MIRACLES HAPPEN!!!!!

Landon is out of surgery and doing AMAZING. As my Grandma put it, I don't know why we ever doubted him, he has done the exact opposite of just about everything they predicted. They said he wouldn't be born alive and he was, they said he would be on high level vents for possibly weeks after this surgery and he will probably be off the vent in a day or two once his anesthesia wears off. The surgeon kept standing over his bed, shaking his head, and saying 'amazing.' That is exactly what our boy is, AMAZING.

Yesterday we were able to take him for his first stroller ride. I was fixated on the idea that if something terrible happened during surgery, he would never have been outside. It was a huge production but we were finally able to get him out into the hospital courtyard with a parade of me, Ryan, his nurse Barb, and a respiratory therapist. It was an exhilarating feeling. The only downside is Landon slept through the whole ride! He woke up again once we wheeled the stroller back into the NICU. At least we now know how to get him to sleep if he is cranky.

Today was a hard day. We stayed at the hospital hotel and woke up very early so we could spend some quality time with him before his surgery. We envisioned not being able to see his eyes or hold him for several weeks and wanted to cuddle with him before that. He was pretty crabby because he hadn't been fed since the night before. He just kept looking up with me with a furrowed brow seemingly asking 'mama, where is my food?' He also kept looking up at the corner of his room. Ryan said he was looking at all his baby angels who were wishing him luck and taking our prayers to God.

We had what feels like everyone in the NICU praying for him and coming by to wish him luck in his surgery. We also had large networks of pray chains all over the world started by wonderful people like my Aunt Cindy, our honorary Aunt Mary Ann, our moms Janet and Cindy, Michelle (who's soon to be a mama herself) and my little brother and Dad who must have hunted down ever priest within a 100 mile radius of them to pray for Landon. That is not to mention all of our friends and family and everyone else who has followed our miraculous story. Every once in awhile you are given the opportunity to have moments where you are touched by the hand of God. Today was one of those days.

When they came to take him down to surgery, I just wanted to snuggle him and keep him in my arms. He helped the process by snuggling in his blankets and going to sleep as they wheeled him down. I included a picture of that above, along with how good he looked right after surgery and what looks like him plotting world domination yesterday.

Surgery was only supposed to take 2 1/2 hours, but four hours later we were still waiting on news. Those were a long 4 hours. I think for anyone who has waited for something it can seem like you have been waiting forever, have always been waiting, and will always continue to wait. We finally got word that he was back in recovery in the NICU, but the surgeon had to answer an urgent page and wasn't able to tell us how the surgery went. We finally got impatient and went up to the NICU to check on him. His 'other mother' nurse Kimmy ushered me to a beautiful baby boy.

I swear he looked better after a long and hard surgery than he did before it! He was wide awake and looking from me to his baby angels. He even smiled and seemed to be in no pain! In fact, the first thing he did was take those pudgy hands and wrap them around the vent tube in an attempt to take it out. We stopped him in the nick of time and he got another dose of some happy meds. He will need the vent for a few days just to give his body some rest to heal from a major operation, but given the outcome we were expecting of months on the vent, this is no big deal. His intestines and stomach look good and the surgeons expect him to have no problems with nutrition as he gets older.

He did need to get a small tube into his stomach. This tube will be used to feed him and put in meds until he can learn to take all of his food through a bottle. The bonus to the tube is that since it goes straight to his tummy, he no longer will have a feeding tube hanging from his nose!

The surgery did show that his liver is rather battered from the effects of being fed the nutrition liquid instead of milk for a lot of his life. However, the surgeons believe that he should be able to recover from this slowly as he heals. The best part of the day was when numerous nurses and doctors came to see him and couldn't believe their eyes on how good he was doing. I think the staff of the NICU needed a miracle, some good news to confirm the awesomeness of their jobs and Landon more than provided it.

I feel so blessed to be the recipient of so many miracles in my life. I am not sure I deserve them, but will take them because Landon certainly earned them! I can't wait for all of you who have prayed for him to meet him and truly know what a special little guy he is!