My Hero

...is my strong, resilient, amazing 5 week old.  

Spencer pulled through surgery #2 like a champ.  It was a very long day.  Surgery wasn't scheduled until 4:30 pm and didn't get started until 5 pm. Needless to say, Artie and I were balls of nervous energy all day long. Spencer went NPO (stopped eating) after his 5 am feeding this morning and did pretty well the whole day until about 1 pm when he wanted food! The doctor came in and told us what he was going to do and we walked with our little man down to the OR before giving him kisses and watching him go through the doors. The surgery took 2 hours-what a long wait-and when the surgeon appeared in Spencer's NICU room where we waited and said that he was great and it went perfectly...well, everything after those words is sort of fuzzy. Basically, things looked good when he got in there. He didn't have to take much more of the intestines out (just a tiny bit at the ends) and there weren't any hernias to correct! Spencer may have a slight problem with his colon down the road, but the surgeon didn't seem that concerned about it and we'll deal with that if we have to. 

In the meantime, we wait some more. Spencer won't be eating for the next few days to give his intestines a chance to heal from being put back together in two places. He was taken off the ventilator right after surgery and already on room air when he got back to his room-which is huge (not his room, the progress)! He also was maintaining his temperature without being on a warmer and, thanks to a small blood transfusion during surgery, his blood pressure was good. I was a very happy mama because I got to hold him once he got back after surgery-which is something I didn't get to do for a few days after his first one. They ran some fluid through his intestines before they closed him up, and it went where it was supposed to go. I cannot wait for a poopy diaper instead of a poopy bag! He was also trying to go to town on his pacifier-so good sign that he was already hungry and wanting to eat. He won't get to come home until he is up to full feedings again and maintaining his weight.

On a sad note, I am in mourning over the loss of my Blackberry today. In the fog of trying to get to the hospital this morning I misplaced it and it is nowhere to be found. I believe I may have set it on top of the truck and did not retrieve it before we left, oops. Now I'm forced to use an old, regular cell phone (not good for texting) that we had laying around the house until I can get another. RIP my pink curve...(which took with her a lot of pictures of Spencer and Avery that I cannot get back).

As a final note, my little brother is officially Private Jacob L. Redwanski of the U.S. Army. He had his physical and signing today down in Indianapolis. He leaves for basic in November and then heads to Fort Gordon in Georgia for his 20 week job training with computers. We are so proud of Uncle Jake!

Thank you so much for all of the continued thoughts and prayers:)