10:45pm: We had somewhat of a short visit with Reid tonight. We got to the NICU around 6:30 and Kristen held him for about an hour before we put him back up to go to bed. We went to dinner in the cafeteria and came back up and he was sound asleep, so we let him be. He was a little fussy tonight and had a hard time settling down so we didn't want to wake a sleeping baby. I don't think he was in pain, but maybe a little uncomfortable.

We did have a nice visit with the surgeon this evening. We discussed the three procedures and the risks associated with him. He will most likely be wheeled to the OR shortly after 8am tomorrow and will be sedated and intubated right before surgery. He will also be given Versed that will prevent him from remembering the intubation as well. The surgeries will all be done laparoscopically and the nissen procedure will require 5 small incisions -- one in the belly button, and 4 more in his abdomen. After this is completed, one of the incisions that is used for the nissen will eventually be where the g-tube is placed to avoid needing another cut. His hernia surgery will require two small incisions (between a half to three-quarter inch) on both sides of his groin. All procedures will take about 3 hours. When asked, the surgeon thought that this procedure would be less painful and invasive than the PDA ligation.

Reid, at a minimum, will be on the vent for about 2 or 3 days. When they are ready to start easing him off the heavy pain meds and he is is starting to become aware of the tube in his throat, they plan on extubating him and not give him the chance to fight it. They know how well he does not do on the vent and they have seen the progress he has made over the past few weeks, and are willing to take a risk of him coming off the vent rather quickly. When extubated, he will most likely be put on 6 to 8 liter flow (roughly where he is now). They know that 16 liter flow didn't do much for Reid and also know that higher pressures in some cases may have caused a higher CO2. Overall, we are pleased with the plan for a quick extubation - this is what we are most nervous about.

About 2 days after surgery, the surgeon will come and remove two stitches that are needed to bring the stomach up to his abdominal wall. When the g-tube is inserted, the abdomen needs to be butted up against the stomach so that it can go straight in. Over a period of about 8 weeks, the stomach will actually fuse against the abdominal wall, at which time they will then replace his g-tube "button" for the first time. We will be trained on how to change it in the event it falls out or when it is routinely changed about every 2 to 3 months.

After surgery, Reid will be wrapped tightly with his legs close to his body to help prevent the legs stretching out his abdomen and helping with the pain. The small incisions for his nissen should heal quickly, but will take a good 3 weeks for his hernias to look somewhat normal. There is quite a bit of swelling and the surgeon mentioned that it will probably look like the hernias are out and the surgery was not a success for a couple of weeks. Over time though, the swelling will reduce.

We are not anxious about seeing Reid on the vent, but we are anxious for this surgery to be over with. We have had this hanging over our heads for the past several months and it will be nice to put this to bed. And speaking of bed, it is time to see if we can fall asleep. I know we have a lot of nervous feelings right now, so it will probably take awhile for our mind to quit racing. We have an early morning tomorrow and will probably get to the NICU about 7am in time for him to be prepped to be rolled into the OR. My parents are supposed to be coming down tomorrow morning to come keep us company in the waiting room. However, there is a chance of winter weather and may force them to stay put.

Let God grace our surgeon with graceful and steady hands tomorrow and let Reid have a speedy recovery in the next few days.

3:30pm: Reid's surgeries are set for 8:20am tomorrow. He has been visited by anesthesia and looks like things are set for tomorrow. I have still not talked to the surgeon but understand that he is stuck in the OR for most of the day. Perhaps we will see him tonight when we are visiting Reid?

His hernias came back out around 2:45 this afternoon and he, again, woke up screaming. The doctor was easily able to get them back in after a dose of morphine.

Speaking of doctors, February is gone and March has arrived. With the new month, a new attending doctor is on the floor. This month is Dr. Moore, who treated Reid back in December. It will be nice to have a familiar face back again.

1:15pm: Reid was wheeled down to radiology to have a couple of preliminary procedures done prior to surgery. First, they wanted to see what Reid looked like so the surgeons could be prepped for tomorrow. They also performed a small procedure where they insert dye into his stomach to confirm if he has reflux -- indeed, he does.

Kristen and I were worried about how he was going to handle this trip downstairs, but the nurse said he did great and was looking all around and was very curious. I guess when you have spent 6 months of your life confined between 4 rooms (2 in each hospital), a change of scenery is probably welcomed.

When his hernias are not out, he is a happy baby and this afternoon has treated him well.

The doctor who is going to perform surgery tomorrow is someone we met back in December when Reid was originally supposed to have his hernia repair. We see him in the hallways and in the NICU all the time and have heard nothing but great things about him, so we are more than excited that he will be the one who will be operating on Reid tomorrow. I am supposed to receive a call from him later this afternoon to discuss the procedures so I have already started writing down some of my questions in preparation. I starting to get nervous about these procedures and I want to make sure that I don't forget to ask something...

Anyway, no news on the time yet, but I am sure I will learn more after the conversation this afternoon.

8:30am: A rough night for Reid last night. His hernias keep coming out and it takes morphine for him to be able to handle the procedure for them to get them back in place. They have been able to get them reduced every time and he calms down enough to fall back asleep and then wakes up screaming again when they come out again. Long story short, they have stopped feeds and have put him on the surgery list. They are not sure when it will happen, but should hopefully be by tomorrow.

We were able to ride a week's worth of good times and now we are to face another uphill battle. He will have his hernias repaired, his nissen and his g-tube placed when he goes under. Unfortunately, we are going to be dealing with the ventilator again and we will have to start the weaning process all over again. But to look at this in a positive way, he came to Egleston in the first place to get his hernias repaired. We will finally have this under our belt and he will be that much closer to coming home.

The slightly good news is that even with all of this pain, his CO2 was 52.

I was supposed to fly to DC tomorrow morning but I will be cancelling that trip. Not a fun way to start off the week...