How far we've come

I just got a series of photos my mom took when James was first born, and was struck by how much he's grown. I have a new photo to share, and posted one of these early pics alongside. He's certainly grown and changed in 4 months! His next cardio checkup is Friday. His last oxygen stats were slightly lower, and he's been noticeably more lethargic in the weeks since, so we're expecting that surgery #2 will not be too far away. His next step is a one-day hospitalization to prepare for surgery and get enhanced visualizations of his heart: date TBD, likely November.

What his lethargy means on a daily basis is that he eats even more slowly than before and falls asleep midway through meals, so he ends up eating smaller meals more frequently. I spend the day mostly attending to his needs, and occasionally getting to take care of dishes or emails or trying to evict our very unwelcome mouse during brief naptimes. At 4 months, I had hoped to have more personal productivity, but nooooo... Apologies to anyone waiting for correspondence or photos or otherwise, but I'm working on that!

It is getting a tad frustrating to not accomplish much else, especially since even my job-seeking efforts have failed to unearth anything that provides a sufficiently flexible schedule to accommodate his frequent doctor visits yet pays enough to cover the shockingly high cost of infant daycare. James' heart is definitely unique, and even support groups and resources in the area don't address the complexity of his anatomy.

then...                                               ...and now