them back to the pool.

Oh...what about my doctors appointment you are asking yourselves. Haha! Well my CT was great. He said I look good, but both sides are healing differently. He said that's fine but he's suprised that I'm as pain free as I say I am. One of the sides has healed bone on bone. So I will always hear a little scraping when I eat or open my mouth. He said not to worry about that. It's annoying buyt it doesn't cause me any pain. The other side seems to be healing perfectly. He did say he wanted to see me ONE more time. Oh bummer I have to go back to FL. He doesn't need to do another CT, but he wants to see me before my braces come off. See my braces aren't on just for cosmetic reasons. I had to have the braces put on to pull my top and bottom jaw together. After the surgery there was a gap between my top and bottom teeth so I coulnd't chew things like lettuce, (things you have to grind). My top and bottom now touch, but they are pullying my bottom jaw forward now. A lot of WHATEVER to me...just LET'S GET A MOVE ON IT!! Haha.

Here are the boys and my mom on the tram to get to the gate that our flight was taking off from. Mc looks so funny. Here are the boys chilling on the airport floor right after eating. Trying to get some play time in before the flight.

Micaiah on left and Gunnar on right.