Moving across the hall!

This morning Parker got his pacing wires out! Now is belly is free of any tubes and no dressings! He was feeling much better this morning. Look at how greatness color is! Pink!!

And then, the big news of the day....Parker moved OUT of the ICU! We are across the hall in the step down unit in our own little private room. On our way over to our new room, Parker was screaming and crying. I think he thought we were going somewhere bad. He is not liking any hospital staff right now!


On this side of the hall we pretty much do everything for Parker and take care of him by ourselves. They have a playroom over here too! We went this afternoon and Parker lasted about 5 minutes before he got too tired and had to be carried back to the room.


After the playroom he was exhausted! He took a short nap and then ate a little dinner. After dinner, he started acting scared and would not let me go. I had to be touching him at all times. And this is how he fell asleep....


I definitely did NOT mind! But I felt so bad for him. Its like he hasn't gotten enough holding and touching over the last week and he just needed it. I am so glad I can do this for him :)
We are so excited to be in the step down unit because we are getting so close to going home! I can't believe my sweet little boy had open heart surgery 5 days ago! Crazy. It has been way easier than I could have ever imagined. God is so faithful.
He really doesn't have any issues, and I'm not sure how long we will be over here. Maybe we will get to go home by the weekend?

I have also gotten some questions about parker going home on the coumadin. This is a blood thinner and the cardiologists like for post-fontan patients to be on this drug for at least 6 months after surgery. Parkers new blood flow to his lungs is strictly a passive flow system, because now it bypasses the heart, goes straight to the lungs to be oxegenated, and then it flows to the right side of the heart to be pumped out (before some of the blood was pumped to the lungs by the heart). Since there is no pumping action taking the blood to the lungs, it increases the risk for clots. It is so amazing what surgeons can do, isn't it?
Because he is on coumadin, he will have to get his INR checked pretty frequently to make sure it is in a therapeutic range. If not, his coumadin dose will be adjusted. This will require frequently blood draws, not sure how that is going to go because Parker is already so scared anytime anyone walks into his hospital room....We will cross that bridge when we get to it. Until then, we are focusing on getting this sweet baby home!!

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