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This is a picture of James in the NICU the day he was born. I didn't think it was possible to hook so many wires up to such a tiny little body. We didn't think we would get to hold him very much, but we did and loved every minute of it. I'm pretty sure he did too. 

This is what he looked like right after the surgery. The breathing tube was taken out that night around midnight. We walked in the room and our tiny little baby was at the top of a huge bed. He had an IV in his neck and a board on his little hand to keep him from bending it and reopening a cut from where they tried to put another IV. He was on morphine and later Tylenol to help with the pain. Day by day they took off another wire and IV. When we got to bring him home he only had a few bandages left. The wires were all gone and he didn't even need anymore Tylenol. The doctors said that patients heal a lot faster when they go home. I suppose that's because there aren't anymore nurses getting vitals every so often. The only thing we had to do when we came home was to not get his cut wet and make sure he was eating well. 

These are pictures of James from this morning.No more bandages except for one little steri strip! They look different just because of the lighting. Hard to believe the surgery was done only 2 weeks ago. It feels like forever ago when he was born even though it wasn't. I didn't think I would have any tears left after that week, but somehow we lived through it. I know it was because of all the prayers of our friends and family. It would have been a different experience without them. We are so grateful for the doctors and nurses who do what they do so that we could have a healthy little boy despite his heart defect. We will go in for check-ups once a month to make sure everything is growing and functioning properly, but other than that we just get to look forward to the normal baby happenings. Since he's been home we get the privilege of changing diapers, rocking him when he cries, changing his clothes when he spits up, and just holding/staring at him when he sleeps. If I didn't need sleep I think I would just hold him all the time.