Pictures of the boy

It's been another long day, but it was a good day. Everett is recovering well from surgery. His heart was playing some games with us this morning, but they discovered that the pacing wires were actually adding to his arrhythmia (irregular heart beat). Once they reset them, the irregularity stopped. The pacing wires are there just in case his heart needs a boost. I was told today that he was actually on a pacemaker for about 15 minutes after he came off of bypass because his heart was not wanting to work properly. I am so grateful that it worked yesterday, and I am so grateful that this mornings episodes were nothing more serious.

His blood pressures have regulated and he was extubated and put on a nasal canula. His main issue today was pain management and hunger. He was on morphine but it wasn't working, and it was making his poor little face itch like crazy. He was thrashing with pain and arching his back. He has lost his voice (could be temporary, could be more permanent) and his crying is so sad. They switched his pain medication (and gave him some benadryl) and he seems much more comfortable.

He was not able to have milk until late this evening. They started giving him pedialyte this afternoon but that was not satisfying and everytime I held him (yes, I got to hold him twice today!) he would thrash his body around in frustration. I can only imagine that it must be very hard for him to understand what's going on, and why his mother won't feed him. It was also very hard for me. I wanted so badly to love on him, but today he did not want me.

Tonight after he ate a bottle of mama's milk he slowly fell asleep. He looked so comfortable and peaceful, and was still sleeping when I left. It made me feel better about the day. Recovering from surgery is really difficult for all parties involved, I guess I had forgotten how stressful and intense it is. Please continue to pray for our family and for the little man.

Here is our last two days in pictures:
Everett preparing for surgery. He couldn't eat before surgery and was SO hungry...but of course had a big smile on his face! We can't wait to see that precious smile again. And PS--Evie makes hospital gowns and booties look so, way cute!

This is right before the anesthesia team took Evie for surgery. I was a wreck, not going to lie. I've felt an incredible amount of peace surrounding Everett's surgery, but that moment was not pretty. I'm glad that James was there to help me be strong. How sweet is that thumb-sucking baby?

And six very long hours later our baby met us in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU). The waiting game was made much easier because of a few friends that work at the hospital and decided to drop in to see how we were. Other than that, I passed the time watching Kelly Ripa and pumping like mad. Evie looked beautiful and perfect, although I am perfectly aware that I'm a very biased mama!

Our Heart Hero.

Everett has been an exclusive thumb-sucker for the last month or so, but luckily he welcomed the binkie back into his life today! At least while his thumbs are not accessible. His arms are in those cute casts because the little rascal is trying to pull out all of his lines!

We tried to add a little bit of color to his bed. That blanket was given to him by a sweet old man that volunteers at the CVICU. I made him that sign this morning. I wanted a picture of his smiling face present so that the doctors, nurses and everyone near him can know his true nature. Again, I can't wait to see that sweet little smile.

I also put some other pictures by the bedside, just to give it a little love! Daddy and Evie.

Me and Evie. This is about as close as I could get without him smelling my being and screaming his head off!

Talmage came to visit his little brother today. He's been having a hard time with everything. When we got home to tuck him in last night he was upset that Evie was not with us. He kept saying, "Don't take me and leave me." again and again. He thinks we just left Everett somewhere and he's afraid we're going to do the same thing to him. Luckily, my amazing mom has been here to take care of him, and today we took him to the hospital so he could better visualize what was going on. It was hard for him, but also good. The first thing he said in a hushed voice was, "Oh no, baby Evie is sick." We explained things to him again, had him kiss Evie's head and gently touch his fingers, and then Daddy took T to see the trains by the heart center. Overall I think the visit was a success.

Daddy holding our sweet little man. He is such a strong boy and we couldn't be prouder of him.