We are on the other side!!!!!!!!

The past three days have been a blur of sleepless nights and long days. The good news is that Jonathan's surgery is done and without any complications! He is sleeping in my arms as I type this one-handed.

Here is a recap of the past few days:
Thursday we three arrived at Children's Hospital at 6:30am. John was in a great mood despite having an empty stomach (surgery requirement). He was all smiley to the nurses and anesthesiologists (poor little buddy had no idea what was coming...), then Wes and I went to the ICU family room and waited. And waited. And waited some more. A nurse would page us every so often to give us updates about how the surgery was going, thankfully they were always good news.

Finally, at about 5:30pm we got to see Jonathan. He looked like an angel. He was so peaceful- still very sedated. He had a long zigzag of stitches across his noggin (we counted around 80) but his head looked great. The swelling hadn't kicked in yet. We met with the surgeon, Dr. Hopper, who briefed us about how the surgery went and showed us the before and after CT scans of Jonathan's skull. The difference is amazing! John's skull is put together like a jigsaw puzzle, held together by plates and screws made from natural lactic-acid based materials that will dissolve in about a year. Cool, huh!

That night was a sleepless one, and the next day was exhausting. John began to swell everywhere, especially his poor little head. He was very cranky and it was hard to comfort him. Happily, his vital signs were great, so we knew he was healing good.

And that brings me to today. We finally got to hold him!!! Jonathan has been in our arms for most of the day which has helped his mood. His poor little face is so swollen...his eyes are swelled shut. He is frustrated because he can't see anything. We are down to one IV line now (he had three to begin with!) and a few chest monitors for breathing and heart rate. He keeps trying to rip those off :-P

Wes and I are doing good, just very tired. We are happy that we get to room in with Jonathan, but we cannot wait to go home, hopefully on Tuesday. I am grateful that everyone who is helping John has been great. The nurses are working hard to make sure that he is comfy and getting pain-relief meds.

Well, that about sums it all up. I was only able to download a few pics from the first two days. I'll post more pics tomorrow.
Thank you for all your support and love! We feel blessed that so many people care about our wonderful little boy.

Day One: Right after his surgery

Day One: you can see part of his scar

Day One: another scar shot. The tube is for draining excess fluid in his head.


Day Two: Starting to swell more

Below are some before shots. Our family picture was taken the day before John's surgery.

Can't wait to see this smile again :-)