update at 11:16 am

Just got the call from the nurse. The repair is underway and he is doing great. We will get another call around 1:30.

Grandma Whee

Surgery day Nov. 19

Well Christian was taken to surgery about 2 hours ago. Nicole is currently getting an update so I will post that when she gets back.

It is a cold and rainy day. Hopefully not indicative of things to come! Of course we are worried beyond belief! Nicole is holding herself together very well and has cried just a few times already. I had my little melt down about an hour ago. Bryan has had some tears but has been a trooper. Bryans mom has been the strong one so far. What a woman!

Nicole just back and things are going very good. Christian went under anesthesia just fine. They started 2 IV lines, one in each ankle. Ouch! When he got to the surgery suite he was looking all around and did not cry at all. What a big boy!

I will update after the next update around 11:30.

Check back!

Grandma Whee

Nov. 18th

Christian got his first bath this evening! Typical for a boy, he did not enjoy it. Not one bit! And he let us know about it too. He yelled and squealed so loud! It was so nice to hear. Of course we say that now. Wait for a few months and see if we still think it is cute! I was so happy to see his eyeballs! We had not seen them before. They are a real nice shade of blue. Hopefully they will stay that way. One of the pictures I put on has him making a funny face. I thought he looked shocked. It was so cute.

He is going in first thing in the morning for the surgery. They will be taking him at 7:00 am. We are all nervous as heck, but know things will be fine. We will be in the PICU at Doernbechers for a few weeks and then moved back to the NICU at OHSU again for a few weeks before coming home for a month or so before his next surgery.


I will post more as we know things. I will warn you though that the next pictures may be too much for some people. He will be on a by-pass machine and hooked to tubes everywhere. He is going to be one sick little baby. But keep checking on us!

Grandma Whee

Just showing Christians cuteness again!

Today Christian was sleepy. His oxygen levels had been going pretty low all night and this morning. He improved all day long and when I left this evening he had been having sat's in the 90's! It was so nice to see such a fantastic improvement. He even smirked once and I managed to catch it on the camera as shown here. He is just such a cutie. He still has tons of tubes coming out everywhere but the nurse does a great job of hiding them. And I have to say that the nurses and doctors we have had here have been so incredable and nice. They are truely a lifeline for us. They have answered questions, given us great advice, and of course helped Nicole and Bryan emotionally with such caring support. They are just wonderful.

Now, Christian is scheduled for his first BIG surgery on Monday morning. It is an open heart surgery. In a nutshell, this is what is going to happen: They will take the aorta and attach it to the right side of the heart. This will enable the right side to support flow pressure. But to get things going in the right directions they will be building a stent with donor material. The surgery itself will take between 5 and 7 hours. He will need 2 additional surgeries to complete the "reconstruction" of the heart. His next surgery will be when he is 4 months old. His third will be when he is 18 months old. Hopefully this will sustain him indefinately. If he starts to decline health wise he will require a total heart transplant. That was great news since we thought that a transplant was going to be definate. But if he does well he may not need one.

So, there you go. Thats todays news. Good news I think. Check back tomorrow and I will have more for you!

Grandma Whee

Nov. 17th morning

I just woke up and called to check on stinker. He is doing very well. Last night he was sucking from a syringe and LOVING it!

Nicole was so excited also because her milk came in! Men, sorry about that. But all of us mommies know wonderful that is! She was thrilled.

I guess I am still trying to catch up on lost sleep. I went to bed about 10:30 and did not get up until 8:40 this morning! What a lazy head I am!

I am off to the shower and then to the hospital. I will post pics and news from today later. Thanks for checking on us!

Grandma Whee

Nov. 16th

Yesterday Christian was placed on the ventilator. He did very well with that. It helped level out his lactic acid. It did its job and the vent was removed this morning.

This morning also allowed Nicole and Bryan to hold Christian for the first time! How exciting for them! Then this evening I got the opportunity to hold him too! I cried like a baby! He fit perfectly! Little fella was trying to wake up so made some cute noises and squinched his face a lot. It was so cute.

Anyway, his surgery is scheduled for Monday morning. It is supposed to take up to 7 hours. That will be a long day! When he is done he will be at the PICU at Doernbechers for a few weeks and then moving back to the NICU here at OHSU. Hopefully he will be home before Christmas. That is the general thoughts of the docs.

Anyway, thank you all for the good thoughts and wishes. Please leave a comment so we can know who has stopped by.

Grandma Whee

Nicole's new project

Well, Nicole knows that she is in for a long visit at the hospital and she developed a swap. Go to the following link, sign up and get working!

http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/9266

It's free!