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Wow! What a day! Jamie and I woke up at 3:45 this morning, left the house at 4:15, and were at Vanderbilt at 5:20 ready to go. I was taken into surgery right on time at 8:00.

Anderson Knox entered the world at 8:38am. They held him up over the curtain for me to see, and then took him to the other side of the room where a team of pediatricians were waiting to check him out. It took him several minutes to start crying, but he did finally begin to cry. Shortly after, we were told that he was struggling to breathe so they were going to take him to the NICU to give him some oxygen. Before they took him, they put him up to my face so I could see him and give him a kiss -and off he went.

Jamie and our family members all got to go see him throughout the day, but no one has gotten to hold him. I finally was able to get out of bed and get wheeled down to the NICU so I could actually see him around 4:30. I know I am a little biased, but he is absolutely wonderful. His complexion is perfect, he looks just like Karlie when she was born, and he has dark hair under his little cap. He is beautiful!

His breathing seems to be getting better. He isn't struggling so hard to breathe. He is on a C-PAP (?) to help his breathing, and he has a feeding tube down his throat, although he is not being fed any formula yet because they are afraid he will aspirate it due to his breathing difficulties. He has 2 IV's- one in each hand, and an oxygen monitor on his foot. They have drawn blood from his foot several times also. It is absolutely heart wrenching for me to see him lying in that little bed, so uncomfortable, and there is nothing I can do to help him. I can't even pick him up and hold him. Although it did melt my heart when he started crying and when I began to talk to him, he immediately quit crying and turned his head my direction. He definitely knew his momma's voice.

He is not in critical condition. It could be much worse. But I don't thinkI had prepared myself for breathing difficulties. As far as his brain goes, they did an ultrasound on his head today, which confirmed what the fetal MRI had shown- Absence of the Corpus Callosum, a small cyst, and a build-up of fluid. However, no one has mentioned an immediate need for surgery to have a shunt put in. They are going to keep measuring the circumference of his head to see if the fluid continues to increase. They have also done tests on his heart, kidneys, lungs, and some other organs to see if any other organs have abnormalities along with the CC missing. So far our understanding is that everything else looks good, but we won't get official results until sometime in the morning.

We don't know how long he will have to stay in NICU, or in the hospital at all. I should get released on Friday as long as I keep doing as well as I have today. So far I have had very little pain at all. I feel really good, which is an answer to prayers since I had such a hard time after my c-section with Karlie. I'm not so sure about leaving the hospital without my baby...I know lots of people have had to do this, but I can't stand the thought of leaving him here.

Again, thank you for all of your prayers and support. Jamie and I are blessed with such wonderful friends and family. Please continue to pray for Anderson's health and that he will be able to come out of the NICU and be with his mommy!

My head is bobbing with exhaustion so I guess it's time to shut down and try to get some rest. I will continue to post pictures and give updates as they become available.

Andrea