Resting peacefully

Like Gary said Landon has been sleeping a lot, which is good. Hopefully it will help him recover quickly. He has been upset some when he wakes up, sometimes because he's hungry, sometimes he's in pain, sometimes it's a combination or we're not really sure which it is so we treat him like it's both. We were told he'd be more fussy after this surgery than the last one because since his body is getting used to the new flow, there will be more pressure in his head for a little while and it might give him headaches. He's on tylenol and basically a "strong ibuprofen" right now with the occasional morphine as needed.

In rounds this morning they said he will come down some on his oxygen (down to a 1/2 liter per minute, he was on 1/4 at home so almost back to "normal".) We'd be thrilled if he could come off of it completely before going home but we won't hold our breath on that. He will likely get his chest tubes out later today or tomorrow morning, at which point he'd probably be moved from the CICU to the CPCU (Cardiac progressive care unit) which is a step down unit.

When he wakes up and is hungry he gets upset pretty quick but usually calms down some once he eats. We haven't picked him up to hold him yet, not because we can't, but when he wakes up so hungry it's just not worth the extra time (and potential discomfort for him) it takes to get him out of his bed and into our arms with all the wires and stuff. I'm sure we'll hold him soon, but right now we're content to just sit him up on bed and let him eat and then go back to sleep. He got his catheter out this morning so that is one less thing that is uncomfortable.

One possibly concern is that his heart rate has been on the low side and has had times where it takes dips down into the 80s (normal heart rate for him is 110-160). Apparently this is not uncommon for after this surgery, but they did an EKG just a little while ago to make sure everything was ok and we haven't heard a result from that yet. We're glad he's just sleeping away most of the time and getting some good rest!

70 miles

We're getting ready to head up to denver and it's been a busy morning!  Landon has been doing good today but had a hard time falling asleep after his last feeding. Hopefully that means he'll sleep the whole way up! They showed us the little isolette he'll be in during the ride and it look s like he'll be cozy and safe (see pics) . I'll ride in the ambulance up front so I'll at least get to see and hear him on the way.  Prayers that he'll be calm (and sleepy preferably) and that we won't hit any snags with traffic, etc.

We'll have to learn a whole new nicu and meet a whole new staff when we get up there but I'm so grateful we've been up there once before and know it's a great hospital with a fantastic staff.  Also prayers that even if gary and I can't sleep at all today we'll at least be able to "rest" some. 

Good news that we were able to get into the Ronald McDonald house which is very close to the hospital so we'll be staying there until he gets discharged.  We had some dear friends organize a garage sale several weeks ago for us to raise money for baby and medical expenses and now that we're heading up to Denver some of that will be used for travel expenses. Rm house is technically free but they ask for a small donation per night.  Again, we are so blessed by our wonderful friends and family. We love you all!