Withdrawal

This mama is pretty tired tonight but I know many of you are waiting for an update. Things are still going really well for mighty Max. He was supposed to be moved to the step down cardiac unit today but there are no open beds so he is still in the ICU. Yesterday we were dealing with a collapsed upper right lung and lots of junk in his lungs. Today Max's lungs are much better and they have been weaning him off oxygen. Hopefully after tonight they will have him totally off any support. OT and PT stopped by to see Max today and began oral therapy to get him to take a bottle. We are up to 40 cc a feeding and once he can sustain 60cc per feeding we can ditch the NG feeding tube. The only bad news to report is that Max has been pretty fussy all day. His nurse today nick named him "Mad Max" because he was at times inconsolable. The team thinks he is suffering from withdrawals so they started giving him small doses of Ativan and will begin a taper. Brad and I spent pretty much the whole day holding, rocking, and talking to him. After so many days of not being able to love on him and not being able to hear him cry it is a nice change of pace to see him act like a newborn even if he is an extra cranky newborn.

I'm still pretty cute even when I'm crying..

Please say an extra  prayer for all the kids in the CVICU. It is one scary place. Brad and I have now seen two kids code (heart stop) and have seen surgical teams crack open chests at the bed side because the kids aren't stable enough to get to the OR. Please give the healthy little ones in your life a little extra snuggle. We are happy to have our little guy on the road to recovery but have met so many wonderful heart families that won't be heading home anytime soon. And tonight we count our blessings.