A Photo-Less Liam Update

What?! No photos? Seriously, can you believe that the camera didn’t even come out of the bag today (yet)? Well, rest assured that there were photos taken today, just not by me. Amber, who took our photos last week, came back this morning to take a few more and to give Ezra a second shot at being a more photogenic big brother. I think that both goals were achieved – to varying degrees: More photos taken without tubing? Check and done. Ezra being in more photos with Liam? Yes, if you consider 5 keepers sufficient. Since that’s what we get, we consider it sufficient.

Liam’s last two days have had their ups and downs. He has been more awake and alert than he was in the previous couple of weeks, which is mostly due to the decrease in swelling in his head. He still hasn’t, however, made any movements or signs that would indicate that his brain is doing anything beyond the capability of the brain stem. His breathing remains positional, and while it is mostly okay, he continues to experience several bouts each day of difficulty breathing where his oxygen saturation levels go down well below normal levels. We are also closely watching for any outward signs of seizures, as there have been a couple of times that our interests have peaked in this manner.

It’s really easy from time to time to forget what is actually happening, and get lost in what looks like a normal, healthy baby. There are intentional moments – especially when we are holding Liam – where we don’t think about the injury and damage that he has….then there are the omnipresent reminders that we run into all of the time. It’s hard to live all of the time in either of those worlds, and we find that the only way to stay sane is to try to balance the moments with the realities.

We were able to give Liam a bath a couple of times in the last few days, and have actually transitioned to being able to use an infant tub instead of just doing it on his bed. We have to be fast when using the tub, as he still struggles to be able to maintain his temperature without the help of the heating unit. Oh, that reminds me…I do actually have photos from when we did the bath the other day that I can post…so ignore the title and the first part of the posting as I wasn’t really thinking at the time about where this post would end up (don’t worry, your computer is fine and your eyes aren’t tricking you…the second photo is intentionally blurred to keep this site G-ish rated).