A Surgery Update #2

In my last post I talked about how our day began at 3:00 in the morning on our way to Little Rock for Eli's surgery. Here's how the day ended...

We got to Arkansas Children's right and checked in by 6:30 a.m. After waiting a while we were taken back into the pre-operation room where we changed Eli, they took some blood work and then asked us a lot of questions like: 

When was the last time he ate? Is he allergic to anything? Has he ever been under anesthesia before? 

I am glad that they asked this, and that we could answer it the first time. 

It did seem however that every person we talked to asked us those same questions over and over again. I would think entering it into a computer with a connected database each dept could access would solve this, but I am sure there is a reason, and I digress....

They weighed Eli in at 6.8 lb and we got him into the provided robe and socks. Ok the socks didn't work so well because they were gargantuan on him, and the robe, well it was way too big.

After that we kissed him, said a prayer and he was off.

The surgery was to fix an Inguinal hernia and to be circumcised. About 45 minutes after he went in they had both procedures completed and he was in the wake up room. 

It was kind of funny watching him wake up. You could tell he wasn't quite sure about things, and he was making some strange noises. Not ever having been under general anesthesia myself, I am sure I would do the same. And if Eli is anything like me, you'll be able to watch it.

Again with the digressing

By 11:30 a.m. we were moved to a regular room in the hospital. We were able to start feeding him again, and he has responded well eating a little more each time. We spent the rest of the day by his side. 

The hospital will only allow one parent to room in for the night, so Meagan stayed there on the fold out "bed" and I am staying with a friend, so I can be rested to drive back tomorrow.

Again we want to thank you for all your prayers, phone calls, facebook and twitter messages, and emails through out the day. We are so blessed to be surrounded by friends and family, near and far who have supported us in this journey.

Surgery

This morning we are heading to Little Rock for Eli's hernia surgery. This is something we knew we would need to do since we left the hospital in Norman. They usually would have done it there, however he was so small that they wanted to let him grow up a little.

At 3:00 a.m. then alarm clock went off and we prepared for our journey. The trip takes a little over two hours and err have to check in at 6:30 so we are just about on time with little to spare. Right now we're still on the road, the sun has just come up.

Everyone has assured me that this is a routine surgery and the simplest one there is. While that is true, there is no routine surgery when it is your son who is being put under. We know that his apnea he experienced is something they want to watch out for. For that reason they will be keeping him overnight.

We've done overnight in a hospital room before. They tell us that they are not sure here at Arkansas Children's whether we will be in a room that will sleep one or two. From previous experience I use the word sleep very lightly. If they only allow one of us in I'll let Meagan stay and I'll figure out other arrangements. Anyone have a couch?

For those who want to stay updated throughout the day I have added a widget to our home page that searches for the #pray4eli hashtag. I'll use it throughout the day. Also if you'ld like to leave a prayer or word of encouragement via twitter use the #pray4eli hashtag. You can also leave comments on this post and on our hopes prayers and lullabies Facebook page

Well we are almost to Little Rock so I will close this out. Keep us in your prayers. I'll keep you updated.

Eli Says His First Words...

In all seriousness Eli is doing very well. Thank you all for your support and prayers.

Our Second Two Weeks - An Update

I guess when you see Eli every day, you don't tend to notice changes so much. But as I look back I can see that the past two weeks have brought about their own share of updates, and milestones.

When I left off with the First Two Weeks Update  I shared he was eating about 53 cc of food, and was about 5 lb 2 oz. That has all changed... but let's start at the beginning.



The second to last week of my I took my first extended trip away from Eli and spent some time leading worship at College UM ARMY. This is a trip I have taken almost every year for about 4 years now, and it is great to have the opportunity to lead worship for such an outstanding group of young adults.

Special thanks go to Aunt Miranda, who came up and stayed with Meagan and Eli for a few days while I was gone. When we first called Miranda about the opportunity I think she was out the door and in the car before we hung up on the phone. She is one excited aunt. She took this great photo.

We had not taken Eli out in public much up to this point, but we were able to sneak him a few places with out to many people being near. One thing we did was to buy a small rocking bassinet and put it up at the church.

We used it so we can have a place for him while we work on decorating the stage, and so meagan can run lights on Sunday mornings. Though the word did start to get out and we were met by a small contingent of people at the bottom of the stairs each week after the service.

On Wednesday we took Eli to Arkansas Children's for an eye update. One thing they watch on preemies is for retinopathy of prematurity. So a two and a half hour trip up and an hour or so wait/appointment and we were good. They said that he is doing fine, but want to check him again in a few weeks.

After the appointment we met my friend Amy Forbus for lunch at her favorite hamburger place, Buffalo Grill. It was nice to be able to catch up with her, and for her to meet Meagan and Eli for the first time.

Friday was our 2 month checkup at the doctors. Now we all know what happens at two months right? SHOTS!!! Luckily the nurse was quick, though from the screams and cries I cannot say it was painless. We did get great news though, and this brings us back to where we started....

Eli now weighs 6 lb 3 oz and is 19 1/2 inches long. With that news the doctor said that we can stop feeding Eli every three hours and move to an as needed schedule. He has stuck close to the schedule during the day, but for the first time last night we fed him at 1:30 a.m. and he slept till 8:30 a.m. When you have been used to 3 hours of sleep at a time, 7 and 1/2 hours of solid snoozing is a wonderful thing. And he is eating 80 and 90cc of food at every feeding now.. we have a hungry, growing boy.

We also were able to take Eli off of oxygen when we travel around town. When we take long trips to Arkansas Children's or Houston and such we will still need it, but it is nice to have one less thing to worry about when we go to the store, or up to church. And yes, we now are taking him more places with us.

So that's about got you caught up. We again thank you so much for your prayers and support through all of this. We are now working on looking up grants and loans to help us with the rest of the money we need to raise by November to finish this off. We figure about $9,000 will finish out the lawyer fees, home study post placement feeds, and final adoption payment needed.

Look for a future post showing ways that you can help out if you would like to.

As always I'll close with a few more photos you may have not seen yet.