The Newest Bench

We became the luckiest parents of James Erick Bench on Thursday, March 29 early in the morning. He was 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 in. long. He is the cutest baby ever as far as we are concerned. The nurses tell us so too :) When he was born he went straight to the newborn special care unit (NICU) due to the heart defect that was found via ultrasound in November. He was given an echosound shortly thereafter that confirmed the defect which was aortic coarctation - or a pinch in the aorta. The valves in his heart are also a little on the small side, but so far they are working like they should. We got to go visit him in the NICU and they let us hold him kangaroo style (skin to skin). That was good for mom as well as little James. He was given prostaglandin to keep the ductus arteriosis (I think that's what it was) open until they could perform the surgery. It kind of made him a little grumpy, but he always calmed right down when mom or dad got to hold him. The nurses took excellent care of him when we couldn't be there. It was heart-wrenching to leave him there alone, but we were comforted in knowing that the angels were there all around.
Monday - the surgery was performed to correct the coarctation. They went in through the side under his arm rather than opening the chest - which was a good thing. They had to move the lung to get to the heart as well. The surgery went well and the doctor - who is oriental - told us, "I did good job." :) He said he was able to cut out the pinch and sew the ends back together with no problem. James was moved to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) for recovery. One of us gets to stay the night now and that is a little better.
Tuesday - He got the breathing tube removed and is now just on a little bit of support oxygen just in case. They found that the lung was still collapsed from the surgery when they did a chest x-ray. They turned him on his side to drain off some fluid and that seemed to help. He took his very first bottle and sucked it right down. We tried to give him another one, but he spit most of it back up. Poor kid. They gave him some medicine to help with a sour stomach and reduced the feeding portion and he hasn't spit up since. He gets mommy's milk in a bottle and he likes it :)
Wednesday - Today they found that there was air outside his lung on the chest x-ray. This is called pneumothorax. He doesn't seem to be in any distress from this but we really need the air to drain. The chest tube he has is supposed to do that, but for some reason it wasn't working right. They repositioned the tube and did another x-ray. It was a little better, but we are still waiting to see what happens. He can't take another bottle until after the next chest x-ray just in case they need to put another chest tube back. He likes to eat and wants to, but for now he's sleeping peacefully and hopefully the air is going where it needs to. We will find out in about another hour what is going to happen next. This type of thing is not common, but it happens sometimes because of the type of surgery that was done. James is still breathing beautifully and doesn't seem to be in any distress because of the air. He also got his umbilical IV line out. Hooray for one more wire gone!
James is handling all of this like a champ. He's pretty even-tempered and likes to be sung to. Every day he gets a little closer to coming home. He is our little miracle and we are so grateful for all the prayers that have gone up to heaven in his behalf. I'll try to keep you all updated in between the feedings and pumping and sleeping, but I can't promise. If you want to know more then please don't be afraid to call or text. I promise you won't be a bother because if I can't answer then I won't :) But then I can remember to call you back.
Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers. We are definitely feeling them and every day something good happens.