Heart Surgery.......Shmart Shmurgery

Well, good news! At about 5:30 pm tonight the heart surgeon called us and told us that they would like to do the heart surgery on the babies at 6:30 pm. Short notice, huh? Well, we actually prefer it that way. No time to worry about it more than necessary.
We got to the hospital at just before 6:00. They had the babies all prepped for the operation. They actually do the surgery in the ICU room right in their own beds. They just shut the doors and don't let anyone in until they are done. Both of their beds were all layed out and open so we got to kiss and love them and be really close to them. I actually got to hold Dawson a little bit. (well as much as you can hold a baby with a gazillion little tubes coming out of it's body.) It was awesome. Ryan and I really felt excited and very much at peace. This is a huge step for them to get past. Ryan had another opportunity to bless the babies and gave them such a neat blessing. We really know that the Lord is very mindful of us and these sweet babies. We also know that the Lord is very aware of our breaking points and will not give us more that we can handle. We have learned so much about faith through this so far. These babies will be okay and everyone that knows them will have their faith strengthened through this experience! It has been amazing to us to see prayers answered so openly. We also feel all of your support and love and I can't tell you what that means to us! Thanks so much!
Anyway, at 6:30pm they gave us the boot. It was time to start. We had been briefed on the risks and were very confident that everything would be okay. For the surgery they gave the babies some very heavy sedation. We thought that it was kind of funny that it took 3 times the normal amount to get Mallory under. She has her daddy's resistance to pain meds. After the babies are sedated they cut a small insision right below their arm pit. Then the go in until they find the PDA. This is actually an artery that goes between the aorta and pulmonary artery in their heart. At birth this should close off and the blood actually then finds a new route. This didn't happen with either baby so the surgeon places a small titanium clip on the artery to shut it down. Then they just stitch them back up.
At about 8:30 pm tonight both babies were done with their surgery without a single problem, of course! They will both rest for the next 24 hours heavily medicated. Then they watch them to see when they are ready to come off the ventilator, which should be in the next 2-3 days if all goes as planned. This is such a huge step because once that is done they start to feed them through their little tubes to help them fatten up a little. We will also be able to hold them a little bit, which is very exciting.
These babies have come so far in the last 11 days. They are blowing the doctors away, with what they have overcome. We know why they are able to heal so quickly and are so grateful for this blessing! A wise person :) told us that although this is hard we wouldn't want to trade a minute with these babies for anything. She was right! We love them so much and feel so blessed to be their parents. We know they came when they were supposed to! It is all in the hands of the Lord and we are glad for that, that's for sure!
Ryan has a couple more pics to post, but it is quite late and we are going to bed. He promises to get them up tomorrow. Thanks again for all of your love and support. We appreciate that so many of you are following this because it allows us to sit down at the end of the day and get it all out. Plus it is so much fun to brag about our cute little babies!!

Love, The Lindstrom Family