Surgery Update - Day 3

We arrived at the hospital around 8 am on Thursday and it's a good thing we did because a lot happened right at that time.  Our ICU nurse said that he was NOT happy when she arrived for her 7 am shift.  So much so that they gave him pain meds and he was still screaming!  Finally, they fed him more formula and he instantly settled down (ha, that's our kid).  The Doctors did rounds shortly after we got there which we always like to see because they come by the ICU bed and all discuss your case.  It was clear that Dex was ready to move down to the regular floor but they wanted him in the "step down" unit because they wanted to monitor his blood pressures a bit more and the step down unit had a lower nurse to patient ratio (just so he could be more closely monitored).  As they were talking, a different ICU Doctor (from the night shift I presume), came up behind all the doctors and loudly proclaimed "This kid.  LOVES.  HIS. FOOD".  Mark and I died laughing.  Then he said "he's a man after my own heart".  When I chatted with him later he told us NOTHING was settling him down until he randomly said "hey, give me that bottle" and he instantly quieted once they gave him more food.  He was floored.  All in all, the Docs said he was doing great. They also approved him getting more feedings, 3 oz every 3 hours.  Thank goodness!!

Shortly after rounds, one of Dr. Fraser's nurses came by and she initiated them taking out all of Dex's main lines (the line in the leg and the chest tube).  She said when they took those out, we could HOLD HIM!  Finally!!  I was so excited I could barely stand it.  Taking the tubes out was painful for him and they gave him a bit of morphine to hopefully help.  As soon as he was ready, they placed him in my arms to feed him.  Amazing.  He was still a little out of it because of the morphine but of course he sucked down his bottle. :)

After all of that, we waited around for a long time until his bed was ready in the step down unit.  Finally, around 3 pm we moved.  The rest of the day was quiet.  Our new nurse monitored his blood pressure and after they did rounds later in the afternoon, they said they could take him off all of the monitors.  Now he only has 1 IV port in (which they will leave in until he's discharged just in case) and an O2 monitor on his foot (which he LOVES to play with, hence the orange socks on his feet now courtesy of the hospital).  He can move freely around his crib now!!

Each day is a step closer to going home and we just can't wait to get discharged so we can try to get back to some normal routine.  We couldn't ask for him to be doing any better -- we are so proud of our little guy!!!

This was taken before they removed the chest tube and line in the leg.