It's our Snickerdoodle Buddha baby!
We need to dress him in oversized clothes because of his chest, IVs and other assorted wires, so he ends up looking all buddha-yoda-yogi-like. I pretend to do tai chi with his arms, and occasionally break into a "wax on, wax off" routine.
What a day!
We came into his room this morning and I snuck a peek at the pile of papers on the counter. On the very top? His transfer orders - to STEP DOWN!!! Our night nurse confirmed what we had suspected - we were stuck in the CICU yesterday only because there were no rooms on the floor.
And then the waiting began.
We cleaned the room. We dressed him in new clothes. We took pictures. We sat and waited. And waited. And waited. And tried to breastfeed. And waited some more. In there, Mama had a meltdown because she came back to the IV line - moved from his hand to his head. My little boy has an IV line sticking up out of his head. It took a few hours, but I got used to it -
And at 5pm, we gathered up all our stuff and made our way, finally, to step down!
This is huge for so many things. This means he's no longer considered critical or needing intensive care. This means we're in a shared room with another heart couple - WITH A DOOR WE CAN CLOSE! We have quiet. And most importantly?
We get to play Mama and Daddy to our little boy. FINALLY.
The nurses no longer run to him over every peep or beep. We pick him up when he cries. We change those stinky, slimy diapers. We get to try to feed him. And feeding is our challenge now - we get to take monkey home when we've proven that he can eat and gain weight.
And like the true son of an overachiever that he his, he ate a full ounce of breastmilk from a bottle this afternoon. In his room. In the step down unit.
Oh, happy day!
CONGRATULATIONS Erika, Jason, and Sammy :) I am so happy you have stepped down and get to take control a little bit. You will be home before you know it. and if I haven't already told you; he is just the cutest little man :)
Colleen Shea
Posted by: Colleen Shea at March 12, 2006 03:00 PM