Day of Surgery

We arrived two days prior to surgery to get settled in a hotel and meet with the neurology team (surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and assistants).  The staff here made us feel comfortable with the surgery ahead.  Encouraged us to get lots of rest for now and that they would take amazing care of our baby boy.

Happy baby morning of surgery

Playing with his toes

We set our alarms at 5am to feed Jameson one last bottle of milk before surgery. Because of the anesthesia  ahead, we can't feed Jameson milk 4 hours before. We arrived at the hospital early and they took us back right away to check vitals and gown up. Unfortunately they unexpectedly hit capacity in the PICU, so surgery start time was delayed until a bed was available for post-surgery.  A little over an hour from the original surgery time, we parted with Jameson and was escorted to the waiting room.

In the waiting room with mama

In his hospital gown

Waiting for surgery to start

Love this beautiful face

The waiting room included a monitor with updates on the surgery - admitted into surgery, surgery started, and moved to PICU. We also got updates from the nurses.

After 2 hours Dr Edwards met us in the waiting room to let us know surgery went great and we could see him once he was settled in the PICU. Jameson was placed  in the back corner of the PICU. While the monitors and wires all looked familiar from our NICU experience, we were surprised by how loud the PICU was: more alarms and people. Jameson was slightly awake, disoriented, and very fussy when we approached him. We tried our best to help calm him by touching his chest and singing to him. But it was so much harder than expected. Additional pain meds were administered and he fell asleep. After a couple hours, we snuck out to grab dinner. He was still asleep after dinner, so we were encouraged to head back to the hotel and grab a good night of sleep. (This was also our first night of sleep without babies since we brought them home) 

After surgery - minor swelling

Profile shot after surgery

Before and after: too soon to tell