Ho Ho Ho

I know....how many pictures can I take in this chair?!

Jacob is really not amused at all.

iPods

Isaac gave Claire his old iPod since he got a new one for his birthday. Claire loves hanging out with Isaac in his bedroom.

Little does she know, her iPod does not have any games on it.

Wait a second…I think she is catching on.

Umm…why isn’t this thing working?

Overalls

Jacob was in such a playful mood today. He was smiling and kicking his arms in his crib. You can see his scar is healing up nicely. This must be part of the excitement.

Today I put him in overalls for the first time...it was exciting. He has been in sleepers for the past 7 weeks so this was fun. He looks more like a little baby and not so much a newborn in clothes.

He decided to have some fun and played on Claire‘s bed while she was at daycare. He and Pinky had a nice talk.

Then it was off to Isaac’s room. He blends right in with his bedding.

Daddy’s Little Monkey

For Christmas Jacob is getting Daddy a photo of himself (yes, I spoiled the surprise). How can I pick which photo to blow up??? They are all too cute.

He is such a chunk in this sweater.

A serious pose.

A cute smile.

And just for fun....what is same and what is different between these 2?

No More Bandages!

Jacob’s follow-up appointments with the cardiologist and cardiac unit went well. His heart is looking great and his wound is no longer infected and does not require anymore daily dressing changes. Yay!

More Holiday Fun

The shirt says it all...

Holiday Card 2010

OK - so we are really behind this year, for obvious reasons. I wanted to get our holiday card done tonight so I surprised Claire and Daddy when they came home tonight with Jacob dressed up in his Christmas outfit. Claire came through the door bawling her eyes out and when she turned the corner, she saw Jacob like this and she immediately went from sad to happy! Anyway, here are some outakes.

Jacob as Santa Claus, however, I think he looks more like a little elf.

Claire thinking over what to ask Jacob Santa what to bring her on Christmas eve.

Cutie Claire and baby Jacob.

A group photo.

Advice From My Big Sister

Claire just loves her little brother. She will sit and watch him and marvel over how he blinks his eyes. He loves to smile at her. Here she is telling him all he needs to know about how we run things in the house....her way!

As long as everyone does what Claire says, there will be no tantrums!

Bandages

We have home care coming in everyday to change his dressings on his wound. It goes halfway down the centre of his chest. He also has 2 other scars where his chest tubes were inserted after his operation.

It’s a good thing he will have a hairy chest like his Daddy! It will hopefully hide most of his scar.

A New Baby

Jacob has been home from hospital for about a week now. It is as if we brought home a completely different baby. He is so much more alert now and his colouring is so much brighter than before. He is enjoying learning about the world and is beginning to show us his personality. He is a talker like his sister already!

Going Home!

I have to admit it will be scary bringing him home…again.

Among some other oral medications, I have to give him 2 daily injections of blood thinners for his blood clot. He will also have a slew of appointments over the next few weeks.

All things are moving in the right direction and we are thankful for the doctor’s, nurses, our family and friends for their prayers. We would not have been able to get through this without everyone’s love and support.

God bless baby Jacob!

Green Light

Jacob got the green light for release! They changed the staus in his room to green.

He is now off the heart monitor as well so he is fully within my care. This preps us for getting used to taking care of him at home on our own.

I also gave him a much needed sponge bath. His hand smelled aweful from his I.V. He is also getting used to the pacifer.

Hard to believe we are bringing him home tomorrow!

Wireless

Jacob had the last of his wires removed today! No more I.V.’s, pacing wires, chest tubes – nothing!! He is receiving all medicines orally.

I also got to get him dressed in his own clothes.

He also did some physio in his green bouncy chair.

And good news – his chest incision doesn’t have any “bugs” so he doesn’t need to go back to the O.R. He’s been put on some antibiotics to take care of the infection instead.

Ups and Downs

We’ve learned throughout this whole process that with every up there is a down.

The upside is that he has now completely been removed from oxygen and is now breathing on his own! Now you can see his cute little face!



The downside is that his chest incision might be infected and if so, then there is a possibility that he might have to go back to the O.R.

Other than that, he is doing well and they have changed his status in his room to a yellow light!

Jacob is really excited about this.

1 Month Milestone

Jacob celebrated his 1 month milestone by moving out of the critical care unit! They recommend that someone stay with him since he will be in his own room. Given I will be able to nurse him now, I will be staying with him until he is discharged....yay! His room number. Yes - they spelled his last name wrong.

He is looking so good. It is incredible how well he looks.

It was really cute. They had this sign up in his room.

I can’t believe he’ll be able to go home in a few days!

We were also able to bring the other kids to see him tonight. They were really excited and can’t wait to bring him home too.

On the Move Again

Jacob has been doing so well. He was removed from the CPAP and is now breathing with a little assistance. He was moved out of critical care tonight! Our prayers are being heard.

Moving

Jacob was moved back to the other critical care room today. Overall he has been doing really well.

There are a few issues however - he developed a blood clot in his right femoral vein as a result from the BAS procedure he underwent; he is being put on blood thinners for this. When they tried removing him from the breathing tube yesterday he was having some difficulty. They found out that his left lung collapsed as a result of his operation and he has now been put on something called CPAP or VPAP. It’s basically a face mask with oxygen. We’ll see how he does with this over the next day. He’s also been put on a diuretic to remove any excess fluids from his body.

I haven’t been able to nurse him yet. He’s been fed through a feeding tube. They said I might me able to in a few days.

He’s doing amazing and we continue to pray.

Overnight

Last night was a very hard night for me. It was the first night I slept at home without Jacob next to me. I cried long and hard and hyperventillated for about half and hour straight. I just want my baby back home. We all miss him. Things don`t feel right without him.

Although I had a hard night, Jacob`s nurse said he had a good night and he`ll most likely be moved back to the first critical care room he was in when he was first admitted by tomorrow.

He`s been on a breathing tube since he was admitted. They tried removing it today but he was having some difficulty - which is pretty common. So he had to be put in the `box` which essentially is a box put over his head so that his oxygen levels stay saturated.

I also got to hold him today, so that was really exciting. It was hard holding him with all the wires and tubes but still felt good nonetheless.

He`s a fighter and we continue to pray.

24 hours

The next 24 hours are critical. So far he has been doing well in recovery. He`s had little swelling and only a slight fever.

We`ve been sleeping in the O.R. waiting room the past 2 nights. Given he is under constant supervision we`ve decided that we should sleep at home tonight and check on the other kids. This has also been very hard on them wondering what has happened to their little brother.

Please continue to pray for him.

Operating Room

We had thought Jacob would have surgery closer to the end of the week however an opening became available in the O.R. so Jacob was able to get into surgery today. The five hour operation went well and he has been moved to the post-operation recovery room in the critical care unit.

They had warned us that when we saw him after surgery that he would look really bad. He has NUMEROUS tubes going in and out of him. At least 4 or 5 in his tiny nose alone. There was not much swelling so they were able to close his chest.

Our poor little baby....he's so brave.

We all continue to pray.