9 days

That's how long we've been in this place. It seems that the walls get smaller and smaller. Argh! It is so BORING sitting here all day and all night. I can understand why Travis is so fussy.....I would be too. Nothing new to report....we are just waiting until the antibiodics run their course. Then, if nothing changes, we'll get to go home. Thankfully, the echo they did yesterday looked good. THey did not see any of the blood bacteria growing on the heart. That is a blessing! Travis is still not wanting to eat formula but we were able to get some oatmeal and we are mixing it in with that. He is definitely taking solids well. He also continues to be fussy although I think he was better today than previous days. The cardiologist prescribed him some benedryl and we are hoping that it will ease his discomfort and his itching. We can definitely tell the itching is bugging him because he will rub his hand up and down on his t-shirt right above his scar. Poor little guy. He also developed a little rash on his chin (probably from laying down for so long) and we have been having to put cream on it. It looks better today so that is another blessing.

Roger and I are definitely feeling run down. Not getting enough sleep and then sitting with a fussy baby in a small room can definitely drain you. We are both super worn out. I keep telling myself....a few more days, a few more days. Tonight, I have the night shift. I am hopeful that Travis will sleep well! Good night.......

Tuesday Night Update.

We were ready to go home tomorrow, but the plan has changed again.

At about 2:30 they took Travis back to the operating room to put in his PICC line. They had to put him under anesthesia again, which meant he had to get intubated again. The good news is that he had no ill effects after going through the 1 hour procedure. The bad news is that they could not get the PICC line in. The doctor who was trying to put in the PICC line felt really bad. Travis has always been difficult with getting an I.V. line or anything that has to do with poking him with a needle. Travis currently has a Trans Thoracic line in that they can give all of his meds. So they will keep that in.

What this means for us is that we will be here until the antibiotics run there 10 day course. That means Sunday night, but because the last dose will be late that night we will be staying an extra night. So possible discharge on Monday morning.

We are still worried about Travis not eating from the bottle very well. The doctors continue to reassure us that they are not worried, but we are. The only thing he likes is bananas (See Pictures Below). He continues to be fussy for long periods of time. Part of his problem is his boredom. We both take him on wagon rides around the IMU. Tonight he totally lost it and cried for a long time in the room. I tried to console him and nothing worked. I then picked him up and took him outside the room and amazingly he was happy as ever. We walked around the IMU for about 20 minutes and finally he went to sleep.

Hopefully we have a couple of quiet nights and Travis will lose some of his fussiness and get back to being the happiest baby on the block.

Travis loves bananas.

Nicole being funny as Travis shows off his fussy side.

Travis enjoyed his bananas much better standing up.

Our friend Jen was feeding Travis, but was a little slow for Travis' liking.

Monday Pictures

Can't get enough of this smile.

Travis went on a trip around the IMU with Mommy and Grandma

Travis was smiling at all the nurses, but when they told him he had to stay he gave them this face.

Daddy wasn't very smart and gave him meds after he ate. At home he usually pukes up afterwards and they wanted to get his meds in him at a certain time. Travis was o.k. Can you guess what he ate?

Travis after getting a much need bath.

Travis absolutely loved his bath. He was such a trooper.

Monday Night Update

Travis continues to be SUPER fussy. Our poor roommate. The rumor is that we will be getting our own room tonight. This will be great, because Travis hasn't slept very well.

Travis has to go under anesthia tomorrow to get his PICC line in (which is the line we will give antibiotics for at home) and get a pre-discharge echo done. They are looking for heart function and to make sure the bacterial infection in his blood did not grow on his heart or valves. Please pray that it hasn't!!!! Maybe we will get out of here in a few days!

Monday Morning Pics

A little update. Travis had another rough night. Nicole stayed the night, so I could get a little sleep before having to come back to work. He only slept an hour or two and was fussy most of the night. There is something not quite right with him. According to the cardiologist his heart looks great and the problem is not with it. Hopefully, we can figure it out and get home. Accordin

The doctors did allow him to have some soft solids last night. He got to eat some pureed carrots and did great with it, but unfortunately we had to give him meds 15 minutes after he ate. Well at home we have learned that if you give him meds after eating he will puke it up. Unfortunately last night we had to give him his meds and just like at home he puked up all the carrots and meds all over the bed. It was a mess, but Travis seemed a whole lot happier afterwards. The nurse was super nice and helped me give him a bath and got him all cleaned up. Travis really enjoyed the bath and was acting like his old self, smiling and flirting with the Nurse.

We are hoping today we will find out about a possible time frame on leaving the hospital.

"Daddy, When are we getting out of here?"

Travis is starting to act a little more like himself.Travis flashing his million dollar smile

Travis showing off his big bug eyes

Travis didn't forget about Mother's Day. He got Nicole a nice card and personalized it.

Our new room in the IMU. We are sharing it with another heart baby. It is hard to share because the babies sometimes set each other off with the crying.

Travis loves to sleep on his side.

Sunday Evening Update

For some reason we are not able to log on to blogger.com from the hospital right now. I am wondering if they didn't block our IP address because of the nurse issue we had the other evening. If they did, that would really be crappy. Anyway, that explains why our updates have been more periodic.

Travis continues to do well, All his numbers are looking good. He has been VERY grumpy and whiny over the last few days which is rather tough because nothing we do seems to soothe him very well. They have been giving him Motrin round the clock for aches and pains and also Tylenol as needed. They have also given him several doses of methadone as he showed symptoms of withdrawal from the morphine he was on after surgery. His tummy seems to not be working right quite yet and he is really backed up. This is adding to his discomfort. I am hoping that the next day or so will show some improvement in his mood. The good news is he is definitely have some periods of time where he is his old self. He has even been flashing that smile for us!!! That was a great mother's day present.

We are still having to share a room in the IMU which is horrible....our neighbor is super nice but she puts her TV up sooo loud. She also leaves her 8 month old all alone over night. That is kind of crazy to me. The nurses in the IMU have several patients assigned to them (often 4!) so they are not in the room that much. Unfortunately, this means that when our neighbor baby cries, no one rushes over to soothe him and then he ends up waking up Travis :( They keep saying they are trying to get us our own room but they are busy. 3/8 rooms on the cardiac pod are being used as PICU overflow......so, I am not keeping up my hopes that we will get our own room :(

Our prayer request tonight is for patience for mom and dad as Travis works through his aches, pains, and fussiness. It is difficult to stay calm when you are on little sleep and your sick baby is crying all the time and NOTHING will comfort him. Please also pray that Travis continues to well enough for us to be coming home soon. Hopefully, they will be able to send us home with a PICC line I.V. that would allow us to give the antibiodics for his blood infection from home. They have mentioned that they could, and would, do this if all else is looking good.

Thanks for all of the comments and support. It means a lot to us to hear from you ....especially when we are having rough days!!!

Saturday Afternoon Update

Good news is we were moved to the step down unit. The bad news is we have to share a room. So far, we've listened to four episodes of Good Times. We don't even want to leave to get food because were essentially leaving him with strangers.

Travis is almost himself again. He is looking around and playing with toys. He smiled a little bit, but still not the happiest baby like he is at home. His color looks great and his Saturation level has been hanging in the high 85-90's That is extremely high for him, at home he saturates at a rate of 72-80.

He is taking most of his medication orally now. He still has a Transthoracic I.V. line in for his antibiotics. He has been eating a lot better and actually had a good bowel movement finally.

We have not got a plan yet from the doctors. We are still hoping that they might let him go home on the antibiotics that we can give or have a home health nurse.

We appreciate what this place has done for Travis and our family. We just like our home a lot better.