Doing really well

Cooper was extubated this morning and came off all his sedation drips. He is still loopy (i guess from morphine or one of his pain meds), but they are weining him off of the vapo therm. Then he will get a nasal canula, and then they will talk about sending him to the floor. The surgeon came in this morning and said he looked great. She called the room last night at 10:30 and Zac just looked at the nurse. She said well that's a family phone, so answer it. So Zac answered the phone and Dr Christian started fussing at him, saying finally..how is he..what's his mrn number..i'm trying to do dictation and could not get through. And Zac was like well..he looks ok to me, but I'm just his dad..and she said oh mygosh I'm so sorry, I thought you were the nurse.ahahahahh. She came in this morning and apologised over and over and Zac said well you fixed his heart and then you yelled at me...so we're even. I thought that was hilarious.

Surgery

Well, first of all thank you for flooding heaven with your prayers at 8am this morning. Cooper's surgery started around 9 and was over by 1:00. The surgery was almost canceled for a low fever that Cooper had this morning. Thankfully, they went ahead and took him down. The surgery went very well. There were no complications and no surprises. He went straight to the ICU and is there now getting plenty of sedation and pain meds. He looks pretty good, other than being really puffy and retaining fluid. He is wild though, and is on 3 sedation drips and prn meds and is still kicking away. They are going to add more sedation meds tonight. Babies with down syndrome are just very hard to sedate. When he gets wild and moves a lot, he bleeds worse and his blood pressure rises, so they really want to keep both of those down. But gosh..what a strange day. I sent him to surgery this morning, and I was crying and stayed up all night just rocking him. Now, 4 short hours later, his heart is fixed. It's just the oddest feeling. But wow! it finally got here and is over.

2 days to go..

Well, Cooper is still on for surgery at 8:00 monday morning. And with that news comes my nerves. It takes me about 40 minutes at night to fall asleep just from my mind going crazy with nerves. I know he has to have this to live, but I just hate it for him. The surgeon came in the other day to let me sign the papers and tell me all the risks that come with open heart surgery. I tried to ignore what she was saying because I know full well what the risks are. I don't need reminded. ( For prayer specifics though, her name is Dr Christian, we hear she is the best) Erin and squirt are coming to eat lunch with me today. Cooper thinks squirt is going to be a girl!! That's just what he told me, who knows. Squirt must love pizza hut because those were the first words out of Erin's mouth.hahah. Well, unless something changes, I won't have any updates until after surgery on monday. So to all you prayer wariors out there, remember 8:00am monday morning.... thank you a ton to all of you who have prayed.

Official Nashvegans..hahah

Well Zac is now not only Dr Cox, but also professor Cox. He got the job at Lipscomb and will be teaching as well as doing clinical pharmacy at Vanderbilt. Yay! I'm so glad we are staying in Nashville. ( I couldn't imagine leaving you Kristin...and my family too)hahah. So he will start his job the second week in July, so now we are on the house hunt, We actually just got back to the hospital from driving around looking. Medical field people are in school for so long, and I am so glad it is finally over. It's been long. Whew. Cooper is doing really well today. He just likes the hospital I'm convinced. We get here and all his gas pains are gone and he just lays in his bed so comfortable, he doesn't cry or anything. I'm stumped..I don't know why he hates home..maybe it's Sox. His temp is back to normal, but has to stay normal for 48 hours and all his cultures are negative, so it still looks like heart failure. They are not going to move the surgery up, they are keeping it for Monday the 30th. Dr Christian just wasn't comfortable doing it any sooner. I went to bed at 8:00 last night and Cooper slept pretty much all night!! It was wonerful. I had to check on him at 11:30 and 2:45 and 6:30 and he fell right back to sleep. He is off vapo therm and has a nasal canula with just room air and pressure to help him breathe. So he looks a lot better.

Sunday-not a day for rest when your Coop's mom

Cooper is back in the ICU. He was running a very high temp this morning, so I brought him to the emergency room. And of course he wasn't breathing well, so he is back on vapo therm and on antibiotics for the fever, just in case there is something that they are missing. So this could bump surgery up to this week, but we are not sure yet. Either way, we will be here until surgery regardless. Fun Fun..did I mention I was exhausted??? hahahah I love him.

Cooper's Big Day

So Cooper's Field of Dreams was a fun day. It was a little cold, but a neat event to be apart of. John Alexander won the Cooper award and threw the first pitch of the game. He was such a sweet boy. I was glad he won the award. (He is the boy in the pictures below) He gave me so much hope. He looks great, has tons of energy, and when he was born he went through way more than what Cooper is going through. It was nice to be around him and see how good things can turn out. Cooper is 1 week away from surgery, and I am actually at peace and fairly calm. I'm worried of course, but I am doing pretty good so far. Sometimes though I just hold him and pray that this is not the last week I have with him. It is a very scary thought to know that in 1 short week, everything could change..for the better or for the worse. We never know what God has planned. So ya'll just pray for us all this week. The 30th is the big day, and I would like to set an official prayer time at 8:00 am, so that all of us are praying for Cooper at the exact same time. I think it will be a great moment! Thanks Emily

Home Again

We got to come home today. We go back thursday for pre op, and then surgery is still march 30th. I'm glad we were discharged in time because saturday is Cooper's Field of Dreams Day at MTSU, and Miss MTSU and I are presenting the Cooper award before the baseball game. I did not want to miss that. Cooper's newborn panel came in today and his bookmarks ( I had bookmarks made with his pictures on them) from Uchida photography. They look so good. He is so much bigger than he was then. Zac should find out about his job here in the next week or so. And then....househunting!!! Yay. So with surgery and job and then house stuff, we are in for a busy next few months.

Wednesday

Cooper got transfered to the cardiology floor today, and they found out he has a urinary tract infection. So, we were suppose to go home tomorrow, but now he is getting antibiotics. We may stay a little longer or they may send us home with the meds. Who knows, but surgery is still on for the first of the week.