My brave baby Ben

 

  Well, the day finally came and went. Ben had his VSD repair surgery on January 17 at the Seattle Children's Hospital. I know many of you saw our updates on facebook and you were all so encouraging. We so appreciated your prayers and thoughts in behalf of our family! They were desperately needed.

  We had spent around seven hours the previous day talking to the surgeons, nurse practitioners, anesthesiologists, etc. discussing what the surgery would entail. We also had done echos, blood work, EKGs, etc. It was LONG day. Ben was allowed to eat until 3:30 a.m., and then we had to cut him off. By the time we got checked in at the hospital, the poor baby was starving. We had to get him up at 5:15 a.m. to give him a special hibiclens bath before we went in. He'd already had two the night before. The poor kid was raw! Anyway. He wanted to eat so badly, and I couldn't nurse him, so I had to have Jesse hold him. Ben's eyes pleaded with me to feed him as he cried. It almost made me cry.

  The anesthiologists came into our personal waiting room. They walked through one door, kindly took my Ben, and walked straight to the OR through another door. We felt absolutely helpless as we watched him go. He was so confused.

  Jesse and I spent the next 4 hours watching Friday Night Lights on his laptop by the gift shop. It was the only way to not think about what was happening.   



 

 

 

We were given a pager so the hospital could keep us informed. Ben was taken from us around 7:30. Surgery officially started around 9:15 a.m. During that time, they put him under and inserted a bazillion IVs, breathing tubes, heart monitors, chest tubes, chest wires, a catheter, etc.  According to the surgeon, they opened him right through his breastbone. They cut through the right atrium and went through the pulmonary valve to reach the defect. It was at the top of the ventricle chambers, right close to the aorta. They sewed a synthetic patch in just like you would sew a patch on your jeans or a quilt. Had they not fixed it, he would have gone into heart/lung failure. We were notified of when surgery started, when he was put on the heart/lung bypass machine, and when surgery was finished, just after 11 a.m. Around noon was when he was brought to the ICU and we could go see him.
  At this point, I totally fell apart. I had been fairly strong since I learned Ben needed to have surgery. I had prepared myself to get to surgery day. Apparently I didn't do so well preparing for post-surgery. I went into total shock. Literally. Pale, nauseated, almost passed out shock. I begged Jesse to drive me home and I went to sleep for a couple hours. I just couldn't handle seeing my baby so pale with blue lips and there were so many wires and tubes. His throat was scratchy and he kept gagging on the breathing tubes. If he heard my voice, he instantly started moaning and trying to reach for me. He couldn't even keep his eyes open, but he knew my voice and would reach in my direction. It was too much for me to handle.
  So like I said, I went home. I slept for a couple hours and then a fantastic friend of mine drove me back to the hospital. I was rested. I had eaten. And I was ready to take on this new challenge.

 

Left side: This is Ben several hours after surgery. He was on a morphine drip until Friday morning so he was in and out a lot.

Right: By Friday afternoon we could finally hold Ben. Jesse and Ben settled in and watched PBS kids to pass the time. It broke my heart that I couldn't get Ben to smile.

 

I stayed the night with Ben on Friday. I woke up at 5 a.m. to the stinker trying to climb out of his crib. We hadn't raised the sides yet and he was dangerously close to toppling right out of the crib. No one had expected him to be so energetic already! I was honestly shocked how fast he bounced back. I'm still shocked. We definitely had to keep him on Oxycodone and Tylenol for a few days, but the kid was unstoppable. Sometime on Saturday they removed the chest tube. That alone provided us incredible freedom. 



 

 

Grandma Larsen was amazing and came to take care of the girls while Jesse and I were at the hospital. We were so grateful for her help! On Saturday she brought the girls to see Ben. He was SO excited to see them!! He waved hi and started squealing as soon as they came in. And they were very sweet with him too. 

We were given the okay to go home on Sunday. Honestly, I don't think we could have contained the kid much longer. He was crawling all over his crib and my bed.  As long as he had pain meds, he acted like nothing happened. We can't pick him up under his arms still for four more weeks; we have to scoop him under his bottom. We got to stop his nasty heart meds on Monday and he's weaned himself from pain meds a lot this week.
  Ben's surgery did go amazingly well. The surgeon expected it to take three hours, but it went so well that they were done in two hours. Everything from the surgery to recovery has been all too perfect.  We can definitely see the Heavenly Father's hand in this. We know that it all went so well because of the prayers from family and friends, and I cannot express how grateful we are to those family and friends, and especially to our Heavenly Father for watching over our sweet boy. I honestly expected Ben to be a zombie for three weeks, but the kid is totally back to normal. I was grateful to have my mom here so I could take Ben to his post-op appt. His cardiologist says his heart sounds perfect. Everything is perfect. :) I'm not gonna lie, I kind of miss the whooshing sound that his heart used to make. It was so different and unique. But I'm unbelievably grateful that his heart pumps a boring ol' lub dub now. :)

Grandma Jenkins grabbing one last hug.

 

 I'm so grateful for grandmas! Thank Grandma Larsen for being here when Ben went through surgery! Thank you for giving the girls the funnest week ever and for allowing us to just take care of Ben. Thank you for cleaning and organizing my house, cooking dinner, making cookies, etc, etc, etc. We couldn't have done it without you!!
  And thank you Grandma Jenkins for saving me after Grandma Larsen left and Jesse went back to work!! We had a spectacular time hanging out at home, talking, shopping, and partying with the kiddos. Thank you for helping with Ben, constantly cleaning, reading to my girls, doing my laundry, and staying up late laughing. Ben even turned one while Grandma was here. Maybe one day I'll post those pictures.
  And thank to everyone who offered to help us! If anything, we learned from this experience that we are not alone. We have friends and "family" in Washington who will be there for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you my heart sings.