Only 24 Hours Later

I did post a picture of Cole with his eyes open for the first time today and I got a little smile out of him, but I will warn you that it shows his incision for those of you uncomfortable with seeing it. The pic is at the bottom of the post so please don't look if you do not want to see.

My plan was to wake up whenever I woke up this morning because I had been going since 4 a.m. yesterday, but I woke up at the normal time, Ava's rising time of a little before 7 a.m. Everyone else was still asleep so I slipped out to go sit with Cole.

We have an amazing nurse named Matt and he was back on day duty (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) with Cole. When I got there, Matt told me that the doctors were happy with Cole's night. He informed me of all the "medicine" Cole had taken. They are keeping him very comfortable pain wise. Cole's blood pressure was higher then they were comfortable with so they gave him a little help by administering something into one of his IV's.

Cole was also awake and sort of made eye contact in the haze of all his "happy juice." It was so good to see him awake! It wasn't for long, but it was a little something to hold onto. He was in and out, but mostly out. Cole was able to have a few more wires removed. The ones that were removed were connected to one side of his heart, almost like a pace maker (to control rhythm). They left the ones on the right side on. It's amazing how quickly these little guys heal!


One of the doctors, Dr. Domnina, wanted me to hold Cole. As much as I wanted to hold him, I didn't want to upset his peaceful state. Too late for that, Dr. Domnina was not taking my weak attempt of "it's ok I'll wait until most of the attachments are removed" for an answer to wait. She was going to make it happen and she did and Cole was highly ticked, but soon calmed down after being given some morphine. After some attempts to move Cole from the bed to my lap without pulling on this or that tube or line, I don't know who needed morphine more, me or him.
Cole and I were settled in and he fell asleep in my arms. Daddy came down and brought some more items from home to make Cole feel more like he was in his own crib. He's living as G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S as a baby can in CVICU (cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit). We hung out and then went home to crash and head back for the evening.

We arrived right before our nurse Matt was leaving for the night. He said that Cole had had a pretty bad episode of losing his bottle. He asked if that was normal and we told him it was following anesthesia. Thankfully we were not there to see it all as it sounded like it was pretty rough because Cole got so upset. We have been told that any kind of throwing up right now after open heart surgery is super painful and not a good thing.

Cole was sleeping peacefully when we went in the room this evening and he continued until we got ready to leave. Then, his big blue peepers popped open and we both hurried over to his crib to say hello. It took him a moment to realize who we were, but once he did he started talking, which would in Cole language be "Nnnn-Dah." He got a few big smiles out and was acting like his old self. He was getting too worked up, which set off his O2 and blood pressure monitors off. He had a blast kicking and grabbing at his wires and tubes. We didn't want to leave, but it was the only way for him to calm down. We kissed his silky little head and told him we love him.

They are hoping to move Cole to Progressive sometime tomorrow and to be able to take out his drainage tube. We'll be back to update tomorrow.

Goodnight.