James has now been home from the hospital for 2 days and we are loving it! His is such a content baby, which honestly makes sense given how much he has had to endure in his first 2 weeks of life....having a little poop in his diaper, or having a kid accidently bump into him really isn't much compared to having open heart surgery! Overall though, he is such a joy, and I love having him home with me. I remember saying in the hospital that I just wanted to take him home so we could all be comfortable! Sure enough, James seems so much more relaxed at home, and I think that will be huge for his recovery.
Life at home has definitely been an adjustment. James has to be kept somewhat isolated so he doesn't get stick; he is very prone to infections right now, and that would be terrible for his heart. As such, he has to stay in a bubble in my room, and that is hard with 4 kids running around and wanting to get to know James. I have been making sure the kids get to hold him twice a day-after washing hands, anti-bacterializing, and bordering their body with pillows, just in case. I have to be very careful with the kids trying to move James around as well-you can't compress his sternum at all since it is healing from being broken, basically. We can only lift James with a scoop method, not under the arms as we might normally do. The kids have adjusted to these changes beautifully, and I am making a huge effort to use my time with them wisely-bond with each kid separately, take them outside once Jared gets home, etc.
James has spent the last few days at home trying to eat well. He is still taking breastmilk from a bottle since I need to track how much milk he is getting very closely. Eating is essential to his heart recovering, and James is still a newborn...he gets sleepy when eating, and it takes about 45 minute to make sure he is getting at lesat 40-45 ml's each feeding. The hospital wanted him at 50 at discharge, but I have noticed he throws up when he drinks that much, so I am focusing on feeding him a little less, but more frequently during the day. So far, he is still throwing up a bit more than I would like, so I might increase smaller feedings even more over the next few days. It has been difficult to keep up with his feeding, espeially at night. I want to start him on nursing after Christmas, so I have started offering him breast first at each feeding, then bottle, then I have to pump. In general, the whole process takes an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, which gets hard at nighttime. No matter though, I just need James to get a little more weight on him, acclimate to nursing, and we'll be good, even if it takes a while. Things are so much easier to view in perspective, I always remind myself, it could be so much worse, and the Lord is truly blessing us, even if it seems hard. I am just so glad James is here, with us...I can take the challenges that come with that!
James loves to smile-he does it all the time. Obviously it is not in response to anyone, but it is such a cute sight to see! He can only fit in his newborn clothes right now, and is too long for the few preemie outfits I have. He dropped to 7 pounds 6 ounces in the hospital, so again, we are really focusing on beefing him up. His arms and legs looks like sticks to me!
Karianna is absolutely in love with James and her favorite activity right now is "guarding" James. In other words, he lays by her and she watches him sleep. It actually helps me a lot because I can move around the room and get things clean or read a book with one of the other kids. Sara in particular has really seemed to need me lately-you can tell the oddness of our schedule lately is getting to her. So the moments I can spend with her are really priceless.
Overall, life is going well and we continue to be so grateful for our friends, family and ward members who tirelessly support us.
Overall, life is going well and we continue to be so grateful for our friends, family and ward members who tirelessly support us. We are still so shocked and surprised to be home for the holidays. I wish we had more time to do some of our traditional Christmas activities and crafts, but for now, I am just grateful we have the house decorated, the tree all set up (thanks to Suzanne for helping) and the presents all wrapped (courtesy of the Parkers). I had the kids write letter to Santa today, and they all did a great job doing that! JD in particular was so excited to put his cards in his stocking, sure that Santa will see them! Jordan asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him I had already gotten my present: having Baby James home for the holidays! Jordan thought that was silly, he said we couldn't wrap James up and put him under the tree. I proceeded to prove him wrong to some extent. :) I love my kids so much, I am so glad to be home with all of them right now! It can be so overwhelming at times, and I know James has a long road ahead of him, but I am so glad to be their Mother and for Jared to be their Father. It will be a Merry Christmas indeed!
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