Thursday... Post surgery

So last night we got to see Ethan after they cleared out his room. He was sooo cute yet I felt so bad for him! His cut was very small under his left arm on his side. But he was very sedated. He is a huge squirmer. But last night he was not moving and you could pick up his tiny little hand and he didn't squeeze it and he didn't move it at all. They re-intibated him so that his tube fit better and then they had to re-tape it. Well they have to tape it snug at first so he looked like he had fish lips! Of course I asked when that would be changed... poor little man! They told us that everything went well but to expect things to go downhill for the next 12 hours and then they will go up. At least they give you a warning ;)

So after we saw that everything was good we said goodnight to our little man and went out to dinner with my mom and Matt. We found an awesome seafood restaurant on the water (Mark was wanting good seafood and I of course am always looking for picturesque places.) The food was awesome and the scenery was gorgeous. We got there right when the sun was setting. I got a few pictures that I will try to post later. I told Mark that I felt like we just conquered something major and everything from here on out is down hill. Of course he pointed out to me that things are going to go downhill for him for a little bit and then he will get better. But still... I just feel so relieved the heart surgery is over and we are on our way to recovery. I thought things were absolutely horrible in MT but now I have seen much worse. Maybe that is why we were sent to Seattle... to show me that it could be a lot worse! Either way I am praying this is what Ethan needed to get back on track to a fast recovery so we can take our little boy home soon!

Once we got back to the hotel we called the hospital to check in on Ethan. The nurse kind of stumbled over her words and then she said that the Dr. was going to call me but must not have gotten to it yet. So then she put me on hold to get the Dr. Ok so I was getting a little nervous so I passed the phone over to Mark. The Dr. then told him that Ethan's blood pressure was not good and that they needed to increase his blood pressure medication. Ok... well we knew this was going to happen... so I prayed and tried to get some sleep.

We got a call in the morning from the hospital that woke us up. It was 8:30 am! We had a shuttle taking us from the hotel to the hospital at 9! They were calling to let us know that he had a really good night and that they were lowering the blood pressure medication and he was peeing a lot. Yeah!

So we called and changed our shuttle time to 10 and then headed off to the hospital. I signed Mark and I up for free Reiki massages this morning. They have volunteers that offer the service to parents at the children's hospital. It was sooo relaxing. Mark is usually all about the deep tissue massage so I didn't know how he was going to like it but he too found it very relaxing too. Ethan was doing really well. He looked much better today and wasn't very puffy at all. They had taken him off his blood pressure medication completely by mid-afternoon. He was peeing all over things... no, not how you might think with little boys but he was peeing a lot of his fluids out he ended up peeing outside of his diapers. (Another difference between the 2 hospitals... the diapers here are huge on him! They don't fit well so this could have been why. They tell me that they are preemie size diapers like the ones in MT but I beg to differ ;)

Before we left the hospital the Dr. told us that he was tested for bacteria. It was found that there was a bacteria living inside him. I didn't understand this at first and still don't completely but this is what I got from it. It is a bacteria that Ethan has that will not cause an issue for him most likely but it is not something they want to spread to other babies that may not have a good immune system so the nurses and Dr.'s will be wearing yellow gowns and gloves while they are in Ethan's room so they can take them off when they leave his room. For us they want us to put anti-bacterial gel on our hands when we walk into his room and when we leave his room. They also told me that I should not pump in any public places in the hospital such as the pumping room (they have a nice small room with a pump set up for nursing moms), the bathroom or cafeteria. Ok... sorry it has not once crossed my mind to pump in the bathroom or cafeteria... that just screams bacteria to me but what do I know ;) They say this so that I don't pass any bacteria on to other moms that may be pumping where I do.

Mark's Uncle Tom and Aunt Carol came to visit us at the hospital for awhile and then took us out to dinner at a really nice Italian place. It was nice to get out, chat, and spend time with some family. They took us back to the hotel and we were all racked out shortly after. It's amazing how exhausted we all have been. For as small as Ethan is he sure does wear me out... but he is oh so worth it! ;)

Just some pictures I took around the area....