Rejoicing for Noah!

Today has been such a long day. We woke up around 6:30am at the Memorial Hermann Ronald McDonald House (RMH) to make sure we were with Noah when they took him to surgery. At 8:30 I thought I'd go get some coffee but decided not to in case they came to get Noah. At 1030, I grabbed a sandwich from the cafeteria and brought it up to the RMH for a quick bite so we wouldn't miss surgery. At 2:00pm, they finally called to come get Noah. We dubbed this time our "sympathy fast" since Noah could not have anything by mouth since midnight. We decided to head back to RMH for a few zzzzzz. They called us at 5:30pm to let us know Noah's surgery was finished and he was back in the NICU. When we saw him, he was wide awake and just a little fussy - can't blame the little guy after all he's been through. We had been praying - along with hundreds of others - for a quick recovery. Well, let me tell you, his recovery may be quicker than expected because they opted to do an epidural with very light sedation so that Noah would not have to be on a ventilator. This will cut down his recovery time significantly because now he won't have to be on a ventilator for 2-3days and then weaned off with oxygen for another couple of days. Instead he has an epidural pain pump which blocks the pain to his lower torso and body but does not make him so relaxed (ie relax breathing muscles too much) so that he can function normally. In fact, the surgeon said that the part of Noah's intestine that was closest to the stomach had grown back quite a bit so that made surgery less difficult and he should not have any additional problems. The goal now is for him to have a bowel movement and then he can start bottle feeds. It was so amazing to see him without his ostomy bag and we could see it in his eyes as well. The end result of all the waiting today and for the past 8 weeks brings so much joy and relief to us. Praise God for a smooth surgery, hastened recovery, and for holding Noah's hand when we couldn't!

Noah After Surgery - It'll All Be Over Soon

We are trying lots of different techniques to get Finn feeding better. We asked to try feeding him less volume but more frequently but this did not work. The occupational therapist (OT) tried feeding him on his left side to reduce reflux, which didn't help a lot. Finally, OT came up with the idea to feed him on demand. So now, they let him sleep until he wakes showing he is ready to eat, instead of waking him every 3 hours regardless. With this plan in place, Finn woke up after 3.5 hours and scarfed down his 60cc bottle in under 30minutes! We think we are on to something here and hope this continues to work so we can get the little guy home safely, but soon.

Finn About to Get His Drink On

Cohen and Sophia were in good hands with grandma and grandpa last night and all day today. We just continue to give thanks for their energy and abundant love! We are also celebrating grandpa's birthday today, but with circumstances were unable to spend a lot of time with him today. He told us "it was a great birthday being able to spend time with my grandkids." We love you, Tim!

How Can You Not Have A Great Birthday With These Two?

Auntie C and uncle Mark came to visit on Saturday and fed and loved on the babies for us. Now that they have a one year-old, I'm not sure how much they miss the days of feeding a baby every 3 hours. Carli the dog also came to visit and would check on the babies when they started to cry.

Auntie C & Uncle Mark From Austin

We have also been so blessed with all the meals that have been provided by the Community of Faith (COF) meals team - http://www.communityoffaith.tv/. They have been so wonderful helping us out. At church on Sunday, they announced that we needed help with the babies when they are all home, and 38 people have signed up so far. Our friend Susan is spearheading our volunteer schedule which is taking a huge burden off us since we are not ones to ask for help. We will post more info on that soon.

This is the time we have been looking forward to for a while now. It feels like there is an end in sight to the NICU days. In retrospect, this has really been a short time and has flown by. Also, being up there all day puts things in perspective as we remember to realize not only are we not alone in this, but that there are lots of other babies who are much sicker than ours. We need to remember to pray for them as well. God has been so good to us!!