Christmas cath

Our holiday challenges are out of the way, leaving just relaxation and fun for the three of us to share throughout the rest of Peter's break. James was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday the 26th for a cardiac catheterization. He stayed overnight to be monitored, just a precaution since he's been throwing up a lot while on the tube and needed to stay hydrated for the procedure. At 7am on Thursday, the cath team took him to the cardiology floor, knocked him out with anesthesia, inserted a catheter, and spent a few hours getting detailed images of the blood flow and pressure of the various veins in and out of his heart. The doctor told us afterwards that the cath went great...his BT shunt looks great... his lungs look great... all in all, good news. He looks like a good candidate for surgery #2.

The cath finished up around noon, and James spent the afternoon in a recovery room getting his senses back after anesthesia. He recovered quickly and was discharged around dinnertime. He was a bit swollen, with a bloated face that made us laugh and some bruising on the leg that was bound all day, but he's mostly back to normal by today.

As usual, getting discharge actually in process and completed took a few hours at Weill Cornell, but we're getting familiar with the quirks and inefficiencies of the hospital. An unnecessary overnight just to keep him fed, yet no one fed him for hours after check-in?... no baby formula in stock? ... no nurses on the surgical floor that know how to insert a nasogastric tube? ...no one can find a record of what size tube they themselves had put in him originally?  Next time we go to the hospital, we'll bring our OWN feeding pump and our OWN baby food and our OWN bottles and our OWN nasal tube, and why not our OWN stethoscope while we're at it? sigh...

He got some lovely Christmas gifts though, including an adorable Santa suit from his Aunt Jen. We went to hear the chorale performance at Trinity Church on Wall Street on Christmas Eve, and little Santa got a lot of praise. He wore his suit to the hospital too, and charmed the nurses. After all, if he had to go to the hospital on December 26, he might as well get to take Christmas with him :)

excited to open gifts!

the new suit

elf face under the Santa hat

ho, ho, ho!

posing for a photo with Santa

Chunky boy

The tube is working! James is now 11 pounds, 9 ounces – almost 2 pounds more than when he started on the tube just under a month ago. The tube method is still no fun for any of us to deal with, and makes James throw up more than usual, but it is doing its job. Our boy is finally looking a bit chubbier, a good sign for the upcoming surgery.

I'm posting a few pictures of his growth since summer, and a new outfit :)

Time to pack this outfit away (August vs. December)

James thinks he's too old for this cuddly shot, thus the stink eye (July vs December)

Showing off those strong legs in his French overalls! mmm, yummy buckle :)

Wedding photos

Oops, I apologize for the poor job of sharing this link to our wedding photos (password: Compitello). We got these back a few weeks ago, and they went on facebook, but never made it past that before I got distracted by the hospitalization and feeding tube ordeal.  We don't have many photos of most of our guests, unfortunately, but we trust you had a good time... and definitely made our day unforgettable!

Kirsten & Peter wedding photos

As for a tube & surgery update: James is adapting to the tube, although it was tough on his stomach at first, and he has already gained over a pound since Thanksgiving. He has only pulled the tube out once so far, so we haven't had to do too much (very unpalatable) tube insertion. It doesn't hurt him to put the tube in, but it looks awful and is thus hard on us :)

His oxygen sats are up again, so the surgery will wait until 2013. He'll do the catheterization on December 27, and prepare for the Glenn Procedure sometime in January or February.