Pre-Op Day

Oh wow, what a day.  We spent eight and a half hours at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital today.  It was a looooooooong day... but Davis is such a trooper.  I was so worried about him being hungry and uncomfortable before his sedated echo, but he was as happy as can be!  He did great during the procedure and woke up happy.  Then we had an x-ray followed by a physical involving urine analysis, blood work, and EKG.  We met with a cardiologist, anesthesiologist, surgeon, and child life specialist.  Fitting feedings and naps into the schedule was near impossible, but we did it.

Davis getting ready for his echocardiogram

Sleepy buddy after echo

However, I discovered my breaking point.  I was attempting to be a strong mommy today!  We were shown pictures of children after their surgeries and told about all the details and risks involved with this type of surgery...and I put on my happy face and thought to myself many times "I can do this."  Besides, it's not me that has to endure the brunt of the hardship, it's my baby.  While I feel the pain emotionally, he feels it physically.  It's a good thing he's blessed with such a calm, strong demeanor like his Daddy.

Getting ready for EKG - it looks like I'm praying over him but I'm singing "You Are My Sunshine;" he was very tired at this point and needed a distraction to get through it - it worked!

For whatever reason, they saved labs for the end of the day.  My poor child was so physically tired and did not want to be poked and prodded at anymore!  The sweet nurses had trouble finding blood-worthy veins.  After unsuccessfully trying a vein on his head, a nurse finally believed she was able to get the one in the fold of his arm.  We had to hold him down (for awhile!); singing, stroking, etc... was not calming him down - and I just lost it.  And it just so happened that during this moment, a fire drill was occurring.  So Davis is crying, I'm crying, the sirens are blaring, Matt is trying to calm us both down, the nurses are being as patient as they can be (they did a good job by the way).  The moment was so surreal it was almost as if it wasn't actually happening.  I am sure I'm in for lots more moments just like it over the next few days.

Napping in stroller waiting to meet the surgeon - so cute!

But altogether, we are holding up well!  Davis ate a good dinner; he's napping now.  He'll have all the milk and cereal he wants tonight, for it will be awhile 'til he will be able to eat again.  I will give him a special bath tonight with special soap to get him extra clean for his big morning.

Surgery will begin around 8:00 a.m. central time and will last approximately five hours, depending upon several factors.  The tricky part of the surgery involves the surgeon basically having to make two valves out of one.  So she has to get them perfect, not too tight and not too leaky.  But this is HER surgery, from what I'm told.  We are in good hands, and Davis doesn't have any risk factors for complications.  Nevertheless, there are always risks.  But I'm trying to tell myself that in life, there are always risks...it doesn't meant we don't take them.  You have to take risks in order to live your life!  And in Davis's case, this is especially true.

After the surgery, the nurses will take a couple hours to get him settled; then we'll be able to see our special guy.  He will be fully sedated when we see him, and I believe we are prepared for what the moment will be like;  that doesn't mean it will be easy.  We saw him hooked to a bunch of machines in the NICU after he was born; this will be more involved, and he will be on a ventilator.  Depending on how he is doing, he will slowly move off sedation and machinery.  I may even get to hold my sweet thing by Monday!

I'm already sleep deprived and not really planning on getting much sleep tonight.  It's a good thing I've got my rock (Matt) to help me through it.  I'll update you guys as much as I can throughout the following days.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate the thoughts and prayers.

And again, I just have to say it, Peace Baby!