Proud Papa and Happy Mama

What a day! 

This morning was a rough morning, the surgery went on longer than expected and once Elliot was finally in recovery he wasn't breathing as he should have been.  After 2 additional hours of him "forgetting" to breath, the doctors and anesthesiologist decided whether or not to incubate him.  Fortunately, he bounced back and finally started breathing on his own.  I think this might be a glimpse into his stubborn side... aka Byron's side.  His neurosurgeon, Dr. O'Neill, told us that surgery went wonderful and that Elliot is reacting to his shunt in the perfect way.  The shunt is draining the cerebral spinal fluid nice and slow, which is best, and the swollen parts of his head are starting to sink. The grandma's got to spend some good quality time with Elliot, while Byron and I tried to rest.  He is a groggy little boy and in some pain which is to be expected, so the poor baby is on antibiotics, Tylenol and who knows what else, but it seems to help him sleep off the surgery and anesthesia.  

While I continued to rest and recover, Byron headed over to visit Elliot and a Priest stopped by to spend some time with them both.  He said a beautiful prayer with Byron and baby then told Byron he was dedicating his next mass to Elliot.  There sure are a lot of people out there pulling for him!   

After resting more, we went for a "walk" and snuck out back to Children's to visit Elliot.  We met our friends Chris and Ann there and Elliot had his first visitors (besides his grandmas).  His fluid is continuing to drain and right now he has quite a bumpy head with Neosporin all over it to help the incision heal.  The neurosurgeon stopped by and told us that he is healing nicely so far and that after Elliot does some growing, he will grow into his head a little better and his skull bones will fuse together and not look so bumpy.  We still think he is one handsome dude and his head just adds character and a good story for him to tell on the playground.  

Other Child: "Whoa your head looks funny"
Elliot:  "Yea, well I survived brain surgery at 2 days old..."

While visiting him tonight, the neurosurgeon, nurses and doctors all felt pretty strongly that its time for Elliot to eat for the first time in his life.  So excited, I ran off to the lactation room and pumped enough for his first feeding.  While Elliot's been away from me, the only way I have felt really useful is to begin pumping so he will have the best nutrition while he heals and grows.  The docs all said that I could even hold him while feeding him and that his head is not as fragile as Byron and I suspect it is.  As soon as I held him, he opened his eyes and took the bottle immediately.  He was so alert while feeding and he went to town on that bottle.  He had no problem and as soon as he was done he fell fast asleep.  Overall it was amazing!  Our little boy is mastering one big milestone after another.  Tomorrow we are going to actually try breastfeeding.  I think he will do great!

We started off a nervous sobbing wreck waiting for our 2 day old baby to come out of brain surgery and realizing he was not breathing correctly, to ending the day by feeding him his first bottle in less than 12 hours.  Unbelievable...

All eyes on mom

Byron changing another diaper.