It's just me today

Well, as we mentioned yesterday, Ryan is going to start staying at home with Caleb and I will be coming to the hospital. So it's just me today here. It was kind of lame because I got a migraine walking into the hospital and have been napping this morning a lot. I think the stress finally caught up to me, or maybe it was the let down of not being as stressed as I have been all week, or maybe the lack of sleep from not being able to sleep through the night anymore! Who knows, I always have a ton of theories as to why I get my stupid migraines.

Well my Little E is doing awesome today! What a fighter, his mommy is so proud! Rounds didn't occur until 11:00 today, which besides my migraine is why I didn't update this earlier. But the Doctor thought he was doing well. So they took out his larger central drainage tube after rounds, along with the electrodes that were still in place to shock his heart back into rhythm, which I don't think they ever needed to use after his surgery. His nurse, Becky today, said that older kids report that larger drainage tube actually being the most painful thing after surgery so hopefully Eli will be feeling better now.

They also reduced the support of his ventilator. They had to reduce his pain meds, as he's on morphine and it inhibits the ability to breath on your own, being a narcotic and all, so I am hoping he is still comfortable. He seems to be right now, so I am not very worried. So before, his breathing tube had been essentially breathing for him, and he had the option of initiating breaths, or not, and then if he didn't the ventilator would initiate it for him. So, for example, yesterday he was awake for awhile when they took him of the sedative, and then I think he just wore himself out and as they call it, rode the vent while he slept. But they have essentially turned that function off and now it is acting more like a CPAP machine where it pr0vides him with oxygen but doesn't breathe for him. If he does stop breathing for longer than 15 seconds, as he still has some apnea, then the machine will initiate a breath. But I haven't seen that happen yet. He does stop breathing for a few seconds but then self corrects himself. I think the breathing tube is the largest concern I have right now just because it looks so uncomfortable, and when he's awake, I can tell he is not a fan of it. Plus hopefully once it comes out I will be able to hold him again. And we can start feeds again too, which is a good step to going home.

So slowly but surely we are making some amazing progress! And to be honest, not even as slowly as I was expecting. What a strong little guy. Me, being the glass half empty person, still gets concerned that there will be set backs (I learned with Caleb that setbacks can hit you very unexpectedly, so I am preparing myself this time around for that) but I am also hoping that because of all the prayers and support that my little guy will just keep cruising until I can take him home!!!