Pre-Op Day - Part 1

Pre-op day began early today. Liam was due for a feeding at 5 am, and the techs came at 6:30 to take blood. Thankfully I was up and ready for them. I spent the morning holding Liam and feeding him bottles; feeding Liam bottles is our job right now. Lauren came from home around 11:30. Liam heard her walk in and immediately brightened up and looked around for her. We've been through morning rounds with the cardiology team - complete with nutritionist, social workers (they're for us more than Liam), resident, fellow, and an attending.

Now it's more bottles to keep Liam's metabolism strong. The doctors tell us that babies who are eating well just prior to surgery get off the ventilators more quickly and generally recover faster. Here are some pictures of Liam and Lauren sharing a feeding.
 

This is our tech for today, Hakim. He takes Liam's vitals and brings him bottles. Hakim played football at Duquesne and is now a fire fighter in the DCFD at Station 39 - the busiest in the city. All of the techs and nurses here at Children's are incredible, they all love working with kids, and they all love Liam. We'll post more pictures of them over the coming days.

The surgeon will be by soon to talk with us and go over how tomorrow will go and exactly what time Liam's surgery will be. Apparently the surgery takes about four to five hours in total. Surely those will be the longest hours of our lives.

Thanks again to everyone for the well wishes. Lauren and I are remaining strong under the circumstances and are trying to keep the vibe positive for Liam. The staff are all excellent and reassuring and they help us with some levity at times as well.

Until next time.