Sleeping after nursing as usual :)

Asleep on mommy's chest.

We leave tomorrow morning. The doctor will be cutting my baby's perfect chest to repair his not-so-perfect heart in two days. Adam's cardiologist says he has a strong heart, so if we are very fortunate we will be back home before we even know it with a strong healthy baby boy!

Hugging Po.

Po is the red Teletubby, Po was my 14-year old's favorite toy when she was 1 1/2-years old. Adam likes Po a lot too :)

Baby's first Christmas!

Adam had several gifts under the tree, but just having our family all together was the best part of Christmas.

Zonked out.

Adam's heart isn't getting better on it's own. He had an appointment December 23rd and we discovered that not only had he not gained any weight since his November 30th appointment, but he had lost one ounce. One ounce does not sound like a lot, but for a 4-month old baby obviously it is a lot. He should be gaining every week.

So, with Adam's lungs working so hard because of the hole in his heart and him not gaining, his cardiologist told us he needs the heart surgery. And soon. She got the ball rolling, we took care of the insurance end of things, and in about a week and a half our little boy, who will be 19 weeks old, will be having open heart surgery.

When we first found out about his heart my hope was for it to mend on it's own so he would not need surgery. But now that we know it needs to be fixed, I can't wait for the surgery to just be over with. What I am hoping for when all is said and done is a stronger baby who can nurse for more minutes without getting tired or frustrated, who won't choke and sputter but will be able to handle drinking all the milk.

Nursing like a champ!