Complications

{The day after his surgery. He was really puffy, which the doctors said was normal}

{Still hooked up to everything except the ventilator.  He was only on it over night!  That was great for us, since he was on the ventilator for about 6 days last time}

{I was so happy to hold him!!!!  And we moved to a new room the day after his surgery, a shared room so we shared a nurse for a couple of days}

So Christian had been doing great until yesterday (Friday).  He was really fussy yesterday.  I thought maybe it was because he was hungry.  They have him on a feeding tube, which slowly drips milk into his stomach (I'm pumping and they give him that).

He had a stuffy nose before his surgery, maybe for 4 or 5 days before his surgery, but no fevers or coughing.  I told the Nurse Practitioner when they were doing his pre-op stuff and she didn't seem too concerned.  Well, he was getting a little junky in his lungs, which is normal after bypass, but the nurse thought maybe more was going on.  She was woried it might be RSV again so they swabbed his nose to have it tested.  It came back positive for Rhinovirus, which is basically a cold.  I'm not gonna lie, I was totally freaking out last night while we were waiting to get the swab test back, wondering if it was RSV again.  I was sort of a mess.  But Rhinovirus is definitely not as bad as RSV.  The crazy thing is he hasn't really been anywhere.  We've kept him home so that he wouldn't get sick.  It just goes to show that you can't control everything.  I guess it's a good lesson for me to learn. 

Christian is doing much better today than yesterday.  He's just sort of resting, chilling, letting himself sleep a little more instead of constantly crying and getting upset.  They moved him from regular oxygen back to hi-flow to help during his cold and he will stay in the CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit) for a little longer than he would have had he not gotten sick.  When they can wean him from the hi-flow, he can move onto the surgical floor and we can go home after a day or two there.

{Sweet resting baby}

What's life without a few setbacks, right?  They help to make us stronger, although last night when they told us it could be RSV again, I didn't feel strong.  I wanted to curl up into a ball and go to sleep so I didn't have to deal with it.  But I have to be strong for my little trooper.  He is much stronger than I am.  Severe RSV.  Heart surgery.  And now another cold just days after heart surgery.  Hopefully he'll be healthy for a while!!!  We are DONE being sick at our house.

{Here he is with all of the tubes out!  Yay!  It was so much easier holding him without all of those things.  And he was definitely not as puffy}