Happy Birthday Liam!

Liam Shaw Camper made his entrance this morning at 6:51 weighing 3 pounds, 7 oz and 16.5 inches long!  It has been a whirlwind of a day and we are finally getting a chance to rest and catch our breath.  But first, here's a picture of the cutest little boy in the world (slight bias)!

From the last post, Liam wasn't scheduled for delivery until sometime after 9:00 AM today.  However, Allison was having trouble getting comfortable and around 5:30 she sat up for a little while to get comfortable.  This caused Liam's heart to drop significantly for too long a period and the doctor's had had enough.  Luckily, things calmed down enough to allow Allison to remain awake for the C-section and did not have to be put under.  This allowed them to just do a spinal tap, so both of us were allowed to be in the OR when they did the delivery.

A 6:51 the doctor yelled "Surprise!" and he was whisked off to be stabilized.  After a few minutes, Ian was allowed to go back to the stabilization room to see him and snap a few pictures.  Liam has a good set of lungs and didn't have to be put on a ventilator.  They were concerned about his lungs not being strong enough but he proved them wrong and has since been breathing just air under a small amount of pressure.  He's been sporting a stylish "diver's helmet" while in the NICU for the CPAP that provides just enough pressure to his lungs so he doesn't have to work too hard to breath.  Other than that, he's pretty much breathing without any problems.We've been down a couple of times to see him and spend some time with him in NICU.  He just melts both our hearts whenever we see him.  Ian's been wearing a smile all day today.

They've been working to make sure he's stabilized down in the NICU and it appears he'll be ready for his surgery to close his spinal opening.  He's had a little trouble regulating his temperature and his sugar has been off a little today, but that's to be expected for a baby born two months early.  He's been squirming, screaming, pooping, and peeing like any good little boy and we couldn't be happier.

Liam's surgery is scheduled sometime in the late morning to early afternoon, depending on how the surgeries before him go.  We've met with the neurosurgeons and anesthesiologists and they've given us a lot of good information about what they plan on doing and what we can expect.  They said the actual surgery will only take 30 minutes to an hour, but there will be a lot of time in there to make sure he's prepped, stabilized, and his temperature remains stable so it will probably be 3 to 4 hours total.  In all honesty, we think we're more comfortable with what to expect with his surgery than we were this weekend when so much was happening with his heart.  I guess we've had enough time to prepare ourselves that nothing really new is being thrown at us.  It would be nice to have a more definitive time, but we're thrilled that they'll be able to do it so soon after he was born two months early.

We are hoping to finally get some rest tonight.  Allison is recovering fairly well and they've been managing her pain fairly well that she hasn't been in too much discomfort; mainly when getting in and out of bed to visit Liam.  She's looking forward to finally being able to shower tomorrow, but she'll also be a lot more sore tomorrow as well.  We're going to get up early enough so we can see him one last time before his surgery.  We'll post another update tomorrow after his surgery is complete and he's on his way to recovery.