Samantha Mae Barnes: And we're outta here!

Yep, it's true. We are out of the hospital! Yay! Sorry, I forgot to post yesterday. The gist of it was that she decided to make up for lost time in the eating department. All the nurses and doctors couldn't believe how much she was eating. That's my girl! Otherwise it was just waiting until today for discharge. They were in getting a final echo on Sam first thing this morning and her pressures are within the normal range even when she is off the oxygen. Thankyou Lord! So you would think this means she doesn't need the oxygen, but the cardiologist still insists she stays on it for a couple weeks. I guess that is bearable. She is also still on a diuretic, but only because they have to wean it slowly for post op fluid accumulation. Her xrays continue to show improvement. So she is on lasix twice a day, tylenol as needed for pain and oxygen. Considering she had open heart surgery to repair a significant defect only 5 days ago, we certainly can't complain. What an adventure for our family!

We got to skype with both our kids-at least for the few minutes of attention span they had, and with our friends at couple's group! How amazing technology is to keep us so connected with the ones we love, even when two states away. It really is awesome to see God working not only in our life, but also in the lives of the people close to us. I guess Charlee was telling boys at school about Jesus and when they didn't believe her she said she knew the truth. That is a child-like faith! We can only pray she continues to hold onto that as she grows up, not to mention share it with others! I am so looking forward to seeing my kiddos-I miss them a lot. We are hoping to skype with them again tonight.

For now we are just hanging out at the hotel. Its nice to be in a room that doesn't have a glass door and constant people in and out! Sam is tolerating the oxygen pretty well-I have found the canula on top of her nose a few times :) stinker! We basically will keep her on oxygen right up until we board the plane. We will hand off the tank to them, board and then when we get back to billings, we will go get another tank. At least we don't have to deal with it on the plane! Sam has to go back for a quick evaluation tomorrow-just to make sure her incision looks ok, and then that should be our last time a the Childrens Hospital. We are very much looking forward to coming home Wednesday. Thanks again to all of you who have been so diligently praying for us during this ordeal. This will most likely be the post until we get home.