11:15pm: We got into the hospital this morning and Reid was wide awake as the nurses had just finished giving him a bath. He was still in quite a bit of pain and was flailing his arms and legs in the air. He was using his right arm to try and rub his eyes and suck on his fingers, but his arm is taped to a board to keep the IV in good shape. Since this posed a threat to injuring himself, they had to use soft restraints and keep his arms tied down to his legs. He has some movement of his arms, but not much. What pained us the most was that this prevented him from rolling to his side --- which he loves to do to comfort himself.

I was able to give Reid his pacifier this morning and he quickly went to town on it. As I was talking to him, I noticed that he stopped sucking, let the pacifier fall out of his mouth and gave me the biggest smile. It nearly brought tears to my eyes to see him in so much pain and discomfort, but still have the strength to give his father a ear-to-ear smile. Talk about making my day! That one smile is the only one that we got today and at times had tears running down his face with no noise. But that one smile made today a better day than yesterday - a step in the right direction.

As the day went on, they stopped the ativan drip and started him back on the normal bolus doses that he had been getting prior to surgery via g-tube. His fentynol drip continues to ease his pain and keeps him fairly sleepy. He didn't seem to be as agitated when we left tonight and from what we have heard from the night nurse, he has had a pretty quiet evening thus far.

His feedings were around 25cc per hour and are supposed to go up by 5cc every 4 hours until he gets to full feeds. I think hunger may have been a part of him being upset this morning as well. He knows what it feels like to have a full belly and getting a continuous feed probably doesn't give him that satisfaction.

Kristen and I are still in awe of how different he looks without the nasal cannulas on his face -- he looks like a much older baby. I am sure this newness will wear off with time, but it is sure nice to see his entire face! His nose has taken a little bit of a beating from the CPAP and nasal cannulas that he has worn since birth and appears to be a little squished and enlarged nostrils, but we assume this will fade with time as he grows.

Reid has had quite a few visitors today. Four of his nurses from the NICU have stopped by and my parents were able to see him on their way out of town.

No pictures to post as it isn't really a pretty picture to see. His bandaging/padding has a little dry blood from surgery and his neck is being squished pretty tightly as they do not want his trache to come out within the first 7 days. He also has some sutures taped to his chest that are present to help open his stoma in the event of an emergency. Those will be removed next Tuesday assuming things go as planned. He also has two IVs - one in each arm. His circumcision doesn't look pretty and now understand why they usually do this when they are first born. Anyway, long story short, I probably won't post any pictures of him until we get the first trache change and we are moved back into the TICU next week.

Kristen and I are very proud of him. He remains one tough little guy and know that he has proven himself time and time again. We have no other expectations of him other than to keep amazing us with his strength. It brings tears to my eyes every time I think about what we have done to him, but the three of us will get through this bump in the road. And as we have learned over the past nine months (born 9 months ago today), the journey through the NICU and on his final leg towards home is nothing short of a roller coaster ride and I am sure we will have more ups and downs in the future.

I thank every one of you again for your continued prayers and support. We couldn't have made it this far without them.

9:00am: Reid had a stable and quiet evening last night. He is still heavily sedated and they did not make any weans on the ventilator. Keeping his pain in check for the first 24 to 48 hours is their primary goal. They did, however, go ahead and start feeds at 5cc an hour on a continuous feed. The maximum will be 42cc per hour until he gets back on the bolus feeds of 125cc every 3 hours.

Kristen and I will be heading in late this morning to spend the day with Reid. My parents are going to head back to South Carolina today but will make a pit stop at the hospital to visit with Reid on their way out. Kristen and I didn't want any visitors to see Reid yesterday as he was in so much pain and wasn't a pretty site to see. Today, hopefully it will be a different story.