First Christmas

The Elephant's head is bigger than Jimmys!

This was Jimmy's very first Christmas - I don't think he knew it was Christmas. It's hard to be aware of day or night much less special holidays. His nurse knew it was Christmas - she dressed him in this ridiculous (ridiculously cute?) Christmas vest and booties! Volunteers are so kind and generous at his hospital, always making itty bitty clothes, or blankets, dropping off beany babies to decorate his room and bed. It's really so very sweet of them. The outfits? hm, I'm not so sure about those!

And I'm guessing Jimmy's not so sure either.

When I arrived he was decked out in his Christmas vest and matching booties.... but not looking too happy about it. He was squirming all over, seeming quite unsettled. (I should have taken a picture! The sight of his tiny body swimming in the teeny tiny clothes made me giggle.) But my mommy heart agreed with him - it was time to take the silly clothes off.

...Now that I think of it, I wasn't much into clothing when I was a child either ;)

Our view out Jimmy's window

Once again, God has answered our prayers, and given our little one grace! Jimmy responded beautifully to the blood transfusions. Within hours of the second one his precious baby pink color had come back and he had energy to show us his opinions. His Hematocrit levels are up to a healthy level. We've added Iron once a day to his feeding to help his body along and prevent anemia again. We're still watching his electrolytes as well - making sure his kidney's are functioning at their best. So far so good.

Feeding-wise we've been making some changes. Trying him on continuous feeds - 8 ml an hour while also dropping his feeding tube further down into his intestine. The thought was it might help his heart rate not drop so frequently and ease his possible reflux. It didn't make enough of a difference so he's back to eating every three hours for a nice relaxing 2 hour feed.

He's reached a whole 2 pounds 12 oz! I think his cheeks are starting to look chubby - at least chubby for him :)