The Actual Transplant

Here are some pics from the actual transplant... It is pretty jarring to see you're baby so sedated. This is when we first saw him after his transplant. He had two drains in. Then a week later they went back in and stitched up the muscle and came out with another drain. It was still too tight to sticth everything together, so they had to include a piece of synthetic muscle. It won't ever have to come out unless it causes him any trouble as he develops his muscles. Now, he only has one drain in that we came home with. We're not sure when that one will come out.

















It's like having a baby all over again. This is when they removed the ventilator. It was actually worse when they have the ventilator in. He tries to cry and he is actually crying, but you can only see him crying. You can't hear any noise because the ventilator blocks the air from passing the vocal cords. So sad! And I was really strong and held my brave face until I heard him cry after they took the ventilator out which was 2 days later. His voice was raspy and I couldn't hold him yet. I just felt so helpless.










This is first time I got to hold him after the transplant which was about 4 or 5 days after.










And this is the first time he smiled after the transplant...which was ironically after they took all of his tubes out of his nose and mouth. I won't even begin to tell you about all the tubes and lines he had in. It will just become too confusing.