Rough Night, but Getting Better by the Minute!

Hi all!  Sorry for the delay between the last and this post.  Yesterday and last night were rough...much worse than we had anticipated.  Due to a lot of outside factors, there were some times overnight that Collin didn't get the pain medication he needed in a timely manner.  It is a blessing to be one of the least sick children in the ICU, but it also means the attention of the nurses is elsewhere.  While we understand and certainly want them to do whatever they can to help those other families, it is hard to see your baby in pain, even if it isn't as bad as someone else's.  But we're past all that now.  I may take the time later to detail the events of yesterday and last night, but right now I want to focus on the happy stuff!

I think my baby is coming back!  He has started sounding like himself again...until this morning he was hoarse and only made sounds when he was upset.  Now he is starting to sound like the loud and feisty Collin we recognize.  The swelling is also going down!  I asked the nurse this morning and she said it's only because I've seen him constantly for the last couple of days, but other people have noticed now too.  Yesterday I had to look at his feet or hands to recognize Collin.  Today his face is starting to look more like normal as well.  Even this morning his eyes were so swollen that his eyebrows were completely stretched out, but now his eyebrows almost look normal and we can see eyelashes again!  I am here by myself right now because Matt is home sleeping and I so want someone else to be able to witness this!  It's truly like he is changing by the minute.

He really didn't eat anything yesterday even though they stopped his IV fluids to make him hungrier/thirstier.  This morning they had to feed him with a medicine dropper, but he's just finished a small bottle of pedialyte and formula for me!  Nothing like the four 8 oz bottles we're used to seeing him suck down, but this is definitely progress.

One thing has me the most excited...and really brought on the happy tears...He got restless a few minutes ago so I gave him a book that has a lot of different textures and he was actually playing with it.  He was moving it between his hands (not easily as he still has restraints on his arms to keep from pulling wires out).  I asked him if he could do Patty Cake for me and he brought his hands together!  He's obviously not able to clap like he normally would, but I could tell the intent was there.  He was playing!  He tired out pretty quickly and went right back to sleep, but for that couple of minutes he was actually being a little boy and playing!  I can't wait until Matt gets back...Collin responds really well to his daddy's voice so I feel like he will perk up when he gets here.

I know we have so much hard stuff to come and we're definitely not out of the woods yet so please keep praying.  I just had to share a few happy thoughts for those of you who I know are craving good news about our little guy.  More soon!