Baby: He’s been home from the hospital for a week now and this first week home has had its up and downs. As far as Stephen’s health is concerned, that’s one of the ups. He got his stitches out Friday and the wound looks great. It’s going to heal up beautifully. He has a cardiology appointment this coming week to check out all the new parts of the ticker, so we are looking forward to seeing his heart work in a new and different way. No more hole, no more bypass, new pulmonary valve! I am excited. He has a couple new teeth coming in, which will make 4 total! He hasn’t made much progress in the milestone area this month, but we kind of knew it would be slow because of the surgery. He lost a little bit of weight since being home, but we are working on getting his appetite back to where it was pre-surgery. He’ll be chunked up again soon.

Parents: The hardest part of being home for us is Stephen’s new-found separation anxiety. We talked to the nurses about it and they said that yes, he’s at a perfect age to be going through something like that, plus he just went through a traumatic experience, so he’s probably going to be on the high-maintenance side. (My cousin also brought up a good point that he was like this after his first surgery too. I think I had written it off to him just being a fussy baby, but she’s right. It’s a very similar situation.) Any time we put him down to play or we leave the room or even just walk out of his line of sight, he cries and cries and cries. Of course we feel bad for him and give him as much extra loves as we can, but it can be really tiring too. And we feel our patience dwindling. It’s hard because there’s not much we can do for him and we sometimes wonder if he’s in pain or just grouchy or what? It’s been awesome to have my husband home this week, so at least we can switch off watching him while the other can get a couple things done. It’s also been nice because we’ve had a couple of awesome date nights/afternoons! Woo-hoo!

Mommy’s Thoughts: Next week I’ll be on my own, since the husband HAS to work I guess. So I’m mentally preparing for a rough week, and just telling myself to enjoy the fact that the wee one needs me so much right now because it will all go by so quickly. The stuff I want to do can always be done another day. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that, especially when I need to pee or get a glass of water and it’s like the end of the world for him! But I’ll do my best. Little grumpy butt wearing me out. But as far as the bigger picture is concerned, I’m so happy to be on the other side of this surgery. It’s done. No more anxiety and fears building up about it. Sure, I have fears about other things now, but the big one is over. I can manage pretty much anything else that comes along at this point!