Saturday afternoon, the cardiac team officially cleared us for discharge! There are so many comforts from home that we have all missed during our two week stint at CHOP... nothing like cooking your own meals, snuggling in your own bed, and rocking your newborn in your own comfy rocker. Although we missed home terribly, we didn't want to rush Alec out of the hospital until he was ready and we were comfortable providing his care on our own. This overwhelming experience has really taught me to appreciate life... to be thankful for how wonderful our lives really are. We are truly blessed to have a beautiful child... to have the most loving families... and to be surrounded by the most amazing support system ever.
From start to finish, our time spent at CHOP these past two weeks has been full of extremely stressful moments. But it has also been filled with some of the best moments... incredible moments of strength and well, relief. Relief to know that Alec could handle it all, and that Kiel and I could handle it all (even though there were moments that I didn't think I was gonna make it). Being home has been bittersweet. It is wonderful to finally be be surrounded by the comforts of home and to be so close to our families and friends. But it is scary to be in charge of our little one's care when he is only five days post-open heart surgery. We are relieved to have finally developed a good level of pain management. As a mother, nothing makes you feel more powerless than the inability to soothe your baby. Thank goodness for pain medication. It feels so good to see him comfortable. I am really looking forward to the holiday season when he will be fully recovered and this stressful time will be behind us.
The morning of his surgery. Very peaceful.
One day post-op. Having in our arms again was truly the best feeling in the world.
Our nurse, Kate, made him the most adorable sign. The CHOP staff was seriously amazing.
Pure exhaustion and a little high on pain meds.
The morning of discharge. Pure joy!
The fam threw Alec a little welcome home bash. So adorable.
