Bigger Than His Body Gives Him Credit For

We had Jack admitted to BCH yesterday. We got to admitting around 12:30 and he was in his room on 8 East by 1. He has a very cute 3 year old roommate.

They checked his blood pressure and o2 sats and didn't like the numbers they were getting, so he got the smallest, cutest oxygen tubes I've ever seen in his nose.

They whisked him off to put his IV in. I know it sounds terrible, but I hate being there when they put the IV in. He hates it. I usually make sure one of us is with him when he has one put in, but for some reason, I let the nurse take him without us. They brought him back with the IV in his head because they couldn't see any good veins in his arm.

It looks really awful when you aren't expecting to see it. It's an unsettling sight for sure-- I got a little teary eyed. But 10 minutes later, he looked like this..

..and was back to his normal, happy boy self! <3  

It was a long day for our man Jack. After being hooked up to all these tubes and wires, he had labs done, a chest Xray and an EKG. How many people does it take to perform an EKG on an infant?

That would be 3. 

Thanks to FaceTime, we all got to say goodnight to Evie and Grandma..

After all the testing was done and it was time for lights out, Jeremy went home to get some sleep. They gave Jack some fluids through his IV to keep him hydrated and he couldn't nurse after 4AM.. given his chubba bubba status, you can imagine how well that went over. Around 5, he woke up inconsolably hungry. His nurse, Danielle, and I tried to give him pedialyte and sugar water. Neither of which he was going for.. so she offered to take him around the floor in a stroller so I could get some sleep before his cath lab this morning. He loved his walk and he was a big hit with all the nurses.

Around quarter past 7, I went down to the 6th floor with him and met the nurses and doctors that would be doing his cath lab today. They are putting a catheter in 1 or both of his legs which will allow them to put smaller wires and tubes up to his heart to take pictures and get measurements. While they are in there, a couple other things could happen. They could blow up a little balloon to stretch out his pulmonary artery to stretch it out to allow more blood flow. They could also put in a stint to keep it open if need be. This could help hold off on surgery for a couple more months. He will be put under for the procedure. Babies sometimes are so relaxed that they don't breathe, so he will be on a breathing tube.

Once it was time for him to go to anesthesia, I had to give him a kiss and say goodbye. His nurse on 6, Brenda, was very kind and said she would call every half hour or hour to let me know how he's doing. 

I think the hardest part for me through all of this is his size. He is just so small. But he's bigger than his body gives him credit for (thanks, John Mayer... or John Mayo, thanks dad haha!). This is all so tough. But he's tougher. All the nurses comment on how strong he is, and they don't know how right they are. 

UPDATE:

I got a call from his nurse Brenda at 8:45.. she said Jack is doing great! 

I will update again once Jack is back on 8 and resting. 

xo Marissa

PS: a Big, gigantic shoutout to team Evie... we've got an army helping us out today so that my mom can come and be here at Children's with us. Angie, Nathan, Will, Lynne, Gabs, Ricky and Auntie Carole! The comfort of knowing Evie is with people she loves and people I know will take care of her is absolutely priceless to me. So thank you all so so so so so SO much! xoxoxo

For some added cuteness, because well, we could use some of that today... Jack dressed in his Sunday best for Easter :)