Day 2

9:00 pm - A little after my last update, Hayes was taken off the paralytics.  We were anticipating that it would take several hours for the medicine to leave his system and even longer before his muscles started to wake up.  Nope, we were wrong!  He started by moving his tongue around a little, then quickly began twitching his little arms and feet, and soon after that he even opened his eyes a bit.  He is still heavily sedated though...and will be until tomorrow.  So, after several hours of holding his hand and talking to him softly, we figured it was safe to step out and grab a quick dinner.  (They do not allow food in his room, and a nursing mama has to eat!)  Well...I guess Hayes saw this as his window of opportunity to be a little mischevious.  Although noone knows exactly what he was planning to do, the nurse walked in to find him with one hand on his ventilator tube and another on his NG.  Oh, and his eyes were ever-so-slightly open and looking right at her.  Busted!  She immediately went to grab two little no-no bands that keep his arms from bending and limit the grabbiness.  I have never been so happy to hear that my boy was being naughty, and I am so glad to see that my little man is starting to get back to himself!

Starting to move his tongue...

 ...and his hands...

...and even his big, swollen feet. 

 Love this little troublemaker!

1:00 pm - When you have a child in the PICU, no news means good news...and that is exactly how our morning has gone.  During both pediatric surgery rounds and general PICU rounds, both sets of doctors were extremely pleased with his progress.  They addressed his swelling and had some minor discussion about him, but for the most part - they just breezed right by.  Which, like I said, is a very good thing.  The plan for now is to keep Hayes on the ventilator for one more day as he is taken off the paralytics and his body begins to wake up.  Still no respiratory distress or reason for concern.  Only precautionary.  I have to admit, this is probably the most challenging part of recovery because I desperately want instant gratification. He endured the surgery, so now I want my sweet, goofy, loving little boy back.  I want smiles.  I want giggles.  I want so badly just to hold him.  My mind says to be patient and give him all the time he needs, but my heart just does not understand.  I know I will look back on these first few days of recovery and say that it went by so fast, but for now...it feels like an eternity.

6:00 am - Of course, I could hardly sleep last night not being by my little lovies side. So, bright and early I headed down the hall to his room. I was pleased to find that there was no real news in regards to his care. The only (minor) issue is that he has a little bit of swelling and is not urinating quite as much as they would like. To help with this, he got a little extra medicine and is continuing to be very closely monitored. A major perk to being in the PICU. And you know what? Even with all of his swelling and tubes, he is still the cutest baby I have ever seen...