Elias' Ongoing Saga...

Well, Elias Jackson Stewart was delivered (removed from me) at 12:37 pm December 10th, the surgery went well and he was out and screaming pretty quick. Travis and I got to hang with him for a little while in the OR while the doctors were sewing me up, and then Travis and Eli left for our room. I got back there not long after, only to discover that Eli was having trouble breathing. About 20 minutes later, my worst fear was realized when he was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit (nicu). Today is the 17th, one week later, and he is still there. I was sent home on Sunday, the doctors kept me as long as they could in spite of my quick recovery, hoping Eli would be ready to come home too. But, right now we have no idea how long he will be in there. I don't think I will write much right now about all this, it is without a doubt the hardest most stressful thing I've ever experienced. When Isaac was in the nicu, that was almost as hard, but this is worse for two reasons, one, if I sit at the hospital all the time with Eli, I feel like I'm neglecting Isaac, two, when I leave the hospital, I don't have my baby in my arms. I'm leaving him behind with strangers night after night. And poor Isaac, what an introduction to big brotherhood. Anyhow, I'm sure y'all want to know why Eli is in the nicu. It took several days for the doctors to really agree on what was going on with him, but from the beginning it seemed apparent that his lungs had not matured properly. Within a short time of birth, he blew enough of a hole in his left lung to leak air into his chest, causing what's called a neumothorax. This became the immediate concern but was pretty quickly resolved by removing the air with a big needle so he didn't need a chest tube. However, with his lungs not quite developed, he still had to be on oxygen but since the neumothorax was a concern, that oxygen couldn't be forced into him with any pressure, so he ended up under this big bubble for his head. He was under that for at least two days and we couldn't hold him, or really even see his face much. Then he came out of that and we got to hold him for a day, then he had to go under the phototherapy lights to prevent jaundice for two days, so we didn't get to hold him much, or see his eyes much. He got to start nursing, only a couple of times a day, two days ago, and that is going to be a challenge, for both of us, after such a late start. But, I'm determined so I know once he's home it will get easy. Yesterday, he came off his IV, and today he is weaned down really close to being off oxygen. But, the doctor and all the nurses talk like he's going to be in there till next year it seems. That's how I feel anyways. We have no idea at this point when he will be home. All we can do is put everything on hold, live an insane schedule of home, work, hospital, and pray and hope we have our baby home soon.
I apologize, especially to Grandma and Great-Grandmas (that would be Isaac and Eli's) for not calling or updating more often! I've been at the hospital most of the time most days, and right now its tough to call people because I get so emotional trying to talk about all this. Please bear with my slacking!