Our Hospital Stay

 Here we are wheeling Silas from the CICU to the normal floor.  This was a fun walk and just meant we were getting that much closer to going home.  

 Silas says "hi"....waving is his new trick.  He loves to wave. 

 Here's his sweet little scar. 

 Getting weighed.  Not very fun. 

Each night Mark came over and brought me dinner and spent time with us.  My parents were such a blessing because they watched and cared for our kids.  

 Once we were in our new room Mark brought the kids to visit.  They were so exceed to see us.  They toured the hospital and had lunch in the cafeteria.  They thought that was pretty cool since they could pick out what food they wanted.  

 My parents and Mark's mom were also able to visit.  Here is my mom hold Silas so I could take a shower!!! 

 Each morning around 4:45am we had to wake up and do chest X-rays.  Silas did so well but didn't enjoy it. 

 He got his drain tube taken out!  Another step closer to going home!

 Here is one of the cardiologist doing a checkup to see if Silas can go home.  

 Silas started eating real food.  He had lasagna, green beans and sherbet.  

 Happy Boy....he's going home!!!!

Once we got the ok to be discharged Mark headed back to my parents and picked up everyone and drove them back.  This was a family event.  My parents came too!

We watched them find a parking spot.  

Good bye Seattle Children's!!  We were discharged on Friday, May 9th, 2014.  Only 4 days in the hospital.  What an answer to pryer.  

After Surgery in the CICU

Around 1pm on 5/6/14 we finally got to see Silas for the first time in his CICU (cardiac intensive care unit).  I was so excited to just see him.  We had just talked to his surgeon and knew he had done well.  He was sleeping but started stirring and crying when he heard me.  Silas even knew I was standing there.  He wanted mommy!  So I actually had to sit away from him.  It was bitter sweet because I wanted to touch him and talk to him yet I wanted him to rest.  The nurses were great so I actually felt good leaving because he was in great hands.    

 I had to touch him and love him and pray over him.  

 Mark is the best dad and was able to calm Silas down.  I could see Silas literally calm when Mark talked to him and touched him.  

 He came out of the OR with a slight temp so that's why he had the cloth on his head.  But it came down while we were there with him. 

Here is his CICU room. 

Here I am talking on the phone updating our loved ones. 

 Silas and I stayed our first night in the CICU.  It was better then I expected.  He did great.  

Here's where I slept!  Mark made my bed for me before he left the night before.  He's so good to me. 

 Silas took some pedialight at first.  This was an exciting step in his recovery.  

 Then he was ready for breast milk!!  I'm so glad I had pumped for a few weeks before surgery and froze the milk.  I also pumped while he was in surgery and during recovery.  It was JUST enough.  This little guy was hungry.  When we were down to 6oz of pumped milk God answered my prayer to actually breast feed Silas.  He was struggling with it for the 1st 24hrs and finally he did! 

 One of the goals we had before leaving the CICU was to get me to actually hold Silas.  We did that on day 2 and that was the BEST feeling.  

I was so excited to hold him.  I tried to breastfeed him but he still didn't want to.  I was a bit emotional about that but everyone kept telling me it was normal.  But like I said he eventually did and hasn't needed a bottle since! 

Goodbye CICU! 

Day of Surgery

Early in the morning, 5:30am we said goodbye to the kids and my parents and left for the hospital. This was very odd.  I wasn't sure how long I personally would be gone while Silas would be in the hospital.  I knew that Mark would bring the kids over to visit but it's hard to say goodbye.  

 We got to the hospital around 6am and checked in.  Silas got his ankle ID and Mark and I got our parent ID's.  God was so good and gave us peace.  We were really excited to finally be here at this point so that Silas could get healthy.  

 This is where we had to wait before they took us back to our private waiting room.  There were a few other families checking their kids in for various procedures.  

 Then they called "Silas" and we were walked back to the prep room.  I got a bit emotional at this point.  They gave me a cleaning cloth to wipe him down one last time.  This is to prevent infection as best as possible. 

I got Silas dressed in his gown and now we just snuggled.  At this point it was about 7:20am.  

 We then talked to the anesthesiologists.  They then had to take him back it was 7:33am.  I thank God that Silas was happy and doing really well.  He didn't cry at all.  This helped me be ok and not cry too much.  I was able to enjoy the process as much as I could. He was all smiles and after the surgery they told me as they were walking him into the operating room he was waving to all the nurses and doctors.  This really made me happy to hear.  

They gave us a pager and updated us throughout the surgery.  At 8:45am we got our first page the they actual surgery has started. Mark and I were able to stay busy.  We had breakfast at the hospital's Starbucks.  Then we went to the family resource center and I got to FaceTime the kids.  This was really sweet.  Then at 11:15am we got a page that the surgery was done and the doctor wanted to meet with us!  Everything went well! 

Praise God.