coming back...

Wednesday December 8th

1:40pm

William started opening his eyes and reacting to voices. Shortly after, he reached out to touch Mommy's face.

~ my baby is back ~

It was like he was talking to us through his eyes - so serious

The ventilator machine stayed in William's room the entire time we were there, counting each second since he had been off it.

At this point, William had not eaten since the wee hours of Tuesday morning. He was receiving hydration, but could not eat anything because his bowel sounds were inadequate.

Finally, we were allowed to swab William's mouth with a moist toothette. He was so appreciative of it.

10:30pm Wednesday

\William was more stable and the staff helped us get him out of bed, tubes and all, so I could hold him for the first time since the previous morning. He immediately acted like he was ready to feed, but we had already been told he would remain NPO until morning when the surgeons would reassess him at rounds.

This picture looks peaceful and all, but it was truly disastrous. William weighed a ton with all the extra fluid on board, it was awkward to know where and how to hold him, the tubes and cords were a HUGE tangled mess, we couldn't keep the oxygen blowing in a good location and William kept alarming every few seconds for one thing or another (heart rate too high, blood pressure too low/too high, loss of oxygen sensor, drop in oxygen...on and on). It was far from picturesque...and just the beginning of a long, hard night...