Jake's very own room

Jake was moved to his own room just a little over 24 hours after surgery. He is indeed our miracle baby! Yesterday around 1:30 they removed the central line that was connected to his heart and just added an extra IV in his arm for medicine. After resting for a few hours, they had a room ready for us on the 15th floor and took us down around 5:00. Here is a picture of Jake with his nurse Kate who we really loved. She is Irish with a great accent and really liked Jake since he's a McCathran.

It was a relief in many ways to leave the CCU unit since we all could now stay with Jake and not be limited to two of us at a time with him. Also, his room has a bed for Ty and I to sleep in the room with Jake. We met many people in our short time on the CCU floor and came away realizing how blessed we are that our baby is doing so well so quickly. Jake was by far the most "well" baby in the CCU as all of the others seemed to have countless complications. One of the little girls two rooms down died while we were there. It was completely heartbreaking to watch her family and especially her mother go through the excruciating pain of losing their little girl. Pray for that family as they cope with such a difficult time. They only spoke Spanish and had a hard time communicating which made everything even more difficult. By the time we got Jake to his room last night we were overwhelmed, tired, but thankful for Jake's miraculous recovery. Jake was quite hungry and he was thankful for the pedialyte they gave him Tuesday evening. Here is he already holding his own bottle and then resting comfortably with a full stomach:

We were all exhausted Tuesday night and everything became quite funny. The hospital here has an in-house radio station where the kids can call in and request songs. A representative from the station came by to ask if we wanted to participate in a contest they were having. The kids could decorate holiday cutouts with glitter and stickers and the winners got prizes. Unfortunately we were the last room and they were out of Christmas trees to decorate so we got a menorah. Destin and I gladly decorated our construction paper menorah and even wrote Jake's name in glitter on it. We started laughing really hard as we posted it on the wall with stickers since we're definitely not Jewish. I'm pretty sure our nurse thought we were crazy. Nonetheless, Jake did win his first prize for our craft, a cute stuffed dog that we can record messages for Jake in. It was perfect comic relief.

After our craft party, Ty entertained himself with a very strange website he found where he could play a game which simulated open heart surgery. It was harder than it looked and Ty and I both struck out as heart surgeons. We should keep our day jobs, but in a strange way it helped us understand better Jake's surgery.

We slept fairly well last night in two hours increments with the nurse coming in to check on Jake. Jake did pretty well too except when he got mad and ripped out his oxygen tube. Early this morning a surgeon came by and took out Jake's chest tube. Its been a rough day for him since he's more alert and realizing that he is in pain. After the tube came out it was wonderful though because we got to hold Jake for the first time. The first time I held him he got pretty upset though which was hard. Its difficult to watch your baby cry when you can't help. The nurse today has been extremely helpful and has worked hard to keep Jake as comfortable as she can. Jake is doing really well, he just doesn't know why he's hurting. We've taken turns holding him this afternoon which he is starting to enjoy more and he actually just woke up and smiled for the first time. Ty got him to even play with his toy basketball. Our boy is a fighter and a trooper.

We're in room 1533 here at Texas Children's in the West Tower for those who have asked. Its a nice floor...we're planning to take Jake for a ride in a wagon this evening around the floor. Jonesa, Destin, and my parents have been here all day and have been a huge help. We're very thankful for family! We'll continue to keep this updated. Thanks for the continued prayers...they're definitely working :)