Home!

I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday because in the evening, Asher became quite fussy.  He was calm as long as I was holding him, but anytime I put him down, he would scream and scream.  We finally got him to sleep in his bed around midnight, and he did sleep there until 6:00, just waking up at 3:00 to take some medicine and for me to feed him quickly before going back to sleep.  With all of that, though, I didn’t get a chance to post about the day.

Overall, Asher did a lot better yesterday.  He had a bit of a busy morning though, with Dr. King showing up around 8:00 a.m. to do an echocardiogram, then he was wheeled downstairs in his bed to get a chest x-ray.  Following that, he had an EKG.  Once everything was reviewed and found clear, the surgeon came in and removed his three final drainage tubes, and while they were at it, they also removed his last IV at the same time.  They also discontinued his telemetry monitoring, so he got all the stickers off his chest that were monitoring that, and all that was left was a probe on his toe for his oxygen saturation monitoring.  He had sticky marks all over his body from the tape, and his skin was broken out and red in spots from so much being on there.  He still had three bandages on his chest where the tubes came out, and those need to stay on for a few days.  It was still nice to have everything else off though.

My mom brought the boys up around lunch time, and they brought some happy meals to eat while they visited.  They then watched Winnie the Pooh there, and they were laughing pretty good at it.  Meanwhile, my mom held Asher for a minute, and he was feeling pretty good then and even smiling a little at her.

   

That evening, like I said before, Asher got pretty fussy, and we had a hard time calming him down and getting him to sleep.  It started when he had to take his meds, which he has quite a few.  He has done really well with the, but this time he just got really mad, and we had to give him all four doses while he was screaming.  There is one that is a blood pressure medicine that he seems to especially not like.  I then fed him, and I tried to put him in his bed, but he just got upset.  Shane and I tried back and forth, but we finally gave up and I held him for an hour and a half until it was time for his next pain medication.

Asher all tuckered out after his screaming over medicine:

 

Luckily, after that, he slept in his bed until 6 in the morning, but after that we couldn’t get him to sleep in his bed anymore until we left the hospital.  Shane and I took turns holding him while we packed up to go.  Finally, as we were about to leave, he was awake, and Shane put him back in his bed one last time.  He smiled and looked at his favorite mobile until it was time for us to go.

   

When we got home, we found these notes on our door, and these beautiful plants from some friends in our ward!  What a nice surprise!  I can’t wait to plant them in our yard.  They definitely brightened my day.

   

Asher seems happy to be home too.  He has still been fussy and cried out in pain at moments, but he has smiled a lot too, and had fun seeing his brothers and grandma again.  He has quite the medication lineup over the next few weeks, so hopefully I can keep up on it all plus get him to take them!  I’m sure he will need to be held a lot more this week, and more fussy as he doesn’t feel good, but hopefully he can gradually feel better and better.  I’m glad my mom will be here to give me breaks from holding him, and to take care of the other boys so I can focus on Asher.  That will make the week go by so much smoother!

 

Thank you so much for all of the prayers and support.  We still have a long ways to go with Asher to recover from this surgery, but I already feel a huge weight being lifted as we can check off his first two surgeries and the high-risk period of the first few months of his life.  We have had so many prayers answered with how well Asher is doing, and know that our prayers and faith alone could not have brought about this miracle baby.