Christopher Strikes Back

Whew, what a day. We had a great visit with Christopher; the doctors have removed his "Cake safe" and put him back on the nasal oxygen. It's another nice step forward, but it irritates his little nose so I hope it comes out soon. The threat to his left lung is quickly abating, so much so that they doctors removed his chest tube this morning! Man, little kids sure do heal and or go into crisis faster than I'm used to!

Christopher lost all of the weight he gained yesterday, which I found out is because he wasn't peeing. When he finally did, he lost almost 3.5 oz! Again, back to my quick math example, I guess that's equivalent to a 200lb man losing ~6 pounds of urine in a single day (about 3/4 of a gallon)! I have a feeling that story will come back to him at a later time.

We got to feed him today through a syringe into a tube in his stomach, which was another cool moment. He was very active today and tolerated us holding his hands, feet, and even my corny dad jokes. It's nice to be able to touch him and take care of him a little bit more.

Ann told me tonight how happy she was that we were telling people what we need. It's a hard thing to do, but I guess that no one can do anything to help unless they know what we need. People can't read our minds.

I think that being a Dad has finally started to catch up with me. Last night, we had a pretty bad storm, and I couldn't sleep for half the night because I kept worrying that Christopher might get scared and I couldn't be there to help him. In my head, I knew that he was in a brick building, in an inner room, in a plastic box, and surrounded by machines, and he wouldn't hear a thing. In my heart, I just felt horrible that I couldn't be with my son. I've never had a thought or fear like that before.

Nights are definitely the hardest for us. When all of the buzz of the day dies down and it's just us, it's really hard to lay in bed and think about not being able to hold your child and to have him so far away. It's truly amazing how much love God puts in your heart for a baby that you don't really even know...it's stronger than any love I feel for anyone but Rachel, and I've only known Christopher a few days =).

I think the better that he does, the harder it will be to leave him in the hospital.

















Christopher getting fed by Mommy for the very first time. Yeah, it looks like a science experiment, but Rachel is feeding him breastmilk through the syringe into a tube in his stomach. Yum! The pacifier he has is the smallest one available!














A precious moment. Christopher is holding Mommy's finger in his right hand and Daddy's in his left. His poor little nose gets swollen and irritated from the dry oxygen going in, but it does help him breathe.