Well, I was planning on updating everyone about surgery, life, etc, but we got an exciting call from the doctor this morning! Welton is officially off oxygen and the apnea monitor!!!!!!!! Words cannot express my excitement when I was able to carry him from one room to another, without lugging the monitor and wheeling the huge oxygen tank behind.
Ok, let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
On March 27th, Benjamin Welton Tuinei was blessed, with lots of friends and family there to support us. 17 worthy priesthood holders stood in the circle with my husband, to give Welton a name and a baby blessing. It was one of my all-time favorite moments. I sat outside with the baby until it was time, and we lugged him and all his equipment to the chapel. After, we went right back out, and I got a couple surprises! My friends Amanda and Brooke from Arizona (now in Utah and Seattle) were there, and my cousin James and his family made it. Trisha and Aaron left their own kids at their church to come! It reminded me of my Chuck E. Cheese days, when people would drop off the kids to play and go across the street to Bennigans for dinner :) My parents and my brother Matt were able to be here, and Ben's parents and all the local brothers and sisters came to the blessing and/or the luncheon at San's house. Shelly, Welton's NICU gramma also came! I know there were others, and I'm so glad everyone made it! Here's what it all looked like :)
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| Getting ready for church! |
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| Gramma Shelly |
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| Amanda, Brooke, Baby Dub and me. |
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| Afterwards. The weather was perfect that day! |
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| My family (Matt, Bob & Ronnie, Cousin Mike, Aunt Clara, Cousin James & his wife Marianne & kids). |
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| Immediate family + the Snows |
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| Nana and Welt |
March 30th, Welton went in for his hernia surgery. His belly button and right boy part were both repaired. The surgeon found a tear in the left boy part, so he fixed that before it turned into a hernia. He also removed a pocket of water that had built up, but that was a very small problem. Welton came out of the anesthesia very quickly, and was back on his regular schedule after only a few hours. We spent the night in the hospital (mandatory for infant who have surgery), and after a very uncomfortable sleep, came home with our beautiful, repaired baby. His follow up with the surgeon was this past Tuesday, and he said the baby has healed beautifully. A small pocket of water has formed in the right boy part, but it's not harmful and doesn't cause pain. Doc says if it's not gone in 6 months, we'll get it taken care of, just because the swelling isn't good for him. Other than that, he's perfect.
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| Just a little too long :) |
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| All ready for surgery! |
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| Recovering, just chillin with Daddy |
I will say one thing for not circumcising a baby boy...it's much less messy. Before, pee just went down. Now, it's a freakin fountain! We had Welt snipped a week after the surgery, and he peed ALL OVER Ben as soon as we got home. It. Was. Awesome! And messy. But, the surgeon said the pediatrician did a wonderful job!
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| Just watching some t.v. |
And today, I got a lovely call from the nurse at baby's doctor. Saturday, we did an overnight oxygen saturation study. Wednesday, the nurse called and said that his O2 was still below target 8% of the time, so he recommended we stay on a little longer. Today, the nurse said that was a different doc, because our doc was out of town when the results came in. Our doc said "that's MUCH better than it was, and he's free to be taken off the oxygen and apnea monitor." YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!
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| No more tubes, wires, or cords. That's one happy baby. |
So, besides getting huge (almost 12 pounds now) and smiling all the time, that's about it. I will try my best to keep up with the blog, but it's hard to care about when all I want to do is stare at him and hold him all day. I'm sure all the mommas and daddys out there can understand.
We love you all! Ben, Heather & Welton the Great
