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.

Our First Two Weeks- A Photo Update

It has now been almost two weeks since Eli has come to live with us. I can honestly say it has been one of the greatest, and most trying times of my life all at once. We went from being able to go, eat, sleep, and do what we wanted, to having to schedule everything in three hour increments.

So how is Eli?

The first thing we did after arriving home was to go in for our first doctor appointment. They measured and weighed him. He is now 17 inches long, and at that time weighed 4 lb 13 oz. The doctor said he looked good. We went ahead and scheduled the appointments with a cardiologist for his PDA and surgeon for his hernia.

The rest of that week we continued our usual routine. Wake up at 9, 12, 3 and 6.. on both sides of the clock  to change and feed him. Every other day Meagan will give him a bath. My favorite thing is to lay down with him for a nap.

Last Sunday some people from the church threw us a shower. We were able to get lots of clothes, supplies and baby stuff. It was great to have so many people there. We are grateful for the friends we have.

Tuesday we took a little trip to Arkansas Children's Hospital for his Cardiology and Surgery check up. We met with the cardiologist, and they did an EKG on Eli. Meagan and I were both surprised how long it took to put on all the leads, but how short the EKG actually was. Later the doctor came in and listened to Eli's heart. She could not find any evidence of the PDA, it had completely closed.

We then went to our appointment with the surgeon for Eli's hernia. They want to wait a little while to see if he can get off the oxygen before doing the surgery. So sometime in the middle of June we will travel back up to have that surgery completed.

Eli has been doing well here at home. It seems every day he takes more and more formula at his feedings. When we first got home he averaged about 40 cc per feeding, now he's up to an average of 53, and many times takes the complete 60 that we fix right now. I almost forgot, when they weighed him at Arkansas Children's he weighed 5lb 2 oz. So he definitely is a growing boy

Some of you were wondering how the dogs were doing. The answer is awesome. Mia and Honey are the ones who are most curious about Eli. Mia came in for almost every feeding at first and laid down in the room. When I am gone, and Meagan is feeding him, Honey will lay down half in the door, half in the hallway with ears alert.

We have not taken Eli out into the general public yet, and will not for a little while. However we have had a few people drop by and say hi. I'll close this update with some of those photos.

Bringing Home Eli

It's now almost a week late but between feedings every three hours, and the lack of sleep grabbed in between I have worked to get you caught up on how we came to bring Eli home.
I already shared in the about us finding out on friday that we would be bringing him home. I then shared the events of Saturday and the first part of Sunday. So it is there that we pick up the rest of the story.

It was Sunday night that we were to room in. What is rooming in? Up to this point the nurses have taken care of Eli. We have come in and fed him a few times, or changed diapers, but no matter what there was always a nurse right there by our side. This was comforting as we are both first time parents and the thought of a tiny human being depending on us for everything was a bit overwhelming.

The nurses taught us how to hold the bottle to feed him, they showed us how to swaddle him, and they helped us to give him the medicines he needed. They also did all of those things for him when we were not there.

The room in was our chance to go solo. We were in a room next to where the nurses were, but we were basically on our own. We got to feed him every three hours, we gave him his medicine, we woke up to comfort him, we were the ones responsible. Now they were right there at the call of a button, but it was up to us to take care of Eli.

Meagan working on some school stuff during our room in process.

There are a few things you should know about staying all night in a hospital if you don't know. First of all, up to this point every time I have slept on a bed that was created by the creative folding and unfolding of a couch it has been a most uncomfortable experience. This was no different. The couch cushion pulled out toward us and the back of the couch came down to be one side of the bed. Ouch.

Not near as good as it looks.

Second, the food in the hospital cafeteria was exactly what you would expect. They gave us meal vouchers for us to go down and get our supper on Sunday, and then again for our breakfast on Monday. Sunday the choices were vegetable lasagna or hamburgers. You know me, I chose the hamburger. Bad choice. The next morning I went with the eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon. The eggs were good.. and they had cereal.

Finally, no one is designed to get sleep in 3 hour increments. Yep every three hours, 3pm 6 pm 9 pm etc... one of us had to wake to feed the sleeping boy. Now granted he's so cute that of course anyone would give their right arm for the chance to hold and feed the baby boy, however if you are not used to it, the 3 hour naps you get in between can take some getting used to. I especially thought it cruel because we had a 7 hour drive home ahead of us.

Loading up in the car.

It was a night to remember, and we made it through. The next day the doctor signed the release order, the lady from the adoption agency came to help with the sign out process, we loaded him up in the car seat and we were on our way.

7 hours, 2 feedings, 4 stops and many miles later we arrived to the place that Eli will call home.

Well that's about it. Since then we have had many new firsts. For instance our first trip to the doctor. However those stories will have to wait for another time.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

I already shared how we we got the news we would be bringing Eli home, and then about what happened on Saturday... well, Here's the rest of the story.
Sunday started for me with a quick visit to see Eli, and then a trip to nearby Tuttle UMC to lead music at my friend Andy James' church.

Andy and I know each other from UMR and working on our church magazine. He recently went back to working as a pastor in a local church. We played some of the traditional hymns I grew up on, and then I played "East to West" by Casting Crowns. Andy was starting a new series on forgiveness.

Afterwards my dad, who came with me, and I drove back in time to meet my Uncle Mark and Aunt Francee, along with Meagan and my mom for lunch. Then, back to the hospital for the 3 p.m. feeding.

Then it was the final visit by family.. again I'll let the photos do the talking.

Then was what they call rooming in... I'll tell you about that and our trip home in the next post...

By the way.. have you bought a Lullaby CD yet? Click here..