Day 820 - Not Quite at Baseline and Lucky #7!

Thursday, March 30th, 2023

Thursday morning James and Mom made a drive to a local women's shelter to donate some baby things. Somehow we ended up with three bathtubs which are completely unnecessary and we have quite a few toys that James just doesn't like because they make noise and light up. 😂 🤖 Afterwards we got to stop at Starbucks and just sit in the parking lot for a minute to catch up on things while James took a nap. Today is National Doctor's Day and Mom sent a text to James' favorite NICU doctor with an updated picture of James and also to let her know that he would be to decannulated soon! She said it brought tears to her eyes seeing how much progress he has made. 🥹

If you noticed in the photos James was on his HME today. He was not tolerating the cap and was just breathing too fast. We don't have to suction his nose as much but he has lung retractions. Everyday is different. It just seems like he really is working hard to breathe. His work of breathing is not back to his baseline. This may be long-lasting symptoms of RSV. Plus he is still finishing up an antibiotic for his ear infection along with having the trach infection. When we put him on the floor so he can scoot around he gets out of breath really quickly. Two nights ago he needed oxygen via his HME. Thank goodness that was only for one night. We hope he will completely heal by the time he is decannulated at the end of the month so he doesn't fail. If he fails we have to wait 6 months to try again.

We have a couple of new updates! 

🐈 We have a resident cat that sleeps in our front yard. He has a clipped ear and we're pretty sure he is feral. Mom posted the pictures on the Hillsborough lost and found boards, but no one has claimed him. He sleeps during the day either under our car or in the front yard underneath the bush.

💉 Mom has been going to acupuncture for the last two weeks and has been doing fertility injections for this last month to prep for our fourth IVF Frozen Embryo Transfer. After 2 egg retrievals (4/2019 & 5/2022), 5 FET cycles, and 3 transfers (6/20/19, 7/21/2020, 11/1/2022). Yeah those dates are just for Mom to keep track. 😆 This is our last embryo left and was created with James back in April 2019. Our transfer will be this April 7th! After our loss in November we decided to not announce this transfer publicly because it is draining emotionally. Mom only wanted to share this with the tribe that reads James' blog. ❤️ We can use all of the prayers, well wishes, and support if you wish to send it our way. There's some fun numerology going on! Not only is this Pop-Pop's (Mom's Dad's) birthday in heaven but also this embryo is #7. Back in 2019 during Mom's first egg retrieval we had 8 embryos that were tested. Three embryos came back as chromosomally normal after testing and they were #1, #4, and #7. Hannah (20 wk stillbirth) and James were #1 and #4 (not sure who was who) but we know for sure that this one is #7.

Also in Scotland, it's lucky for a black cat to arive at your doorstep!

🙏🏻✨❤️🌠🍀🌟🤞

James playing with cold ice packs.

James realizing they make his hands cold.

Nap time on Mom's bed

P.S. You can email James your love and support as often as you’d like. Mom and Dad read these email to James as they come in. We all love them! JamesWestonAbramowitz@gmail.com