Cooper's home and update

On December 24 at 3:15pm Cooper was discharged from the hospital!! We were so happy!! We packed the car and headed to Westcliffe to spend Christmas Eve with Tatum and Kirsta's family. See the end of the post for post-discharge update.

With only an IV, Cooper got to go for a wagon ride around the Pediatrics floor.

Happy baby! You can really see how puffy he was from the IV fluids.

Back in the room hangin' out with Dad.

Unhappy baby :(

In the playroom again

Eyeing Dad's breakfast on the last morning in the hospital, Day 7.

Kinda happy 

Smiling baby!

Sweet!

In his carseat ready to go see his big brother and the rest of the family! Joker is watching over :)

It's now December 31, New Year's Eve, and Cooper has had his follow-up appointment with the surgeon. Everything looks good. The only issue is that something happened in the hospital to make Cooper averse to taking a bottle or sippy cup. Thankfully, we're able to keep him hydrated with his food and he'll start feeding therapy soon to help him learn to drink from a straw. Cooper's sleeping routine was also quite affected from the hospital, so we're slowly working to get back to a normal routine. Incidentally, during Cooper's hospital stay, Michael took Coop's kidney ultrasounds to his kidney doctor and Cooper was released from his care, just under a year from hospitalization for his kidney infection. Yay!! Same for this hospitalization--he's released from care unless we have any issues in the future.

So thankful that we found out about Cooper's issue and had a successful surgery. Mostly glad the hospital stay is over ;-)

Happy New Year, all!!

More progress!!

Cooper just had his epidural and catheter removed!!! Now he only has an IV and they'll put on a toe monitor when it's bedtime. It's so nice that he's more mobile and has less tubes. Hopefully the oral and IV pain meds will keep him comfortable.

We tried to give him milk, which he only drank a little of, and some applesauce which he loved. But, he either gagged on his pacifier or just threw up quite a while later. Not sure what that means. However, they did reduce his IV fluids so that hopefully he will be more thirsty and want to drink milk later...

We are hopeful we can go home tomorrow, but just have to see how the eating and drinking goes, and what the surgeon says tomorrow...... Home would be the sweetest Christmas gift, as long as Cooper is ready.

Coop celebrating!!

It feels so good to stretch my legs with no tubes on them!!

Little video

Look who's standing up in his crib!!

Whew! That was exhausting! Time for a nap!

End of Day 4 plus Days 5 & 6

We are doing well, just busy with little Cooper!!

End of Day 4

The evening of Day 4--Cooper loves watching video of himself laughing.
He's starting to act like himself--yay!!

Cooper waving "bye"

Day 5

The morning of Day 5...sleeping boy

Cooper loves his new remote toy!

Tired baby

Sleepy with bed head

Clapping!

Cooper rolls over for the first time post-surgery!!

Hi!

And now sleepy again

More fun with the remote toy

Mike & Diana came to visit and brought fun toys--thanks!!

Carol & Brian came by to hang out with Cooper, but somehow I deleted the photo....

thanks for the visit!!

Look, ma! NO NG TUBE ANY MORE!!! YAY!! Plus, fun with his new toy!

Love your hair, Coop!

Day 6

Uncle Perry, Aunt Denai, Patrick & Nicole came to visit all the way
from Loveland--so good to see you all!!

Hangin' at the crib!

Cooper's very favorite boy cousin, Patrick!!

Buddies

Hi, Nicole!! And thanks for this cool book & bear :)

Thinking about drinking juice, but not really interested

Love this book!

Fun with book & balloon

Ventured out of our room to the playroom!!

vroom, vroom

Cookin' in the "kitchen"

Silly tongue twister

Freedom!

Here, Dad!

Time for a manicure, followed by a pedicure

And now, to sleep...for 2 1/2hours!

The monster crib

YAY!! Cooper drank 1/4oz of milk and ate some applesauce. Plus we hear stomach sounds :) Progress!

We just found out that Cooper's epidural and catheter will be removed in the next hour. Woo hoo!!!

A great night!!

Wow, Cooper had an amazing nite! He slept 10 hours and only woke occasionally when the nurse came in or when he rubbed the tape holding his NG tube off his nose. They added Tylenol back 2 his regimen yesterday which meant he didn't need any boosters on his epidural last nite. Yay! 

Plus, he has started waving to and flirting with the nurses so he must be feeling better :) 

Michael had been such a trooper staying 3 nights in a row, so I'm so glad the he got to go home and sleep last night!

Last night before bed, the nurses had to remove Cooper's IV from his foot and put it in his head. I think he'll be much happier to have one less thing on his leg! And we got to change his outfit--now he's wearing dinosaur PJs :)

Day 4 update

Today was a good day for Cooper. He rested well, and got some milk of magnesia to start clearing his system. Unfortunately, they didn't remove any of his tubes--there's still too much liquid coming out of his stomach to remove the NG tube, but it is improving. Hopefully tomorrow.... The plan changed on removing the epidural and catheter. They now want to switch him from the epidural painkiller to oral painkiller, rather than adding more IV painkiller, as IV painkillers slow down the gut, which is the opposite effect than what we want. 

Video of Cooper playing with his keys

Cooper's been learning to braid...his tubes. One nurse said she'd
never seen anyone tangle them as much as he did--impressive! ;-)
We look forward to a boy free of tubes!!

Mr Sleepy

zzzzz...

Our early morning shot. Wow, do I look tired!

Because some of Cooper's tubes are attached to the wall, we can move only about 2 feet away from the crib, so we spend our time in this recliner, surrounded by toys within reach.
We are thankful for the nurse who broke the rules and gave us this chair because it's very comfortable, but it does sometimes feel like you're chained to the chair and can't escape even to go to the bathroom ;-)

Reading with Dad!

Playtime

Crashed!

Sleepy

Out like a light

His tummy liquid is lighter and there's less of it coming out--a really good sign :)

Look, Mom! More braiding!