ICU...C...U..Later

Colby loving life in his baby hospital gown! Hey look ma, no tubes! Except for the feeding one! :)

Colby sleeping before they removed his oxygen tube.

Colby's new bed space


The small room, you can see our neighbor's space too. We had to call the cops on them twice, once for a loud party and the other time because they wouldn't stay off our lawn.

Our space, you can see the couch we sleep on in the lower left.

That's right , we said C U Later to the ICU. Like I said before it was bitter sweet in numerous ways. Obvioulsy its great for Colby, its a big step. But its also nerve racking for the families. The care situation is night and day from the ICU. We haven't spent the night here since the Tuesday after surgery. But I stayed here last night, Jess will be staying here the rest of the week. You pretty much have to as you feel like the first line of defense if anything were to go wrong. The nurse has only two hands and can only be in one place at a time, so if Colby throws up, which he has been doing often, then we need to be there to help him and let the nurse know we need help. General care really, really gets you back to reality and prepares you for the road to going back home. I think any parent can attest to the fact that bringing a newborn home is scary enough, now adding this to the mix makes for even a more interesting transition. We're still about a week, give or take a day or two, from bringing the Big Cheese home. I'm terrified, you have all these issues to watch out for normally, and now we have a few more to throw in the mix. But hey it is what it is and we'll figure it out and in no time Colby should be crawling around like nothing ever happened.

The other strange feeling leaving the ICU was moving forward in this process while leaving some of the other families behind that we've forged a small bond with. Although they are just 500 ft away, it does seem like miles. I will say though that there is not a sense of guilt. Like I said in a previous post, there are congrats and well wishes from those same families and we just pray that they'll be joining us here soon. It is wild though, most of the people down here we know, so alot of us are still together. That is comforting in itself.

Colby is doing great, as Dr. Hirsch said this morning, heartwise, he's fabulous. His main issue is keeping his feeds down. He's throwing up after every feed, but the nurse practioner thinks it's because he still has some build up in his lungs from intubation. So the nurses are working to loosen that up and get it out of him and it'll be a process, but hopefully one that ends soon. He still has two small chest tubes and one may be out tomorrow. So he's getting more and more fiesty, crying and showing us he's bummed out, all good signs he wants outta here.

Our room is tiny and we share it with another family who's son just had his final surgery to repair his heart. Its definitely more private in here then in the ICU, but it's a give and take both ways, like I said before, it's bitter sweet.