They day my heart stopped...

I told yall I would finish my story of Parker's birth and hospital stay, but life has been crazy!! We went out of town for a week and we got back on Sunday. I am so behind at work and Parker has alot of appointments this week with therapy and doctors. I wrote part of this the other day and finished it today. It is just a picture of our first week in the hospital with Parker...

November 24, 2007 Dennis and I woke up in my hospital room the day after Parker was born. We went to the NICU to see him and the doctor said he was doing good and he would probably be there a few more days to get his oxygen under control. We went back to our room and I got in the shower....I desperately needed a shower! My doctor told me that he wanted me to stay one more day to watch me (I was having some bleeding issues). While I was in the shower Dennis came into the bathroom and said to not worry but the doctor just came in and said they were moving Parker to Arkansas Children's Hospital because they heard a murmur and he needed more testing. Well, I rushed out of the shower and told my doctor that I was checking out early. Another doctor came in and told us that Parker might need heart surgery, but they werent for sure what was going on with his heart. By noon we were at Childrens. I walked into the CVICU that afternoon not knowing what I was about to go through. A wonderful doctor sat Dennis and I down at a table and drew a picture of Parker's heart. He told us that Parker has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and that he will need 3 open heart surgeries. He said that Parker would be lucky to survive the first surgery because he was so small....that is the moment my heart stopped. For nine months we had made all of these plans and had all of these expectations and now everything was different and there was nothing I could do about it. All we could do was pray and trust in Him. My plan was different now.

The next week was a waiting game. They waited a week to do the surgery so Parker could get bigger, but all he did was get smaller. The day of surgery he weighed 4 pounds (he had lost over a pound since birth)

On November 30 Parker had his first heart surgery. We walked him back to the operating room and the nurse took us to our private waiting room. She gave us a hug and closed the door. Dennis and I held each other and cried (That is the first time I had ever seen Dennis cry. He is so strong). We didnt know if Parker was going to make it. His surgery lasted 12 hours, they updated us every hour on his progress. We had so much family there to support us. We are so lucky to have so many people that love us and that love Parker. Parker did pretty good in surgery but he didnt do so good that first night. He went into cardiac arrest, but the amazing doctors and nurses at ACH took good care of my sweet baby and he pulled through. THe hardest thing I have ever done was looking at Parker right after he came out of surgery. His chest was still open because there was too much swelling. He had 5 chest tubes draining blood and a dialysis tube. He was as white as the sheet on the bed. He had a breathing tube in and about 5 IV lines with about 20 medications. It was a scary day. I cried when I saw him. Babies are not suppose to look like that.

Over the next 7 weeks Parker had a bumpy road of recovery. He was on the breathing tube for 3 more weeks and had another small surgery to put in his feeding tube. Parker is so strong and I have learned so much from him. I am so grateful that Parker has made it so far and I will enjoy everyday I have with him.