The Norman Nest

On This Day.... We CELEBRATE the birth of our precious son one year ago. We REMEMBER the shock, fear and panic that grabbed and twisted our hearts the moment he was born. We CELEBRATE incredible doctors, specialists, and others who by doing their job excellently ensured our son's safety during the first days of his life. We REMEMBER the fog, the weight, the emptiness of dreams crumbling around us and the sting of eyes that have cried out all their tears. We CELEBRATE that at the end of our dreams our God is still good. We REMEMBER the days when we couldn't touch him, the weeks of the ventilator when we could see him cry and cough but not hear his voice. We CELEBRATE having him in our arms (heavy, awkward casts and all) and the joy it brings us to hear him laugh. We REMEMBER walking past his room and wondering if he would ever come back to it...  wondering if our home would ever actually be his home. We CELEBRATE no unexpected hospital admissions since June a...

They say there are pro's and con's to everything and having the same surgery twice within 12 weeks is proving to be no exception to that rule.   The Pro's We remember what it was like last time so we are able to make helpful adaptations to our recovery plan.  For instance... *We got more drugs to come home with this time.  And we have not been bashful about using them.  Better pain management = more smiles + more sleep = better for everyone. *We knew what to expect and truthfully, it's been even better than we thought in terms of how Nathan is recovering.  He has had less nasua from anestesia still in his system, he's weaning off the hard meds more smoothly, etc. The Con's *A certain someone we all know and love was MAD to wake up and find himself in casts again.   And I mean MAD.  Little Man would lose. it. most of the time he was awake for the first day and half or so.  That wasn't so fun. However, now that he has realized they are here to stay,...

4:45am - alarm goes off - get dressed, packed, and head to the hospital 6:00am - pre-op check-in. Apparently, Nathan is somewhat of a morning person (he gets this from his dad) 6:15 - 7:45am - pre-wait-wait. This is where we try desperately to amuse Nathan and keep him from thinking about getting hungrier and hungrier by the minute. This mission is best accomplished by taking a ridiculous number of pictures. 7:45am - 1:00pm - Wait. Wait. Wait. 1:00pm - Meet our little fighter in recovery.  Can't hold him yet, but he's recovering well. 4:00pm - On the floor recovering. Finally getting to snuggle. His big sister can't wait to come for a visit after dinner and after that the rest of the night will probably consist of trying to soothe Nathan and begging the nurses for more medicine :) He's been a trooper but definitely seems to be in a lot a pain and is pretty anxious about the casts being back on. It's hard to see him so upset - if he only knew that in four weeks, havi...