Back to "normal"

We are back to normal over here. Our version of normal that is.

Colston is doing great. His oxygen sats are high 90's, sometimes 100, which has the doctors and the nurses amazed. Usually heart babies don't sat that high. 

They are starting him back slowly on breast milk today. He's been getting nutrients through his IV and was given Pedialyte through his NG tube yesterday. Poor guy hasn't actually eaten since 1:30 am Monday and it is now Saturday. They want to start him out slow because he has had blood in his last couple stools. It could be from the aspirin but it could also be a number of things. They aren't terribly concerned with it which makes us feel better. One good thing about him not eating this week (hey, I had to find a silver lining somewhere) is that I have a good stash of breast milk stored up in the freezer at the hospital. 

Pumping has been a big love/hate relationship for me. On one hand I love that I am blessed to be able to produce milk because I feel like it's truly the only thing I can do for Colston. On the other hand, it is really testing my patience. It is proving to be really hard to stay on a strict pumping schedule when you are constantly exhausted. I started out pumping every three hours but as more and more things happen throughout the day, I find myself going 4 sometimes 5 hours in between pumps. Don't even get me started on pumping in the middle of the night. Justin and I usually dont get back from the hospital til about 10 pm so I will do one pump before bed, set my alarm for a 1 a.m. pump and then end up sleeping right through it.

As scary as the last week was, we are back on track to hopefully going home soon. To be honest, it scares me a little. I've become accustomed to hitting the nurse button every time I think something is wrong. I'm used to looking at a monitor to know if he is getting enough oxygen and to see how many breaths he is taking. It makes me nervous to go home without any sort of monitor and to be seven hours away from his doctors. If something were to happen at home, Colston would have to be care flighted down to Vegas. 

It's one of those things where you just have to trust that you will know the signs of what to look for and that God is right there with you. He was definitely right there with Colston going into cardiac arrest twice and He was right there with us afterwards. 

The emotional highs and lows of having a heart baby are very draining. We went from being a day away from going home to being told our son had to be revived. Throughout this whole journey, we have been told to expect the unexpected. But nothing prepares you for that. 

We are just so incredibly thankful to the Lord above that we are back on a high and we pray that it stays that way.