Crying, Loving & Laughing

Whoa! It's been three weeks. Next week our son Xan will be one month old... Where did the time go? I remember a little. Okay... you caught me in a lie. You all know I've been logging every single second I can into my already full brain of every movement, smile, cry, coo, and gaze that I exchange with my son. He's the most amazing being I've ever met...insert loving... I can't believe we brought him into the world. Yeah... first time parents...insert the biggest love... July 16th, 8:38pm; 7 pounds and 3 ounces; 20.5" long. All ours...insert crying (tears of ultimate joy) here...

My day to induce my labor quickly became my actual due date. I went into labor on my own at 2am Monday morning. My contractions were quick to become regular and close together! I was sure my labor was going to be short... Insert laughter here... 18 hours later we had Xan in our arms. I didn't have to have the c-section, I did have an epidural and we had a crazy roller coaster like first week. Xan was born with the testicular hernia in place and very swollen. A neo-natal doc from Colorado Springs came down to check on him and the hernia was well... gone. Apparently, Xan stretched out and hernia went back in. Quite common place. However, with 20/20 hindsight, the hernia would return every time Xan would tense his belly... insert crying here... and cause him significant pain... insert MORE crying... causing his parents to wonder what the hell they were doing wrong. Because we thought the hernia was gone. That's what we were told! How were we supposed to know these things come and go as they please?

The routine of Xan crying because of normal things like hunger and diaper and security, turning into wild crying because of pain was breaking our hearts. We had an appointment to see a doctor in Denver on Wednesday the 25th of July about his hernia. Well, that wasn't soon enough. Oh lordy. It was a disaster. We didn't know what to do. We fed him a lot of gas drops. I tried to feed him too much... And finally Wednesday (the 25th) at midnight we took him to the emergency room because something clicked in our heads and we checked his diaper. Wow... his hernia was back and with a vengeance. It was huge!! Poor little guy!! The ER doc couldn't do much. Xan's pediatrician was the one who made the appointment we were to have... John had had enough. He made a snap decision and packed up the car at 3am. We drove 3 hours to the emergency room at Children's Hospital in Denver. We were both exhausted. We took turns driving one hour each at a time.

We were admitted quickly and Xan had surgery that afternoon at 130pm. There are a lot of details in there with poking and prodding and crying and surgeons and urologists meeting with us. But frankly I was exhausted then... and I'm exhausted thinking about it now. I spent my own time in the ER that evening as well... dehydrated, exhausted, blood pressure through the roof... insert A LOT of crying here...

The important part is that Xan's happy and healthy again. Children's Hospital is also the most amazing hospital I've ever been to. The kindest people and the greatest care givers you can hope for are at every turn. I don't care who you're speaking with from registration to the bedside nurses and docs. Everyone was incredible to Xan and to us...

That's our baby... insert laughing here... We've been having the greatest time since his surgery. It was a lot of pain for the little guy. And we can see that his personality is shining through! xoxo