Be still, and know that I am God.

The big day has finally come. It's been 14 weeks since Drew's first surgery. It was a very long procedure, but things went very well. He left the NICU about 8:30 this morning. Surgery actually began about 9:30, and he was back in the NICU just before 4 pm. As we had hoped for, he was able to have a primary repair, and didn't need to bridge the gap with colon. The surgeon did have to stretch the esophagus some, but the best case is for him to have only esophagus.
Drew handled surgery very well. The only complication was when they had to stop to clear some mucous out of his airway. Since he's been out of surgery everyone that came by to check on Drew has said that he looks great. Surgery is very hard on the body, so I guess relative to other babies he looks great. He's a little pain, and battle worn, but good.
In order to make sure that he doesn't move too much and open the repair site he will be medically paralyzed for 4-5 days. Because that makes it so he can't breathe well, he'll have to be on the ventilator during that time as well.
Explaination of the tubes: The tube from his nose goes down to his stomach and is holding the esophagus open. The one from his mouth is the ventilator that breathes for him. He still has the G-tube in the left of his stomach (it's hard to see in this picutre). The red tube from his right side is a chest tube that drains fluid from the surgical site to prevent pressure build up. He has a central line for IV nutrition and medication in his right thigh, and and IV in his left hand. He also has a catheter in, because he can't urinate while paralyzed. You can also see the monitor on his right foot that measures the level of oxygen in his blood, and the blood pressure cuff on his left leg. By watching his heart rate and blood pressure they know when he's in pain and needs more medicine.
It was a very long day for Ryan and I, but we are grateful that Drew will now be able to eat and swallow his saliva. This was the biggest step in the journey to him being able to come home.
We feel very blessed in all that has happened.