We came home yesterday & we have our baby back, yyeeaahhh!!!! Let me tell you he is a ball of fire. He must feel absolutely wonderful b/c he is going going going. This morning I was thinking I needed to get ready to put him down for a nap and when I looked at him he was just playing and smiling, a week ago by 9am Nate was ready for a nap no matter now late he woke up. But not today, he just wanted to play with his sister and brother and be busy so I put him down around 1 and he slept until 4:30, how great is that???? It doesn’t even feel like we were at the hospital just a few days ago waiting for Nate to get out of surgery. When we were in the ER and the Neurosurgeon came down and said he was going to do the surgery that night, I was kinda taken aback. I asked Dr. Warf if he was going to wait til morning and his exact words were, “I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I wait b/c I don’t know if he will be ok”, wow, talk about words knocking the wind out of you! It was then that I realized that this was real and it was happening soon. When we got up to the surgical unit it was very eerie b/c it was completely quiet and everything was cleaned up from the day. We were all alone with just a few nurses and while we waited I whispered softly to Nate how much everyone loved him, I also told him what to dream about. He just looked in my eyes, it was very very precious and I can’t believe I wasn’t crying but I think both Jay and I knew that he needed the surgery and it was out of our hands so that made it somewhat easier. Thankfully the wonderful nurse anesthetist gave him some drugs so that he wouldn’t be upset when they took him from me, had he been crying then I would have been crying along with him. But when they took him he had this goofy look on his face and he was actually smirking a little. We have so much support, while Nate was in surgery my sister Patty showed up (from vaca 4 hours away), my mom and nauno Leo, mom mom and poppy and grand poppy Bob and Phyll, and b/c it was so late at night the nurses ended up letting everyone come back to see Nate in recovery (usually only the parents are allowed) before they took him to the floor. It was hard seeing him right after surgery b/c he was just crying and crying but after a few minutes in my arms he settled down. I remember after his first shunt surgery I cried when I saw him and didn’t even know how to pick him up, but his time I scooped up my baby and just cuddled him. His incision is a lot bigger than the last time but I expected that b/c the doc told us to change out the valve he had to go longer.

The entire time we were in the hospital Brie and Matt were at their Aunt Beth & Uncle Greg’s house having a great time! It was perfect b/c Aunt Beth asked the kids to have a sleep over and they were so excited they completely forgot that their mom and dad took their brother to the ER “to have his head checked” (we didn’t tell them about the surgery, they would just worry so there was no point). The next day daddy picked them up and took them home and told them about Nate. Brie seemed to be ok & Matt kinda understood but when Nate and I walked in the door and Matt saw his head he started to cry, so of course I started to cry. Matt loves his brother just soooo much and has so much empathy for him, how could I NOT cry???? Brie loves her brother just as much but Matt seems to have this bond with Nate that Matt created before he was even born, I think it started the day we told them, “it’s a boy”! I think seeing Nathan acting like himself again sort of helps the kids understand that the surgeries he has had help him even though it looks like they are hurting him. I can’t even imagine what they are thinking, we are always honest with the kids which is why it was soooo perfect that they stayed at Aunt Beth’s for a fun sleepover with their cousins. Jay and I didn’t want to be in the position if we spoke with them that night to have to say that Nate was ok or tell them he was going into surgery. We didn’t want to lie to them but on the other hand we knew that they would worry if they knew, but b/c we have such great family the situation never even came up, THANK YOU GREG & BETH!!!!!!!