T Minus 3 Days

We go back into the hospital Wednesday morning for Drew's surgery on Thursday. They need to get him in there a day early to do some tests to make sure everything is ready to go once hes reconnected and to do some pre-surgery work - weight, height, vitals and the like. I know that at some point either on Wednesday night or very early Thursday morning they will require that he stop eating. Thats gonna be hard because hes gonna be miserable, and hes such a happy baby. I'm going to have to see him on IV's again, crying and uncomfortable while a million different people poke and prod. But its all a means to an end. With the completion of this hospital stay, we will be beginning our new lives as a family. It might not be the old "normal" but we will get to start to define our new normal. We will deal with the CF however we need to, but my nemesis, the ostomy, will be gone. With all of that in mind, its still not going to be easy to take him back.

When he was in the hospital the first time, before he was ever at home, we sat vigil at the hospital. Martin spent the night every night, and in the morning his mom relieved him so that he could go to work. She stayed there until about 1ish, when I went in for my shift (the best part of my day). I came home for dinner with Martin and Ella, so Martin's mom went back until about 10pm when Martin returned for the evening. We'll run a similar schedule this time. Its particularly important to me that someone be with him all the time now because he knows us now. He recognizes my smell, he smiles when we smile at him, he knows us.

I know that this is a good thing. Its something that we've been talking about and looking forward to for a long time, and we're still looking forward to not having to deal with the ostomy. But its not going to make taking him back any easier. I didn't get him a pretty cool hospital outfit though that says "Chics dig scars". I'll post pix, and an update on how things are going as their going. Keep us in your prayers on Wednesday and Thursday!