It's Wednesday, and after a busy first few days I'm finally finding time to provide a more complete description of baby James and his adventures since Saturday!
James Mathis was born at 5:41 pm on Saturday: 6 lbs 8 oz, 20.5 inches. He was awake, wiggly, alert and open-eyed. He spent approximately 10 seconds in my arms before being whisked away by his eager pediatric team: at least 14 doctors and nurses witnessed his birth as they waited to meet him.
An hour later, prenatal and cardiac exams performed, James' pediatric cardiologist Dr. Dayton came to find us and update us on his status. He's healthy and perfect in every way except that his oxygen levels were struggling (as expected) and the medication wasn't kicking in (not expected) - so the surgery planned for day 2 or 3 was moved up to immediately. His surgical team assembled with amazing speed and took him into the operating room an hour later. Peter and I got to visit him for a few more minutes before they started. The goal of this surgery was to insert a plastic tube, a shunt, into his chest to connect his heart and lungs and allow the passage of more oxygen to his heart.
By 3 am, the surgery was complete and he was resting and available for his dad to go visit again. He spent his first two days attached to a slew of wires and tubes, swelling up from the surgery (a natural and expected side effect) and adapting to life both as a newborn and as a heart surgery survivor!
By yesterday, day 3, James was thriving and had been weaned off a number of the medications and sedatives he'd been given. For those still being administered, the dosages have been lowered. He was regaining consciousness, blowing bubbles, opening his eyes, and wiggling his hands and feet. Today, day 4, he's looking forward to possibly losing the breathing tube and be breathing fully on his own :)
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