Day 2 off the ventilator

Well, Evan is ROCKING this no ventilator thing. Which doesn't surprise me, because he is, after all, my Super Evan. :-)

His CO2 levels on his blood gas this morning was 39- which is thisclose to perfect.

Sooooo. We are so close to getting him home. A few things to get out of the way, and a little bit of time, and it's home AT LAST.

If we get out the day we're hoping, we will have spent nearly 250 days hospitalized. We've seen all four seasons- summer, fall, winter, and now spring. We've gone through Daylight Saving Time twice. We rang in a new year.
Holidays have gone by- Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas , New Year's, Valentine's Day, St Patrick's Day..... Easter is coming soon.

Did you know that by the end of this month, we'll only have 4 months to go until Evan is a year old? That's soon! I'm not sure what we'll do for his very first birthday, but I have to come up with something extra special.... After all, Evan is amazing, and I want to celebrate that.

Actually, we have a lot to celebrate- we have a beautiful son, who is extremely strong, a loving relationship between me and my husband, family, and most of all, we will celebrate Evan being home from now until eternity.

Taking him home doesn't end the hardships we may face in the future... It's not the end of our journey. We're just changing our venue. :-) BUT how wonderful to have him with us at all times. To be able to go to the park, or zoo, or, heck, even grocery shopping! To be able to see him playing or napping while I fold laundry.

To have him greet Daddy when he comes home from work.
To sit back and just BE together at home.

Most times when I think these things, I usually find myself a little panicked- not because of worry about my ability to handle Evan at home.... But because it just hurt too much to think about it.
Too often on this roller coaster ride, we've gotten our hopes up, only to have them plummet.
You teach yourself not to hope too much, by the end of it.

But when you feel that hope again, it just makes it so much sweeter. And to see those hopes realized... Well, I could almost go out into the hallway and start doing cartwheels.