Day Two

Today has been a bit tough...we started out great. Dylan did great overnight. He slept pretty well (or as well as one can sleep when you get poked and prodded every hour). Nicki and I slept pretty well also. We were both so tired that I'm pretty sure we could have slept standing up. This morning D started passing gas which is totally awesome! He was doing so great that they even let me nurse him. He was very relaxed eating from me and I could tell was very happy to be doing so.

Later the afternoon, we started having a hard time managing his pain. He was resting in his bed, but kept jerking around and just seemed to be having a hard time getting comfortable (everybody had warned me that the day after surgery was almost always the hardest). His heart was beating very quickly (a sign that he's in some pain) and he was breathing very rapidly. If you recall from his first surgery, his heart rate got fairly high and he breathed pretty fast then too. It's common and expected with these surgeries because when they push things back into his abdomen it created pressure on his lungs. However, because we couldn't seem to get ahead of his pain and his heart rate and breathing were super high, they decided to move him to the PICU (the pediatric intensive care unit). This was, of course, very hard for me to hear. Long term it doesn't mean anything, but it seemed like a step backwards (and more importantly it obviously concerns me that they were worried enough about him that they thought he needed closer monitoring).

We had a bit of an adventure when we got to the PICU. Somehow, along the way his IV came out and blood started squirting all over. So, they had to start a new IV, which unfortunately required a few sticks. They also wanted to draw a bunch of labs to make sure that everything was normal, so the poor little man has been stuck about 6 times since we've gotten over here. However, the excellent news is that for whatever reason as soon as they made the decision to move him he started to calm down, appeared to be in less pain and his breathing and heart rate both slowed (we decided he was just sick of his old room and needed a change of scenery). They gave him a pretty strong diuretic (it's fairly common to retain water after a surgery) and it appears to be doing the trick. He's sleeping very peacefully now and the plan is to move him back to the floor tomorrow morning (see he really did just want a field trip!).

So, sorry for the lack of updates today...it's just been so busy, first because I got to feed him and then I was just stressed out because I could tell he was in pain and just wasn't being himself. So, we're hoping for a very quiet night and a move back to the floor in the morning. Dylan is doing great, so no worries out there. But feel free to continue to send prayers our way. More tomorrow!!!

Thanks to all of our visitors and to everybody for the nice texts and messages. Even though I'm not always super responsive, I appreciate all of the support!

And of course...a few pics :)

In the pre-op room...D says, "Mom, now that I can walk I refuse to sit still!"

A very groggy D after surgery!

Aunt Andrea brought Ella and Maggie up. We didn't want them exposed to any germs in the hospital, so Nicki and my mom went and played with the kiddos on the jungle gym outside while Andrea hung out with D. I actually went and played some myself. It was super nice to see the girls and nice to get some fresh air.

Posing with Namma for his offical birthday shot. Of course, we did his 1 year pic on Sat., but still had to get some pics on his b-day. Thanks to Felicia for the adorable bib!!

Uncle Billy even managed to get a smile for the pic!!

Anything for a smile!


Happy in Aunt Nicki's arms before bedtime!

D this morning, getting ready to eat!

I think he's getting tired of sleeping on his back. So I had him sleeping on me in more of a sitting position.

We tried giving him some apple juice because we thought hunger might be part of the problem. He didn't really like it much and now we're back to not feeding him for a while. Hopefully, he'll have a great night and we'll get to feed him again tomorrow!