Superbaby SMILED!

Here we are 3 days post-Glenn operation, and it's been such a whirlwind that there has been no time to update.  In a nutshell, Jake's surgery lasted about 6.5 hours and had no complications.  No complications from the medical end, but Jake went 3 entire days without even a hint of smile.  It was pure sadness on his face and in his eyes until my heart felt like it was broken watching him.  Jake was in Cardiac Critical Care (CCU) by early evening on Thursday.  Thursday night went well, he was sleeping soundly and again had no complications.  On Friday Jake was doing well enough to cause the doctors to talk about transferring him out of critical care.  Because his oxygen saturations were still low, it was decided that he should stay in CCU for the night.  On Saturday Jake's oxygen saturations were still dipping low, but he was on a minimal flow of oxygen and otherwise doing so well that he was discharged from critical care and brought to the 4D ward.  We came upstairs anticipating a day or two in the stepdown unit, which is the norm when leaving CCU, and instead Jake was admitted directly into a private/parent care room! This was a really  nice and uplifting surprise.  A few hours after admission Jake's pain had really gotten much worse, and he was very upset, crying and so sad.  This was due to three things: his morphine dose had been cut in half (to help raise his oxygen saturations, and make it easier for him to take big breaths), the fluid on his lungs was making him cough which pulled at his chest incision, and the two drainage tubes were causing the most discomfort.  The first 24 hours on 4D were very rough for all three of us.  Jon and I were heartbroken over how sad and in pain our baby was - and were completely helpless to make it better.  Jake didn't even want to be held at this point.  By Sunday morning Jake was puffy and swollen all over his face, and needed to be restarted on his diuretic.  An x-ray of his lungs showed that they were "cloudy" and he needed to drain the fluid.  His drainage tubes were now having minimal drain so they were removed along with the external pacing wires this afternoon.  The extra morphine given to help with the removal of the tubes helped him get a couple hours of straight sleep finally.  After this nap Jake's nurse came in and we gave him a bath together, being careful to avoid getting his chest incisions wet...and we got a SMILE!  Shortly after the first epic smile, we got several more smiles and he even started kicking his legs a little, and chewing on his fingers as he would have before this ordeal began.  I think my baby boy may have turned a corner and be on the mend.  Superbaby is earning his nickname this past week!

Jake had some visitors today...starting with Daina, Gary and Isaiah who are here for Isaiah's heart cath and also staying at Ronald McDonald House.  That was followed by Krystyne and Keegan, who brought some homemade goodies including dairy free brownies! After that we had some time with Heather and Aliyah, who always puts a smile on our faces.  God is good...and He has provided friends for us even when we are so far from home.

I can't get past the smile that we finally saw on baby Jacob's face tonight.  It's like an enormous cloud has been lifted off my shoulders, and the tears that I have cried and the prayers that I have prayed have been heard and answered.  Thank you to everyone who has prayed for Jake.  There are so many of you, and most of you I don't even know.  I could feel the support through Jake's surgery and into his recovery, the same as if someone had placed a warm blanket over me.

Yesterday in my parent's hometown of Seal Cove, it was Rally Day at the Salvation Army church and the town said prayers for Jacob and released balloons for him.  There were pictures of the event posted to my Facebook wall, and it was such a nice thing to have happen on such a rough day!

Jake's oxygen saturations are still a big issue, but we are hoping that tomorrow might be the beginning of these numbers stabilizing now that his painful drainage tubes are gone.  I don't know what tonight and tomorrow bring, but I am feeling renewed going into the future thanks to more answered prayer and the most beautiful smile in the world.