I haven't been able to post lately and that is a good thing overall.  I have been very busy with taking care of Dominic because he is very awake without the morphine in him.  As long as we are up on his oxy codene and Tylenol he is a happy smiley baby, but unfortunately once we get to the third hour ( he gets a dose of each every four hours) he starts having great difficulty.  It seems he went off of the morphine too quickly and so he is having significant withdrawal symptoms.  He sweats, yawns, sneezes, poops and screams until the next dose.  It is difficult and tiring, but in the grand scheme of things, I know it is transitory and that we are on a good path going in the right direction.  Weaning him off of the other medications will have to be a very slow process.  It also really makes me understand just how much those medications can change their personalities and how long they can have a physiological effect, which gives me hope that eventually we will get back our same Dominic.

Overall though the progress Dominic has made in the last few days is stunning!  I went from not being able to hold him because of his pain just a couple of days ago to now holding him a good part of the day!  Dominic's favorite thing to do is walk around the hospital with me.  I am still trying to take this all in!  I am walking around the hospital with my baby in a stroller and he is smiling and kicking his legs, it is all too good to be true!  The biggest part I am getting used to is well, my,baby has a face now that people accept.  I am so used to being in the mindset of dealing  with peoples' reactions to his old face that I am find myself still in that mode.  I am ready to explain to everyone about what his story is when it ends up not being needed, they just look at him and smile and say, "hello cutie, hello little man".  Some people are curious about his scars because he has so many and so they may ask then, but otherwise we go places now like one of the crowd, we don't attract stares.

I am anxious to post pictures but cannot over the weekend on this floor as the computer room is closed.  I will post pictures of the little man and his progress on Monday if time allows.  How can I ever thank you enough for continuing to pray and support us!  Hopefully, if there are no more big surprises, hopefully we will get to go home in about a week and a half.  I hesitate, and I know they do too, in saying a date because we know the pattern, two steps forward and one step back.  I am hoping to get him stable enough to go home and then continue care once he is home with home nurses or the hospital near us (I am really pushing for home nurses).  He will come home with a pic line and a g-tube that I am learning how to work (did you know you can vent their tummies to let unwanted air out?  Greatest invention ever!).  So again thank you!  Blessings!