There's no place like home...

Yipeee...we're home!!! It has been a LONG week but we are home and Cooper is doing great, we actually came home Saturday afternoon...Can you believe it? How is it possible to have open heart surgery and be home 4 days later? It is absolutely amazing to me...we feel so blessed that everything went so well and our little guy is happy and healthy again. As I posted before things weren't so good for some of the babies that were in the PICU with us. When we got home Judd's mom told us that she saw one of the babies who had passed away while we were there in the paper, her obituary said that she died during heart surgery on March 10th...How scary is that, I just keep thinking that that could have been Cooper. This whole experience has strengthened our family so much and I will never take for granted holding my baby again. It was so hard to watch him hurting so much and not be able to hold him. We were not able to hold him until he was breathing on his own...so we were very anxious to get his breathing tube out. When they were finally able to remove it he freaked out and was turning blue, he was in pain and so upset and wouldn't breathe so they had me and Judd stand next to him and try to talk to him and calm him...it worked, so a few minutes later they let me hold him and it was the most amazing moment we have ever shared...I think it was even more special than the first time I ever held him (when he was born) because I now appreciated him so much more. I was so happy, and even though he was still hooked up to dozens of tubes and iv's I knew he was going to be fine- nothing else mattered. He was so hungry and hadn't eaten for over 2 days so the nurse suggested that I try to give him a bottle of pedialite. Anyone who knows Cooper knows that he has NEVER taken a bottle of any kind before. I was so worried about this that before his surgery I think I tried every bottle and sippy-cup ever made and nope...nothing. So you can imagine our shock when he latched right onto the bottle and sucked the entire thing down! I was seriously in shock and an hour later he was nursing again and on his way back to his sweet little self. After he was eating again the tubes started coming out one by one, it was so exciting to start seeing our little guy improving and looking more like himself. We had some AMAZING nurses in the PICU that took such good care of all of us. Primary Children's Hospital is such an awesome place, they seem to think of everything. They really do care about their patients and their families so much. Braxton and Dawson were obviously very worried about their baby brother so the nurse suggested they meet with a family specialist. She sat down with them and did an entire class with them on what to expect Cooper to look like and she even gave them these little hospital dolls that they were able to dress and put iv's and band-aids and stuff on so that they were familiar with what Cooper would have on him. They were so cute when they saw him for the first time, they love him SO much and it was so cute to see how excited they were to have him home again. They are taking very good care of him now that we are home and they are such big helpers. The look on Cooper's face when he got home was priceless...He SMILED so big and just looked around in complete delight. It is so good to have this all behind us...I have grown more this week than I could have ever imagined. As I said before, this experience has made us all so much stronger and helped us all realize how precious life is and how much we love each other. I missed my boys so much and now have a much deeper appreciation for them and their sweet little personalities. They are such good kids, and Judd was amazing. He was so comforting and nurturing and never left Cooper's side the entire time. We both slept there all 4 nights, and although it was the most uncomfortable night's sleep ever, it was so comforting to have him by my side. I could have never done this without him and without the love and support of all of our family and friends. We now realize how special our little Cooper is, and like I said before...I know that Heavenly Father has great things in store for him. He is SO strong...when we were leaving the hospital me and Judd joked, "Cooper, you came into this hospital a baby and you came out a man!" It really is true, he is already back to his smiley self like nothing ever happened...AMAZING!!!