Ivan's second week of life wasn't as eventful as his first, but it was still far from ordinary. He started his second week by moving out of the most intensive side of the ICU over to the other side where he got a crib and his own room. We were excited for this change as we could have more visitors and food and drink in the room. Things felt less stressful.
Here's his first Pod.
Here we are in his new room.
Saturday was my first day to breastfeed all day long! Ivan was a champ. Our nurse said that we were like a well-oiled machine. 3 days without nursing didn't seem to cause any confusion for him. At this time, he was still breathing very fast and on oxygen so the nurses had to assess him each time before I nursed to make sure his breathing was in the 60-70 bpm range. And then he would get to eating so fast that he would pull off and cough a lot. Still a little scary.
After a good day of breast feeding, they began weaning him off his oxygen. They kept lowering the pressure of his oxygen so by Monday morning all he was getting was .1 L. The doctors rounded just in time to give the orders to remove all oxygen because right after they did that, the boys showed up with Grammy and Gramps. I think it was better for Amos for Ivan to have less on his face and look more normal. I could tell Amos was affected by all of it, but he did a great job being brave. Silas was having the time of his life.
The rest of the day, boys enjoyed exploring all the fun things they have for kids at Children's Mercy and the Ronald McDonald house. And Ivan was doing great being off the oxygen. It was definitely wonderful for Jason and me to have the boys back in our arms. We were even all tired enough that we all slept soundly in one room at the Ronald McDonald house.
The next day was full of fun for the boys. Nana and Papa and Daddy took them to Crown Center and the Aquarium. They got to eat at a train restaurant and color at Kaleidoscope. That evening, they even visited the hanger where Children's Mercy keeps their transport airplane - the one Daddy and Ivan rode on. Too bad it wasn't there, but they did get to go inside another plane. Amos kept double checking that it wasn't going to be taking off.
I spent the day hanging out with my Mom and Sister, watching Ivan!
On Wednesday, the boys came and had breakfast with us in the hospital and joined in a sibling playgroup.
Then they headed to Nana and Papa's house for Thanksgiving. Three more days in a small hospital room may have drove everyone crazy and they had cousins waiting to play with them. By this point, we were pretty sure we would be home either Friday or Saturday, so it was nice knowing it was a short goodbye.
Wednesday was Gramps' day to hang out with us and take turns holding Ivan. Ivan still had a heart monitor, breathing monitor, oxygen saturation monitor and an IV connected to him at this point, but he was still a lot easier to move around. The only problem was that his SAT monitor rarely was picking up a good reading so it kept beeping at us all evening. The nurse kept assuring us that it wasn't picking up, so not to worry.
Jason and I celebrated Thanksgiving together on Wednesday by going out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory and leaving Dad and Ivan with a bottle in case he got hungry. Apparently he got hungry several times, but Dad and the nurse had it covered. For Jason and me, it was a little reminiscent of 6 years ago when he took me out to the plaza the day after Thanksgiving and then later to a park to propose! We had a blast, letting go of a little bit of the stress.
Thanksgiving was spent with Ivan. He was pretty calm and content all that day. The doctors told us that he would be going home on Friday. He would finish up all his last dose of antibiotic and then let us go! It was exciting to here! They kept saying that he was very sick when he came in but has gotten better very quickly! Praise Jesus, our sustainer!
The only thing left to do was the carseat test. They had to put him into a carseat for 2 1/2 hours to make sure it wouldn't put stress too much stress on his body for the ride home. I thought for sure he was going to hate it because we couldn't rock it or jiggle it or do anything. All we could do was give him a pacifier- which he still doesn't love. Much to my surprise, he fussed for a second and then fell asleep. Jason and I went for a drive and a walk because there wasn't really anything we could do. Dad stayed with Ivan. He was still sleeping soundly when we returned. He passed.
Overnight they did one more chest X-ray and the next morning during rounds the doctors said it looked great. They listened to his lungs again and said he sounded perfect. They reassured us that he would still have bouts of quick-breathing because of the damage done to his lungs and vocal chords. That's still been a little scary for us, but we have tried to remember those words and then put our trust in Jesus.
No more cords!
We ended the whole experience on a high note - a second try to IKEA! Mom and I worked out an early Christmas and birthday present for me - a new sectional. We almost didn't get it home, but I'm sure glad we did. Ivan didn't seem to mind our short trip, as he slept the whole time in his carseat. Good thing we got that carseat test!
Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to me!
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