Out of ICU

We're out of the PCICU!!!! WOOHOOOOOO! We have our own room now and Matt calls it the deluxe suite. It actually has a couch for us to sleep on instead of just a chair...it's not that bad at all! I slept with her last night and Matt's taking over tonight so that I can get some sleep at home. The couch is nice...but it's not very easy to sleep around here. They come in every hour to check vitals and then are in constantly with different meds and changing things around. Riley slept really well though and I'm so happy about that!!!!
She's doing so well....it's absolutely unreal. The nurses in PCICU called her the star of the unit. She is amazing everyone. We've only had a couple of very small setbacks and for the most part everything is going so smoothly. This afternoon the surgeons came in during rounds to check on her and they took out her chest tube and the last of the other tubes. We had to leave the room during that because they said we wouldn't want to see it and she would be really upset. They gave her another dose of oxycodone before they did it. She handled it pretty well (we could hear her crying down the hall which made my heart break) but she was incredibly strong and brave once again and now is resting (okay...more like she's passed out or stoned).
I finally got to hold her and it was so awesome. You SO take for granted just being able to hold and love and kiss your babies whenever you want to. I've wanted to have her back in my arms since the nurses took her Thursday morning and it finally happened. We have to hold her very carefully and have to pick her up in a very different way (it's just weird to have to think about how you pick up your kid...it's just not something I've ever really thought about). Holding her is great but she's still pretty uncomfortable so sometimes it's best to just leave her laying down in her crib and just sit next to her and hold her hand. She's much more alert (when not stoned out of her mind!) and we're reading to her and playing with her. She's not eating so well so they're watching that, but they said that now that the chest tube is out she'll likely start to eat again.
The most amazing thing is that the doctors and surgeons say she'll probably go home in a couple of days. When Matt and I first heard this we were stunned. WHAT?!?!? First of all, we were told we'd be here a lot longer, and second of all....I'm not so sure we're ready! I mean, I can't wait to have our family back together at HOME again, but she's still really fragile and sore and on drugs and I'm no nurse! I suppose I'll be terrified whenever she comes home so it might as well be sooner, rather than later. We're confident they won't send us out of here unless they know she's ready and we've already been told we'll be back here a lot for follow up stuff in the next few months.
So....all in all, this little girl is doing better than we could have ever, ever imagined she would be. We've only gotten one smile so far but we're sure more are coming soon!!! We're just praying that it continues to go smoothly and that she continues to feel little pain. (oh...and that they don't send us home too soon!!!!...stupid insurance companies!).