And there will always be a part of me, nobody else is ever gonna seebut you and me, my little boy*

*I changed the lyric from girl to boy. I just had to put that out there :)

Part 3

As you will notice looking at pictures of Brennan, he has a bunch of turbans on his head. They are supposed to have them after surgery for a day or two, however our stubborn little man did NOT like them, and would fight and fight until he had made them come off. He got rewrapped about 3 or 4 times before they finally gave up and left them off him. He was very fiesty when he had the turbans on, as well as the ports and the lines connected to him. By the third morning, he was pretty much disconnected from everything, because he kept kicking them out, and he was much happier once they were gone.

(Also, as you will notice, his face started swelling up, especially the right side, since he was laying on that more than the left. His right eye ended up swelling completely shut, and the left one would barely open by the end of the second night. But the swelling started going down on the third day.)

This kid got rewrapped a lot!

The first night went fine. He had his transfusion and he slept as well as can be expected. He was eating small amounts, so he would get hungry a little more frequently, but once he ate he would typically fall back asleep. Our sweet pediatrician came to check in and visit us that night too, and it really helped calm me down. She was apparently checking in with Dr. Reisner a lot too, so she was keeping good tabs on our little man. Heather and Ryan came to see us that night, and it was really nice to have a friendly face there! I was really grateful for their visit. Jacob can sleep anywhere without and problems, but I am not blessed with that ability. Thankfully, when you are in the PICU, you can reserve a sleep room, which is a small little room with a couch/bed thing and a lamp in it. I slept for a few hours in those both nights, and was able to get some decent shut eye. The first morning was ok for little man. He had been getting morphine every 4 hours, and by the second day he really only had one or two doses, and switched to mainly Tylenol. He also made friends with his nurses - he started smiling some and as long as he wasn't being poked or prodded much, he was pretty happy.

Both Dr. Reisner and Dr. Williams came to check on him that morning, and they were both pleased with how he was doing. They did have some issues with the line that was in his head collecting blood drainage. It had gotten clogged so he ended up bleeding out more than they expected, but once they got the line clean it started working fine. And it didn't cause any issues, just was a bit messy. They also took his catheter out that morning, so we got to start changing his diapers again. It was kind of nerve wracking because I didn't want to hurt him and he doesn't love getting his diaper changed. The nurse helped me with this first one (he was still hooked up to some much, it was a little tricky) and I swear it was like I have never changed a gross diaper before! She was nice about it, but I felt pretty foolish.

As the day progressed, he was slowly acting like his normal self. He still had a ways to go, but he was making progress. That afternoon, I FINALLY got to hold him!! I was so excited. I was also nervous! He was still hooked up to some stuff, so it took a little maneuvering, but I got to hold my little guy. I held him for about an hour and twenty minutes. I felt so bad putting him down, but since he couldn't move around much, I had to stay in the same position and my back, arm and bum were numb! And I had to use the ladies room...haha. His disposition was a lot happier after I held him, and that made me feel so good! I felt really helpless through this whole process, so seeing him brighten up a little after being held was so wonderful. I love my little chunk so much!!

This is what the minimally invasive approach looks like. His incisions look really good!

FOOD!

When Dr. Reisner came for his evening rounds, he decided that Brennan should stay in the PICU one more night, just to keep an eye on him. Nothing worried him, he just did it as a precaution. Brennan was doing pretty good, and he got some decent rest that night. So did Jacob and I.

The next day was pretty uneventful! Brennan continued to do well, and was SO happy when Jacob got hold him! My mom came by for a visit, and it was great to have her stop by and see us! We also got moved down to the floor and out of PICU. The move didn't happen until that afternoon, but it was nice to have more privacy. We had an incredibly positive experience in the PICU, and the nurses and doctors that worked there were absolutely wonderful. I was so grateful for each of them and all they did to help little man. Before we left PICU, Dr. Williams came and took the line out of his head since the drainage had pretty much stopped.

His swelling was going down some at this point!

So happy to have Daddy hold him!

I love this chunk so much.

Once we got to the main floor, things were pretty calm. The nurses didn't come in as much and Brennan was continuing to get his sweet personality back! And I got to hold him more. We were both happy. Jimmy and Cori came to see us that afternoon, and that night My brother, Lindsay, Joel, Darlene and Savannah all came to visit. It was nice to see them, and so great to see my Banana!! I had really been missing her. She was most excited to see my brother (Gordon), but she was happy to see me too. She was really good about being sweet to Brennan, even though we didn't let her get to close. She really only saw his face for the most part, but when she saw his incisions for the first time, she gasped and said "Oh no, his boo boos!" She has be gentle with his head ever since, so that's been super great!

Happy boy! And you can see how his head shape is already more round!

Friday morning came and after the doctor's made their visit to check on Brennan, Dr. Reisner said we could go home! They had originally thought we might have to stay until Saturday, but Brennan was doing well enough that they said we could leave around noon. We were SO happy. Brennan's biggest issue was some crazy projectile vomiting/massive spit up's, so it was totally doable to deal with at home (but so super gross...he's still doing that now!! He spit up some before, but sheesh!) So we got cleared for discharge, got Brennan's medicine and headed home. The only thing they didn't do before we left was clean his head off. They didn't clean it at all while we were there (one nurse took compassion on his ear from when the line had backed up) but they told us that when we got home we had to give him a bath and clean him up. Which was fine, but it really stressed me out. Thankfully Jacob did it and Brennan was pretty cooperative! We were all glad to get home, and I think Brennan relaxed more being home too.

Happy to be home.