72 hours after surgery

Hey Everyone...
           Parker is doing so great!!!   He has had such a wonderful day!  Parker was able to have his chest tube removed today as well as a tube that was sitting in his right artery.  He was so brave.  I was dreading this.  I really thought that he would scream and be in alot of pain, but he held his breath and poked his bottom lip out and that was it!!  We were able to give him a bottle feed today.  He did great considering that he hasn't had a bottle by mouth in almost three weeks!!  By the end of today, Parker has had three really good feeds...75 CC's at the last feed...and not one throw up or episode!!! He has tolerated each one so well.  It warmed my heart to feed him for the very first time without watching him struggle.  They showed me how to sit him up today to burp him....and boy did that make my skin crawl.  I was so scared to sit him up, but it didn't seem to hurt him at all!  I did not want to pat his little back hard and the nurse showed me how to be more forceful with my pats.  His retractive breathing is completely gone.  He looks, eats and breathes like a normal baby.  Parker still has both IV's in his upper thighs.  Those will more than likely come out in the morning.  He will have another IV placed in his hand just in case they need it.  Poor Thing!! They finally take two out and put another one right back in.  They have taken him off of his oxygen.  Parker's nurse showed me how to bathe him tonight....VERY CAREFULLY!!! They said that by tomorrow he should be out of the PCICU and go back up to Seven C for his recovery.  They said that the only reason we were not there today was because of the "Real Estate"!!! (Not an available room).  We are so excited for him!!  Willis and I were able to speak with Dr. Joshi (one of the Dr's that was in Parker's surgery) today.  I asked him to tell us about the surgery and the time that is took for each part of the surgery.  He told us that it took them 2 hours to cut through Parker's chest.  They had to cut millimeter by millimeter so they wouldn't cut his heart by accident!!! That blew our mind.  Then they had another hour and a half to find the VSD's and about one hour to repair the holes, and the last hour was placing the neccessary tubes and wiring Parker's chest shut.  UNBELIEVABLE!!! I hope that you all enjoy the pics of Parker.  Thank you for all of your continued prayers!! We love you all.
Love In Christ,
The Crafts