Catch up post...Paxton's surgery

I am super behind in blogging. I am going to go ahead and post some pictures from Paxton's surgery. I am so very thankful to have all of that behind us. Here's the short version of our experience:

The surgery lasted almost 7 hours. Several wonderful people from church came and sat with us in the waiting room. Mom and Dad were also here for the surgery. It really helped us get through the waiting time. As a parent it was pretty brutal. I have never been apart from Paxton for seven hours. Not even close to seven hours. It helped so much to have people sitting and visiting with us. It really helped the time pass. Thank you so much Mom, Dad, Doug, Betty, Jeanne and Shannon for being there with us. You will never know how much it meant.

Dr. Aldana said that the spinal cord moved up about 1/4 of an inch when he was able to release it from the lipoma. This was evidence that it was already putting quite a bit of strain on the spinal cord. We are so thankful that we found this so early because it probably would have caused Paxton some serious problems. They had to remove two bones in his back for the surgery. The doctor was able to place one of them back in. I wonder what he did with the other one? :)

Paxton did so well that when he came out of surgery he did not have to go to the PICU as had been planned. After time in recovery he was able to go to a regular room. It was very difficult to see Paxton when they brought him back to me. You'll see from one of the pictures below how swollen his face was (they had warned me that this would happen so I knew it was normal).

I stayed with Paxton in the hospital and Greg was there as much as possible in between being with the kids. Mom and Dad were so helpful keeping everything going smoothly at home.

After only 4 days in the hospital we were able to come home. The biggest challenge after surgery was that we had to keep Paxton off his back for 3 weeks. Not easy to do with a 4 month old! He also could not be in a car seat for 3 weeks. That was also not easy to do, but we made it work.

God has been gracious to us and 3 months later Paxton is as healthy as can be. I look forward to getting my blog updated with pictures of my AMAZING family and the fun we have been having the past several months.

Enjoy the pictures...many more to come in future posts!

Before surgery

Cute baby hospital gown. I should have taken his diaper off so you could get the full effect!

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Look how swollen my little baby was when he came out of surgery. Yes, I cried...wouldn't you???

Recovering with Daddy

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Feeling so much better!!!

Incision 2 days post op