Surgery Success

Today was the longest and most trying day of my life.  At 5:30 this morning Matt & I went to the NICU to hold our precious boy 1 more time before he went into surgery.  At about 6:30 they wheeled him down to the OR where we said goodbye and gave him one last kiss before surgery.  I was quite proud of myself for holding it together until the very end when they wheeled him away.  Then the waiting started.  At 3:00 we got a call from the OR saying that Callan was coming off bypass and that the surgeon would meet with us in 1-2 hours.  At 10 minutes to 5 the surgeon came in to debrief us about the surgery.  The surgery was a success.  They ended up doing the simplest of the 3 options, which is what we were hoping for, which means that they did not have to do a valve replacement.  They still had to do 5-6 different repairs with thousands of stiches and a few patches, but if recovery goes well it means no future surgery!!!  I foolishly thought that the hard part was over, but I was so wrong.  When I saw my baby boy after surgery, I was filled with such an overwhelming mix of emotions: relief, joy, sadness and fear.  I can't explain how hard it is to see your baby with such a multitude of tubes, a breathing tube and his chest still open.  I could literally see his heart beating.  I think it hit me because although his heart is fixed he looks like a very sick baby.  But, we are on our way to recovery.  He is doing very well and will continue to be monitored very closely over the next several days.  Right now, we are hoping that the bleeding in his chest will subside overnight, so the doctor can close his chest tomorrow.  I will keep updating daily.  Please continue to pray for a quick recovery.  We are so ready to bring our little man home, but want to bring home a healthy, happy boy.  Thank you all for all your continued support.