Tyler Joseph Gibb

We are home!  And SO happy to be home.  Little Tyler joined out family at 10:15 am on Thursday August 30th.  After seven days in the NICU he was released and has been doing well since.  Isn't he PERFECT?

 Luke and Bryson came a few times to see their new brother in the baskbibol (hospital).  This is the first time they actually thought washing their hands was fun.  I guess we need to get one of these huge sinks and a motion sensitive water faucet at our house.  Bryson was soaking wet every time by the time his two minutes were up.

 Can't believe I'm outnumbered 4-to-1 around here.  I'm pretty excited about it though.  I am LOVING my family of boys.  Wouldn't have it any other way.

So, a bit about Tyler.  We were quite nervous when it came time deliver him.  There were 7 doctors on hand waiting for him to come, ready for anything.  We were told that he would likely need a lot of help the first little while, particularily with a respirator.  This little champ didn't need any of it.  From the minute we heard his first little cry (pretty emotional moment for me) he has been doing everything on his own.  His blood pressure was a bit low for the first few hours, but once it came up, it didn't drop again.  They did an echo on his heart within a few hours of him being born and already his heart had shown significant improvement from his prenatal echo's!  We couldn't have been happier.  They doctors told us that within the first couple days of life there is a high level of pressure on the heart and that after 3-4 days it would decrease.  The hope was that his function would improve even more in that time.
On his 5th day in the NICU they did another echo and saw some improvements, but not quite as much as the cardiologist was hoping for.  So, they started him on some medication and made us stay for 2 more days to make sure he was reacting well to it.  He did, and Thursday afternoon, exactly one week from his birthdate, we were on our way home.
We are SO grateful that Tyler has done as well as he has.  We feel so blessed that he is so strong and his heart is working as well as it is.  If it weren't for ultrasounds, we would have no idea there was anything wrong with him.  By all outward signs he appears to be perfectly happy and healthy.  In our last conversation with the cardiologist she referred to his condition as "mildly reduced function", a HUGE improvement from what is was prenatally.
We have another echo in 3 weeks to see if the medications have helped his condition even further.  Of course, there is always the chance that it has gotten worse, which is still scary for us.  However, we continue to pray that his heart will continue to improve and get stronger.  Mostly, we feel blessed beyond our ability to show gratitude for.