Friday and we're out!

Henry is a rock star! 4 nights in the hospital following his Glenn procedure. Dr. Hardy called the hospital this morning to get them rolling on getting us discharged.  Thanks! We spent from 6am to about 1pm getting this and that done to get out of the hospital.  Xray, blood labs, echo cardiogram, it goes on and on. Paperwork! Then finally we are out!  Henry really perked up after getting home, having a nap, eating, and sponge bath. There's pictures here. There's some from before his surgery and some after. We'll be going home Saturday or Sunday!

Henry the Happy Hypoplast

That's the name of the kids book we are thinking of writing. (Patent pending, publishers.. call me)

He's doing so amazing!  His surgery was on Monday and they are planning on discharging him tomorrow (Friday)!  All of the things that were attached to him came off so fast.  Before he even had to get annoyed with stuff.. off it came.  I'm down on the "floor" with him tonight.  He's on tylenol and oxycodone alternating and we're trying to hold off the the harder stuff.  The morphine was over with yesterday.  Seems like his pain is coming down to a manageable level.  He's pretty subdued but slowly getting more active.  I played with him tonight and he liked to play with his pacifier and his feet.

1 more night in the ICU

Only because they didn't have a room to move him too. They expect him to move today (Thursday).  He had a great day Wednesday. Really improved. He ate a bunch from me and looked around and made good eye contact.  He should be even better today! We're not over at the hospital yet since Liam was up a lot and then went back to sleep. We head over soon.

Great progress!

Henry is getting out his chest tubes and central line IV!! He's very puffy headed but doing great.  They said tomorrow he'll move out of the ICU.  Sure seems like he is on a quick path out of here. Lets hope he keeps doing so well.

Status update

Henry got his breathing tube out last night.  His head and arms are swollen just as they told us would happen.  Not as bad as last time.  Still hasn't been awake enough to eat yet.

"It has to get worse before it gets better"

Henry sailed through his Glenn procedure with relative ease.  Dr. Permut said everything looks great.  I know they did a great job but it is so hard to see your child who was perfectly happy and healthy get all banged up.  He looks so much better than after the first surgery but still bad.  He wasn't marshmallow white.. actually his color was great and his incision looked good.  But he has a breathing tube, chest tubes, 3 IVs, sensors etc...
the ICU team is taking care if him tonight and will work on getting him off the breathing tube and probably feed him some pedialyte or milk in the wee hours.  Recovery is fast from this surgery they say... I sure hope so.

Henry is in the OR

He was so good this morning. Happy Henry all morning and didn't even complain about being hungry. He has to fast before surgery just like adults... except most of us don't cry about it.  He's being prepped and the surgery should start in earnest soon.  Should be back in cardiac ICU maybe around 4:30 or 5pm Seattle time.  I'm sure that everything will go fine. He's such a strong boy!

Underway

Henry is off.  He did so great over the night. I just picked him up while sleeping and fed him bottles so he got food right at the food cutoff times.  He drank a pedialyte bottle at 4:15am and was amazingly happy getting up and out of the house.  He was so happy this morning even without a morning meal.  He slept through all of the prep talk with anesthesia and nurses...etc Just at the last 5 minutes he started to lose it and cry a lot.  Then we sent him off and they put him to sleep and do their work.  So not so bad.  Now we just hang out. Then we'll have to do it all over again on Monday for the actual surgery.

Oh what a night

Well, we're here in Seattle for Henry's 2nd surgery. We're staying with cousins Matt, Christine and baby Dylan, who have taken us in.    This is the Glenn procedure for those who are curious.  Tomorrow morning at 7:15 we need to be at the hospital which means we can only feed him milk up until 2am.  After that we can give him water or pedialite. So woo! We'll see how those wee hours go.  This will be for an initial heart catheter.  His Glenn was moved up to this Monday the 22nd.  That works for me. Let's get this thing done with.  I'm excited to see his improvements afterwards.  So, everyone send the prayers and good vibes for those days.

The day before tomorrow

is today.  The kids are all doing great!  Henry has been so happy lately.  I'm so glad he's feeling good.  He doesn't throw up every day like he used to or even at all anymore. He eats great but still eats less .. maybe 1 to 3 ounces but has always at least gained an ounce a week.. He is nearly 12 and a half pounds at 5.5 months.  A good bit smaller than his brother who is surely over 16.  This Wednesday we leave for Seattle for his 2nd surgery.  I hope it doesn't set him back too much.

Liam is now excited to eat food! He used to throw fits about it and not want it but he has finally figured it out and is now packing in cereal. He's tried banana, pear, and yams.

Lydia is comfortable with the boys and likes to entertain them, jump for them, hug them, pet them, sing for them, talk to them, and talk and talk and talk.  She is also really excited to start reading.  She has been able to read about 30 or so flash cards with people's names and words on them which is amazing.  She wants to be able to read books so we are trying to teach her words as soon as we can... which seems effortless for her.  She'll be 3 in April.