We're Home!

We are home.

Owen had a pretty invasive open heart surgery on the 10th and we are home on the 16th.

Amazing!

The crew at Southwest were so accommodating and helped us get all our items on the plane and off. Owen had two seats to lay on the entire flight. He is having a hard time sitting up on his own because his sternum is so sore. If he were a strong walker, like most 3 yr olds, I think he'd have an easier time getting up and down.

Daddy was at the airport waiting for us and it was a great reunion! We came straight home and Kamryn was here with Auntie Sussy, Rylee, Connor and Tatum. They had decorated the house with posters, balloons and streamers. Justin brought pizza home with him and it was SO nice to not have to do any chores. Kamryn was well cared for while we were gone!

Owen took his first real bath in 6 days and I'm sure it felt good. We haven't figured out the cradle hold yet, so everything is difficult. I had to climb in the tub.. then Carson had to scoop him down to me. He leaned back against me while I washed him up. We had to learn how to care for his ouchies.. which I never had to do before. We've always been in ICU for 30 days post op in the past so he was pretty healed before we came home. This was a new experience.

I changed his dressings on his chest tube site and under his neck and then he settled into our bed. He asked me to turned ALL the lights off so it's pitch black and is watching his movie while cuddling Kamryn.

Now the real healing will begin.

We have a followup appointment with Dr Stock early on Friday. I'm anxious to hear his opinion of the valve repair and to see what it's doing to his function. I ran into Dr R. (Owen's Stanford Cardiologist) in the cafeteria this morning and he said that Owen had a pretty amazing repair! Music to my ears! He said he would stay in close contact with us over the next 4 months and hopefully Owen will be back for the Fontan (the 3rd surgery for single ventricle kiddos).

I've had tons of email and comments with questions. One of them is whether Owen will always be on oxygen. I sure hope not. After the Fontan procedure, he should ditch the O2. Should.

Another question was How life is in the hospital? It's sleepless nights. It's long days. It's holding your child down for procedures (iv removals, pokes, ect) and telling them "sh sh sh.. it's gonna be okay... Momma's here." It's praying you get an attentive nurse who makes your child feel at ease. It's finding a place to sleep whether it's in a chair or leaving your child's side late a night to go to a hotel and then feeling guilty about it. It's seeing another family lose their child as you watch from the other room and you ache for them. It's advocating for your child and teaching the doctors about them. I pray that no one has to spend time with a child in the hospital. It's heartbreaking. You can't walk into a children's hospital and come out feeling anything but pure gratitude for everything in your life.

I'm off to cuddle my family. Goodnight.