Post Op and Santa

Gosh, it has been over a week since my last post. I will not even lie this mama bear is tired. Shout out to all the parents out there - this stuff is tough! Even though we don't have him home yet we are tired. The hospital days are long and they are wearing on us, physically and emotionally. We just want to get our baby home!

People have asked more about Jack's surgery so I thought I would go into a little bit more detail. As most of you probably know babies have to pass certain tests in order to leave the hospital, especially the NICU. Due to the swallow test and having a bit of trouble getting food down with a bottle is the reasoning for the GI button that Jack had to get. The button will allow him to get all of his nutrients so he can continue to grow. We are not sure if he will have this as a temporary solution or forever. Regardless, he will get the food he needs and we are both happy that he can still have my milk! We updated through Facebook that his surgery went well and we are so thankful for that. It was a stressful day even though this surgery is very common. Jack did have to undergo anesthesia, which made this mama's heart weary and anxious. But like I said, all went fine and the doctor was very thorough and nice.  The button is not as scary as we thought and although this isn't normal this will be our new "normal" for the foreseeable future. Jack has to be on continuous feeds for 6 weeks to make sure we do not overload his stomach. Once we get through this hurdle/milestone he will eat every 3-4 hours just like any other baby. The good news is Jack is healing well and we are on track to leave the hospital soon - there is a light at the end of the NICU tunnel! I can't get myself to actually put the date the doctor gave us in writing so we will let y'all know once it is 100% set in stone. We are thrilled with this news though because we are very ready to start our life together at home. It's not going to be easy, but parenting isn't in general right? Our hearts are ready to love on Jack even more at our own house, in our own environment. It's going to be hard without the nurses giving him 24/7 care and attention, but it's time.

 The day after he got off the ventilator from surgery and he finally had nothing on his face

A light to our week was visiting with Santa! We cannot say enough thank yous to Plano Presby for taking care of our sweet Jack and bringing Santa to his bedside was so nice. It gave us a sense of normalcy for a few minutes. Even though Jack slept through the whole thing I was so happy to get a picture of him with THE Santa Clause!

SANTA! I know him!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support! We are still so overwhelmed with gratitude and like we have said over and over we can never express our thank yous to everyone enough.  Our baby Jack Evans is SO VERY LOVED and we are so grateful for that. 

Love, 

Paige, Kyle and Jack