The Next Phase- Sat, Sun & Mon

Before I even begin this post, I need to say how incredibly comforting and happy we are to be together as a family again in Isaac's room.

These 3 days seem to all blend into one. His progress was steady and really good. Saturday seemed to be his rest day. He was still trying to bounce back from 2 surgeries in 2 days. Nothing really of note happened this day.

Sunday came and he was in for some good baby-steps towards moving out of the CICU. He still had his pacer wires in. These are in place, just in case, they needed to get his heart back up and moving again. He also had two arterial lines, like IV lines, that went directly into his heart. These were placed during his big by-pass surgery. Lastly, he had his chest tube, that helped to drain any fluid or blood that accumulated as a result of his surgery.

All these lines made their way out between Saturday night and Sunday evening. The pacer wires and arterial lines came out first. The chest tube was kept in place for a while longer, just in case of bleeding that was caused by pulling out the other pieces. No bleeding, no worries, which meant no chest tube, and it came out too.

Isaac a lot more comfortable with a few less "connections".

Sunday afternoon was also a very difficult time. Lisa had been discharged from the hospital and we were planning to go home to see Emily and Isaac. It was a tough trip, especially leaving the parking garage. So sad leaving Isaac, even though he would be getting excellent care, but also wanting to go home too. Being torn between two places is incredibly tough.

Once we got home, we were making calls to Isaac's bed every hour or two to check up on him. Our night got a bit easier and even exciting when at the 8:30 call we were told his ventilator came out. He was breathing on his own! Wow, the incredible progress he was making. It was sad we weren't there to hear his crying after it came out, but I will admit that I slept better knowing he was still making great progress even when we were gone.

Isaac's owie! 

Mom loving her son from a distance.

Will you take a bottle?

On Monday they wanted to see how Isaac would do taking a bottle. With everything that goes on, it is typical for these little ones to forget how to suck and swallow. Isaac was no different. He knew how to suck, but couldn't figure out the swallow thing. He was gagging himself with the formula and spitting it back out. He will have some help from the speech therapist and we can try again. He just needs to get a little bit stronger in his mouth and throat.

Isaac is the superstar of the CICU. As the doctors, nurses, fellows, or anybody came around, he was introduced as the superstar. I have to agree, he is pretty amazing.

RANDOM PICS

His very first photo after birth.

All dressed up, ready for Isaac to come.

The life-flight nurses taking Isaac to Primary Children's