The good, the bad, and the funny

The Good:

--Max's swelling is way down. We have had some moments of him opening his eyes just a crack to peek at us. He has some moments of being awake and aware, and seems to be much more calm than he has been.

So we've gone from this at 2 days post op

To this, 3 days post op.

-- Max's incision looks fantastic! I'm going to include a picture of it here, with apologies to the sqeamish. Its very flat to the skin, the sutures are tiny, and his hair is already starting to grow just a little bit of fuzz. Its great that one of my biggest worries pre-op (what will the scar look like) is going to be such a non-issue.

-- I have had some sleep. After 3 nights of not being able to sleep much at all, the past two nights I've been able to catch some zzzz's. Good thing because it was starting to feel a bit like night of the living dead. You know you've been in the PICU a while when a tiny closet-spaced "sleeping room" with a crappy twin bed and a wafer-thin pillow is a huge blessing.

--Max is no longer fluid restricted, which means he can eat as much as he wants, when he wants. Only being able to feed my baby 2 oz every four hours was crazy. He seems to know that he's free to eat, because two hours after his last bottle, he woke up making famliar hungry sounds and downed another 4 oz, then feel back into a milk-drunk stupor.

--I saw a lactation consultant today, and when we get released from the PICU (please, later today, please?) she's going to make arrangements to get a great big bed so that I can sleep next to him. She's going to come in and help get Max propped up and arranged so that we can go back to breastfeeding.

--Church in the Primary Children's branch. I set a new record for scruffiness at church yesterday morning when I went in jeans, a t-shirt, and slippers. And I wasn't out of place. Church was 30 minutes long: a song, a prayer, a song, the sacrament, 3 testimonies, a song, and a prayer. Hmmm. Maybe every week should be like that!

--Our nurses, for the most part, have been wonderful. Our favorite nurse, Ian is back today. He and Tom hit it off well when he was taking care of us the other night. We have traded emergency childbirth stories, swapped theories about swine flu, heard about his trips fishing with piranhas in Costa Rica, and made a whole bunch of jokes about male nurses a la "Meet the Parents." (It started when I was trying to find a pump room, and quickly deteriorated to all of us laughing about "I have nipples, Greg, can you milk me?"

--We have had a tremendous amount of support. People have come to visit, brought meals, had meals delivered, helped with blessings, and watched my girls in the playroom. I have wonderful friends and parents who have helped watch the kids, the house, etc. Its been such a blessing to not have to worry about those things and just be here.

The Bad:

--My suitcase was in the PICU waiting room yesterday (because there's no where else to put it!) and someone went through my suitcase and stole my debit card and all my cash. It was only about $15, and we cancelled my debit card before they charged anything, but still. How sick to be stealing from someone in the exact same position as you! Seriously. I'm not too worked up about it because I have so many bigger things to worry about. And I figure karma's gonna give them a big ol' bite on the butt for stealing money from someone's suitcase in the waiting room of the hospital. The funny part? Whoever it was was pretty dumb, because they didn't take my credit card, or the prepaid debit card that was there.

--We're still in the PICU. Sodium levels haven't yet normalized. Just got word we're here another night, and in the hospital until Wednesday at the earliest. This seems to change almost hourly, so we'll see what happens from here. The attending here is confused, all the other attendings are confused as to why this is happening. For me, I'm not surprised. Leave it to us to have a bizarre complication that no one can figure out. (Where is Dr. House when we need him?!)

--Cafeteria food. Blah. Thank goodness for friends that are bringing us food.

The Funny:

-- I'm pumping breastmilk around the clock. Primary's is very breastfeeding friendly, and there are pumping rooms all over the hospital. The funny part is that the collection cups they give me are urine specimen cups. I now have a pink bucketful of little urine specimen cups filled with frozen breastmilk.

--The interaction between the residents, interns, nurses and doctors is very funny to watch. It makes me laugh to see the nurses tell these brand new doctors what they should do. I wonder if the nurses ever get frustrated that they know more than the doctors, and yet the doctors get the recognition, and the prescription pad.

--And the funniest?

I found Max's finger like this this morning. Shows you how he really feels about all of this.