Please welcome...

Evan Reid Mehring-Lopez to the world!




He was born today at St' Josephs at 4:53 AM!!! He weighed in at 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 inches long! HUGE BABY!



The tough news is that he has heart problems. I mean I had tgo follow an ambulance from the baby ICU @ st josephs to the CICU at childrens hospital and Emily was forced to stay at st joes as they could not realease her yet. Its been a crazy fucking day.

Basically his aorta is so narrow at one point (like a venturi only it isn't speeding anything up) that no blood is passing through and his lower body cannot get the blood it needs. Luckily there is a vein that is acting as a natural bypass at the moment but this vein is designed to go away after birth and will basically desintegrate if they stop the IV's they have running for him. He also has a small hole in between the left and right ventricles he should not have and depending on mixed factors, that may need to be patched. He also has a vent between two of the chambers ( i can't remember which) that is supposed to have 3 flaps but only has 2. This will not be dealt with but we will have to watch him as he gets older to see if this will even effect him as the doctor says there are most likley millions of people who live with this everday with no problems at all.


Surgery is scheduled for thursday mid morning-ish and there are 2 possible surgeries.The first and optimal surgery would be to simply cut the narrow section out and reconnect the aorta simply making it shorter. This procedure would take about 2 hours and have around 7 days recovery. This is a very safe procedure.The second option involves stopping his heart and putting him on a resperator and a machine that runs like a heart while they do extensive work on both the aorta and the small hole in his heart. The second is open heart surgery and would take 5-6 hours to perform. The deciding factor on these two choices has to do with where the aorta is becoming narrow. If it is only a small say 1cm section of narrowness then it is option 1. If the aorta is tapered and is narrow for a longer section (a few inches or so) then option 2 is it.

I doubt this makes much sense with me typing this out but if you google coarcitation it should all make sense. I just had to get this out there. As with any surgery, especially open heart surgery, there are risks. These are not the most complicated surgeries in the world but any surgery on my baby is a huge deal. I should also mention that other than these heart problems everything else looks perfect! In that pic he was about 2 minutes old, he is a little cuter now and the greatest thing I have ever seen!


I just wanted to let everyone know where I am right now. Needless to say no HPT for Danny this year! I am only hoping for the best for my son right now! I am sure your support will be overwhelming!

Danny, I'll be sending you the best vibes around. Stay positive and remember, good energy and karma go a long way. As risky as any surgery can be, it does sound as if the docs have a really good handle on what's going on, and Evan's going to pull through like a champ.

Mondogarage wrote:Danny, I'll be sending you the best vibes around. Stay positive and remember, good energy and karma go a long way. As risky as any surgery can be, it does sound as if the docs have a really good handle on what's going on, and Evan's going to pull through like a champ.

I could't be happier with the care he is receiving here at childrens hospital. This place is truly world class. I feel very fortunate to at least be able to provide the best healthcare possible for my boy right now!

First off, congratulations Dad!

I know the surgery you are speaking of as my sisters daughter had the same issues and had surgery last fall. The doctors at Children ARE excellent and know how to handle this promptly while Evan is still young. It's best that they find this while he is still an infant as the risks for complication go up with age. You are in good hands with the pediatric staff at Childrens and I know all will be well.

Congrats on the baby. I hope all goes well.

If you ever need a place to stay while on this side of town, please don't hesitate to give me a call. We have a spare bedroom if needed (or if you just need to get away). I have now through Sunday off this week in case you need a place just to get away.

I remember being in that place, it's scary, but it's also the most amazing feeling ever.

Congrats again!!

Congrats on the arrival of Evan. Your life will make an amazing turn from this point forward. Also, I'll keep positive thought for a fast recovery. He's in great hands there at Children's.

Wetdog wrote:Congrats on the arrival of Evan. Your life will make an amazing turn from this point forward. Also, I'll keep positive thought for a fast recovery. He's in great hands there at Children's.

+1

Children's is awesome, he's in great hands. Thank heaven he got his mother's looks

He looks tough as nails Danny, just a little bump in the road. My thoughts and prayers are with you - keep us updated!

Thanks for the support guys! And Keith thank you for the offer! I just might have to get in touch with you at some point but for now we are setup with a sleep room. That is a very nice offer Keith.


Thanks for the support again! I am sure all will be well!

Hey all...I know Danny and Emily are very busy and have thier minds where they should be (making it to HPT Danny?...lol). But since I'm still recovering from my back surgery I decided to make the drive up to children's to see how they were doing. This was the first time I met Emily and was glad to see that she was doing well. I have to say that they seemed in great spirits and very optimistic about Evan's procedure tomorrow. Here is a link to his myspace page that has a great write up for anyone interested and it was updated this morning.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=73136449&blogID=376047926

Knowing that they are preoccupied, I wanted to let everyone know that they are doing well, hoping for the best and they know Evan is in some of the best hands and will be well taken care of. Danny...Keep us posted as you can and best of luck tomorrow for Evan.

Kieth I just wanted to let you know that it meant a lot to see you today! It truly is nice to know people care so much about our little guy! Thank you for stopping by man!

Also sorry you couldn't see the little guy, he is in the CICU and they are pretty strict up there. I can understand why, sitting up there I have heard and seen some not so great things. Once they move him from CICU you will have to come see him. Thanks again man, and good luck with your recovery!


A quick update. They are doing the open heart. The doc says 3% chance of a problem so I am glad we are doing the surgery at childrens and not on pokerstars

Update: Evan is going into open heart surgery in a little under 2 hours. They will be repairing the coactation, reconstructing the arch of his aorta, and fixing his VSD (murmur). They will be stopping his heart and putting him on a heart and lung machine and going in through his breast bone to do this. It should take 4-1/2 to 5 hours to complete. The doc said a 3% chance of something going wrong which is pretty good.


Just an update. We are just glad to get him fixed up.

Fingers crossed, and looking to hear good news this afternoon!

We've (wife and I) got Evan in our thoughts. Keep us posted!

Our hopes and prayers are with you and your family, Danny.

Just remember it's Childrens Hospital giving you those odds and not pokerstars!

Keep us posted on the progress.

Danny has been updating his myspace page and I thought I'd post his latest update there for everyone here.

Surgery almost over!
Current mood: ecstatic

So the nurses have been giving us updates periodically and we just got a good one! Esther (one of the nurses) came out with a big thumbs up and said "he is off of the heart and lung machine!" Great news! She said they are getting good rythyms from his newly repaired heart and thus far things are looking great! He should be out of the O.R. in an hour or so and then back into ICU so me and Emily can see him. He is going to be very wired up and shoud have a breathing tube for a few days. It will be hard to see him like that but it is still great news!


We hope to get and update from Danny when Evan is out of surgery.

Thanks you for the updates keith! I appreciate it!

The surgery is over now and I finally was able to see my boy. He is attatched to tubes and Iv's and wires... I must admit I got a little woozy and lightheaded when I saw him first. Still though the docs say he is doing fine and this is all normal. These next 24 hours are going to be some of the roughest in his life but we made it over the biggest hurdle about as smooth as possible and I am grateful. I am so grateful for all of the support, the doctors, and the hospital. This is such a humbling experience, it has been so surreal, I don't even know where to begin. Thank you all for the kind words, thoughts, and prayers. Em and I appreciate it more than anyone could know!

Also if you want to keep updated Keith posted a link to the blog I am keeping up on myspace! Click it to get all the info on whats happening. It's much easier to give my friends and family a URL than to tell the whole scenario from a to b ot every person who calls so all are welcome to check it out! Thats why it is there!

Glad to hear that he's come out of surgery and doing well. Obviously the next 24 hours will be important and we are still hoping for the best and keeping you in out thoughts. Keep us posted and we look forward to positive updates.

Everything is going great! Here is a pic of what he looks like right now:




A little scary but he is actually doing great! They are removing the breathing tube, a few chest tubes, the belly button cathater, and his urinary cathater. This is incredible news as they initially said it could be up to 3 days before they took anything off of him. He is a fighter.

Also everyone says he looks like his daddy and no he isn't a chubby baby he is just incredibly swollen in the after surgery pic. He will be back to his perfect newborn form shortly as everything has gone great!

It has really been a surreal couple of days. Thank you all for the kind words, it really has meant a lot. I also can't forget that we are not outta the woods yet but these last few days have been incredibly humbling.

Here are a few pics from before the surgery:

Me cutting the cord


Em, me, and Evan


Mama and baby before surgery


Little Evan, sleeping like, well, a baby.


Once again the kind words mean a lot. I have been updateing my MySpace blog constantly as Em and I have about 1000 people who all want to know what is going on so I have been routing everyone there. You can check the blog @ http://www.myspace.com/nathanial_merriweather . Time now to finally try and relax a little. Between the ambulances, surgeries, and general craziness of childbirth I think I have gotten 5 hours since the 7th. Just an update!

Thanks for the updates -- we'll see you in about 72 hours after you wake up. :-)

Evan looks like Neo in that first picture, so you know he's going to grow up to be The One.

It's a wonderful thing when small miracles happen in the world, ya know?

This is great news!!

He seems like a fighter. Just like taking down tourneys with just a few chips left on the table.

Neo from the Matrix, lol, I was thinking the same thing. "I know Kung Fu"

Get some rest man and again a big congratulations to proud mama and papa. You have my cell phone number so give me a call if you need anything.

We need an update from our little fighter!!! Hope all is well and Evan gets to come home soon.

Let us know if you need anything and continued strides for him!

Sorry guys! We have just been spending as much time as possible with the little guy! He is doing excellent! The docs have had him on the bottle and almost all of the tubes are out of him! Only the cathater in his neck and the IV in his foot remain! The nurses are saying he should be moving to a more recovery oriented area of the hospital today because in thier words "Evan is doing great and no longer requires ICU care!" This is some great news!

Emily and I do want to thank everyone for being so supportive through this extremley rough time! I did want to mention how awesome this facility is! The cafteria is the best I have sen anywhere and I mean anywhere. I also realized that every room has its own xbox360! Craziness! It's nice here!

Once again thank you for the support and concern, we appreciate it! Evan is doing great, we are just getting him into bottle feeding as he didn't have a drop of food until his 5th day of life so he has to learn to suck but other than that he is doing just fine! Thanks guys!


Now someone needs to host a game later this month! Lets get some cards in the air to celebrate!

Glad to hear Evan's dong well! Yes, they are awesome over there at Children's.

Update:

After 11 days in the hospital we are home! It is amazing how tough the little guy has been. 9 days ago he had open heart surgery with his heart stopped and cut open and now we are home on little more than some anti-biotics to prevent infection and some oxygen to help his heart heal!

Just wanted to update everyone! 11 days sleeping in the hospital and finally we can sleep in our own bed with our baby at home with us! It feels great!

PoWdA wrote:Update:

After 11 days in the hospital we are home! It is amazing how tough the little guy has been. 9 days ago he had open heart surgery with his heart stopped and cut open and now we are home on little more than some anti-biotics to prevent infection and some oxygen to help his heart heal!

Just wanted to update everyone! 11 days sleeping in the hospital and finally we can sleep in our own bed with our baby at home with us! It feels great!

That is awesome man, congrats. Keep us posted with pics!!