Yesterday evening we were finally given permission to go in and see Jonovan for the first time after surgery. He looked so peaceful and like a total rockstar for just coming out of open heart surgery! He had a breathing tube in, a tube to empty out his stomach, another tube coming out of his neck (this makes it easier for them to do labs), an iv in his arm, another one in his foot, a tube to drain from his chest, a catheter, and pace maker wires coming out of his chest in case they are needed. At 6:45, both morning and night, the hospital does their shift change. During this time all parents and visitors are required to leave the bedside for 1 hour. We came back in to see Jonovan close to 8:00 p.m. and he was having a really hard time. By this time they did have him off of his breathing tube but he was having an extremely hard time coming off the anesthesia and was in a lot of pain. They had already given him as much pain medication they could for a baby his age and size. After a while of screaming, crying, and fighting they decided to give Jonovan some medication that would hopefully help relax him. In the mean time of this fighting he managed to get the iv in his foot kinked inside his vein. How many nurses does it take to hold a 13 pound 9 month old baby down? Well, our strong little guy put up so much of a fight it took 4 plus help from mommy and daddy too! After 3 more hours of screaming and fighting they decided to try another medication that would hopefully help him get some rest. 1 hour later it finally did the trick and little man was falling asleep. Because of all the fighting, crying, and all the medication he was now running a high fever and they had him on another machine to monitor his breathing even closer. Having to hold him down and watch him cry not being able to do anything to help him is probably one of the hardest things as parents that we've had to go through! Around 2:30 a.m. the nurses came to Jono's bed because the rhythm of his heart became different from what it had been. This is something his surgeon explained to us may happen after surgery. If they are not able to get it back they would have to use the pace maker wires. Luckily, after putting ice on his head it was able to get his heart rhythm back to normal. His nurse said it was the first time she had ever seen putting ice on the head work without having to give him medicine. At 3:30 a.m. we were finally able to let Jonovan have 2 ounces of formula and another ounce at 4:30. It had been close to 29 hours that he went without eating and he guzzle down that bottle faster than you can blink. After all of this Jonovan went back to sleep and just had some minor fussing throughout the rest of the night. We brought a little music box that his Nana bought him when he was a newborn and that seems to really help him relax. Right now we are just sitting and watching him peacefully sleep and counting down the minutes until we can hold him for the first time! I'm keeping this blog as a journal that he will be able to see when he gets older so I also want to make a note that the blanket he has had with him through this is the very same blankie that he had the day he was born.
Here are some pictures of our little soldier :)
Doesn't he look SO good for being in surgery 1 hour prior to this picture? He makes us proud when he doesn't even know it!
Here he is this morning. No more breathing tube! Staying strong and looking peaceful.
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