A Happy Thanksgiving

Here are a few Fall pictures and Jackson enjoying his turkey and dressing.

Jackson's First Birthday Party

Jackson enjoyed his first birthday party with family on Saturday September 15.

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Happy Birthday to You. We can't believe it has already been a year. Soon after waking up this morning, Jackson enjoyed his first cupcake and got his first taste of home maintenance with his own John Deere lawn mower. But tonight, he will leave all that work behind and wind down with a relaxing evening at Chuck E. Cheese.

Jackson's First Beach Trip

We took Jackson on his first beach trip last week. We traveled with Juliette's family to Cape San Blas, Florida. Jackson loved playing on the beach, sitting as the waves rolled over him, and eating the delicious Florida sand.

Some New Photos

While he's been rolling from stomach to back for a while, Jackson recently learned to roll the other way. Thus, he's starting to burn a lot of calories flinging himself all over the place! Here are some recent pictures of him.

Christmas 2006

Jackson's first Christmas. Lots of time with family and plenty of gifts.

First Thanksgiving

This was Jackson's first Thanksgiving. He seemed to enjoy the sweet potatoes the most. With both sides of the family there, he definitely had his fill of excitement and was worn out by the end of the day. Here are some of those pictures:

The Weigh-In

Jackson had a pediatrician visit today to get his monthly synagis shot which should protect him from RSV. He handled the shots very well. Also, he weighed in at 14 pounds 1 ounce. He's gaining weight pretty quickly but didn't seem to mind it much himself. Also, he slept a full night last night so we're hoping that keeps up.

Halloween Pictures

A few pictures of Jackson's first Halloween.

Cardiologist Appointment

Jackson met with his cardiologist again today. The news was good for the most part. During his last appointment, the doctor discovered that there was leakage between the two sides of his heart where a hole had been patched up (he was born with a Ventricular Septal Defect, a hole in his heart which was repaired). Though it's still leaking, it is leaking less than before. This is good news.

Unfortunately, there is another problem. Scar tissue formed around the area where they stitched his pulmonary artery to his heart. This scar tissue has tightened, causing that portion of his pulmonary artery to become smaller than the rest of the artery. For this reason, there is difference in the pressure on both sides of this spot, causing his heart to have small heart murmurs. This is actually a somewhat common consequence of the arterial switch surgery, though ideally it would not have happened. In its current state, it's not a major problem, but they'll have to continue watching it over the months and years to make sure the problem doesn't get worse. If it does, he will require surgery again, though not nearly as major as the first.

Overall, however, he is doing well. The infection in his incision seems to be improving, or at least not getting worse. And as evidence of his healthy appetite, he weighed in at 12 pounds 7 ounces today!! Their scales could be off but probably not by too much. I guess we'll have to stop giving him chocolate cake...

Another Hospital Visit

Jackson had to go to the hospital again today but was fortunately sent home. His incision began looking a little "angry" last night. It developed a red area full of pus. Dr. Bichell (his surgeon) looked it at and thinks it may be one of the sutures (holds the incision together after surgery) may be dissolving and creating the pus. We'll keep watching it, cleaning it, and hoping it clears up.

He'll have his next cardiologist appointment on Monday during which they'll check to see if one of the valves is still leaking.

Pictures!

Jackson's still doing pretty well. We've got another cardiologist appointment on Monday during which they'll check again to see if one of his valves is still leaking. However, he's acting like a healthy little boy so we're optimistic about his progress. I've put some pictures up to share. Click the image below to see them all. Hope you enjoy...

Jackson's Photo Album

Pediatric Appointment

We had our second pediatric checkup this morning. Jackson now weighs 10 pounds: he is in the 75th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height. He appears to be growing at a normal baby's rate now. The doctor is very satisfied with Jackson's health and his post-surgery progress.

Checkup with Surgeon

We met with Jackson's pediatric cardiac surgeon today, Dr. David Bichell. He performed the arterial switch on September 18th. We received a great report. He said that Jackson's heart sounds good and that his incision is healing very well. In fact, he said that, from the improvement in his incision, it appears as though the surgery was months ago. This was great news since there were originally concerns about infections in the incision. That is the last time we'll ever have to meet with Dr. Bichell unless Jackson were to require surgery again in the future.

Good Echo Results

Jackson had his first checkup today with his cardiologist, Dr. Casilda Hermo-Weiler. She is the doctor who diagnosed Jackson quickly after delivery and has watched him throughout the past three weeks. Today, she performed an echocardiogram and was very satisfied with the results. There was a little leakage out of one of his arteries but that's typical after this surgery and she wasn't concerned. His lungs looked clear and there was no fluid buildup around either the lungs or the heart. Tomorrow morning we are meeting with Jackson's surgeon, Dr. David Bichell, who performed the arterial switch. Dr. Bichell will check Jackson to make sure that he's recovering well at this point.

First Pediatrician Visit

Jackson had his first visit to the pediatrician's office this morning. It's actually the same office (Green Hills Pediatric Clinic) where Juliette works as a nurse and where I went growing up. This was just an initial visit to weigh him and check out his basic vital signs. We received some great news: Jackon's weight is up to 9 pounds 10 ounces (2 ounces more than his birth weight) and he's grown another 1/2 inch to 23 inches. For cardiac babies, returning to birth weight is a big step. We were thrilled to see that he's eating well and that his body is recovering.

He's Home!

Jackson was discharged from Vanderbilt Hospital yesterday at 12:30 PM. He and Juliette arrived safely at home and he's now resting in his new room (when he's not crying relentlessly). It's a great feeling to have him home, although it was quickly obvious that life here will never be the same again. :)

Here's a picture of the new family coming into the house for the first time:



And a few of the little guy himself:

Preparing for Home

Jackson's incision is looking clear now, so the antibiotics have been doing their job. Thus, the doctors are beginning to talk about sending him home sometime soon. Juliette and I are going through different types of training (Infant CPR, wound cleaning, etc) so that, when the time comes, we're all ready to leave. Juliette is able to spend the days with him at the hospital and is glad to see that Jackson is feeding very well. He's eating almost three times what they want him to eat during each feeding period. That will greatly help his recovery and keep him getting stronger each day.

Juliette Recovering Well

Well, I must confess that it was difficult for me to even write or talk about Juliette's delivery for a while. However, now that she is recovering well, it's a little easier so I wanted to give you all an update on her too and let you know what she has gone through.

Juliette had an emergent C-Section. I was in the room with her and have never witnessed anything so brutal. Everything was going fine until they laid her down on the operating table. We believe that, at that moment, his head must have pressed against the umbilical chord. Whatever the cause, Jackson's heart rate dropped suddenly. That set everything on fire. Suddely people were screaming, metal instruments were hitting the ground, chairs were falling over. Jackson was stuck in multiple places and three doctors were hitting and pulling to force him out. Her body was tossed up, down, and sideways as I held onto her. She had to grip the table edges to keep her body on the operation table. We later discovered that, after the delivery was over, the doctors left the room and wept together it was so overwhelming for them.

Thanks goodness, Juliette is recovering well now. She's shown great strength through this and is already walking around all on her own (no wheelchair now). She even gets to hold Jackson and feed him at the hospital. It's wonderful to see the two of them, healthy, together again.

Jackson Update 15

Jackson's oxygen tube came out last night and he is now breathing on his own and maintaining healthy oxygen levels in his blood. This means that the surgery was successful and achieved exactly what we were wanting: that his heart can oxygenate his blood by routing it to the lungs and back to the body.

The infection seems to be getting better which is also a very good sign. The doctors plan to keep him on antibiotics for maybe another week. If that completely clears up the infection, they may start to talk about discharging him from the hospital. It will be a great day when he gets home.