March 31

Well, it looks like Will's surgery will most likely be Friday. Everything is looking good, but they want him to finish his course of antibiotics before they operate. He finishes Thursday, so they're tentatively planning for Friday. He looked good today. His leg is causing him some pain and that's good and bad. It's bad because obviously you don't want your baby to be in pain, but it's good because it means that he has sensation in his leg. And the doctor can finally find a pulse in his foot, so it looks like his leg is almost completely healed. I can't wait for him to get this surgery over with so we can get him home. Tonight I asked Hays' nurse to give me an estimate on how much longer he'll have to stay in the hospital, and she said two to three weeks. I really want to bring them home together, so Will has to get better soon. Hays had an eye exam today and everything looks good. He was pretty wiped out after that and spent most of the day sleeping. He woke up tonight after I gave him a bath and he did really well with his bottle. But before he finished it he got tired and pretty much passed out. It was like someone flipped a switch, one minute he was awake, the next he was fast asleep. That eating is hard work for such a little baby!

March 30

Will looks sooooo much better today. His leg looks great- almost completely back to normal. His foot is a little swollen, but other than that it looks great. His face has been really swollen over the past couple of days, but that has come down and he looks like his cute self again. He was a lot more alert today. When Matt and I came in he was opening his eyes and looking around and just seemed to generally feel much better. Such a relief!!! We should find out tomorrow when they're going to do the surgery. Hays was great today as well. His weight is up to 3 lbs. 4 oz., and he's gaining about an ounce every day. At this rate he's going to catch up to Will quickly. He was a tired boy today and barely woke up at either visit. According to his nurse, he gets pretty cranked up around 2 a.m. So we're really looking forward to bringing him home! I guess I'll be watching lots of infomercials late at night with that little night owl!

March 29- Broadway Baby

Tonight Mason met Hays for the first time! Mason can't actually go in to the NICU because he's too young, but we brought Hays up to the window. Mason waved at him and blew him kisses, and then turned around and shook his butt at his brother. Guess we better get used to such "brotherly love." We asked Mason "what was your favorite part about going to see your brother?" His answer- "drinking cherry coke in the lobby." Downright heartwarming I tell you! Will is still improving. His leg is almost back to normal and they should be able to start feeding him again tomorrow. He's been on clear fluids for about four days, so I know the little guy is hungry. My mom and I went to see him today and the funniest thing happened. There was a guy with a baby two beds down from Will- he was about the goofiest looking guy I'd ever seen, sweatpants and sandles, dorky t-shirt, the works. But the whole time he was visiting his baby (well over an hour) he sang showtunes, loudly and badly, to his baby girl. I was laughing so hard, I almost wet myself. At one point he was singing "sunrise, sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof and I whispered to my mom, "Let's start singing matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match" but she wouldn't do it. My sister had the best idea. She said when we left we should have sang "Goodbye" like they do in the party scene of The Sound of Music. I wish we had thought of that! My mom says I'm a horrible person for making fun of that guy, but I fully believe that you have to find humor wherever you can. And this guy was asking for it. I mean, come on, this is not NICU Idol!!!!

March 28

Pictures:

Hays says "Yay, I'm wearing clothes!!!"

So darn cute!!!

Will is steadily improving. Even though it's taking a long time, his leg is looking better every day. Today Matt and I took the "divide and conquer" approach to the NICU. He went up to Egleston to see Will and I stayed home to spend some quality time with Mason. I knew I had been away too long when he woke up in the middle of the night last night and called out for his daddy and his grandfather, but not mommy. So we had a fun afternoon at the park and he was happy to get some mommy time. I also needed to get up to St. Mary's twice today to work on breastfeeding with Hays. It's time for him to learn how to really do it instead of just practicing. He did really well, and I was very proud of him. He's going to start getting bottles during the day when he's awake and alert at feeding time instead of just being fed through his tube. And he can finally wear clothes!!! I got to dress him for the first time today, and he was incredibly cute. He wore a little long sleeved blue onesie with a train on it. It was a little big on him, but he looked adorable. I love the fact that he's finally becoming just a regular baby instead of this tiny, fragile little preemie. Now if we can just get Will better so he can do the same thing, we'll have them home before we know it.

March 28

Will's leg looks better today, more of a reddish-purple, instead of purplish-blue. Plus it's warm today instead of really cool, so the circulation is improving. We're still not totally out of the woods, but things are looking much better. We're very anxious for it to be completely healed, but there's nothing we can do but wait and watch. It looks like his surgery will be Monday or Tueaday. The surgeon wanted to go ahead with it today, but Will's doctor said no. Matt and I are in total agreement with her. We need to make sure his leg is okay before going on to anything else. He had an eye exam today since preemies sometimes have problems with their eyes, but his look fine. They're keeping him pretty sedated right now because they don't want him moving his leg a lot, but hopefully things will be great tomorrow and we'll be done with all this craziness. Hays is still doing beautifully. Matt and I had some good snuggle time with him tonight and I just can't believe how big he's getting!

One thing after another

So Will did not have surgery today after all. They took him into the OR, got him under anesthesia, everything was going fine. Then they tried to put an arterial line in his leg and his artery spasmed and shut so there was no blood flow to his leg. Apparently his leg turned completely white. So they had to stop and give him blood thinner to try to open the artery and get his blood flowing again. Blood has returned to his leg, but it's still not totally flowing freely, so his leg is bluish purple. They think it will fix itself and he will be fine, but they're watching it very closely. Everyone pray that it fixes itself quickly, because I really don't want to have a one-legged baby. We don't know when they'll do the surgery. The surgeon was saying they might go ahead tomorrow afternoon, but I want to make sure everything's okay with his leg before they do it. I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another. Are we ever going to get this poor little guy fixed? But tomorrow is another day, and hopefully it will b e a better one!

Think good thoughts tomorrow!!!!!

Tomorrow is the big day for Will! He's scheduled for surgery at 11:00, so everyone say a prayer for him right about then. We know that it will go well and we have absolute faith in God and the doctors, but some extra prayers can't hurt! If all goes well, his recovery should take about a week and then he'll be heading back to Athens. Other exciting news is that Hays had his first bottle tonight! He drank the whole ounce, which is unbelieveably awesome for his first time. He looked so happy and content while he was drinking it too. And he finally weighs three pounds! What a big boy. In less exciting news, Matt and I have spent $90 on gas over the past two days. I guess that's what happens when you do the NICU's of Georgia tour. The upside is that we've spent more time together, just the two of us, than we have since Mason was born. That's been kind of nice. But we'll still be glad when all this driving all over the place is done.