'Twas the Night Before Christmas

It's Christmas Eve at the Faulkner's, and the kids are sleeping peacefully and the Faulkner grandparents and parents are heading there soon.

It has been a long but good day.  We left for SickKids at about 7:20 AM and arrived there in about an hour as there was perfect weather and very little traffic.  This meant we were well on time to prepare Josiah's 9:00 AM feed after we parents and grandparents had a quick Tim Horton's breakfast.

At 10:00 AM we headed to Image Guide Therapy (IGT) to check in for the procedure.  The nurse came and took a pre-procedure look at the PICC line and saw that the cuff had come out on its own.  "This is going to be really easy," she said.  We waited briefly for the nurse practitioner to arrive, and then Elizabeth, Josiah and I headed into the room with her.  It was great to see the NP again and to catch her up on Josiah's progress.  The nurse was indeed correct: the PICC line came out so quickly and easily, that I actually missed that she had done it.  She placed a bandage on the area and then gave us some brief instructions on its care for the next several days, and then we were able to leave.  Another IGT nurse came by with a toy truck for Josiah for Christmas which was sweet and thoughtful.

After the procedure was done we headed back downstairs to grab some lunch for us all and to prepare Josiah's 12:00 PM feed.  We weren't the only parents feeding their child through an NG tube while taking them for a stroller ride on Christmas Eve.

We ran into one of the awesome charge nurses from the CCCU on our way down which was great.  She suggested that we not visit any of the nurses due to all the flu that has been going around.  4D is essentially on lock down right now due to the flu.  After the feed finished we headed back to Kitchener and had another smooth ride home (save for a quick stop near Milton after we suspected Josiah had a dirty diaper -- false alarm, thankfully).

Isaac spent the night with his aunt, uncle and cousins and had a wonderful time playing with them today.  Grandma and Grandpa Lucas kindly went to pick him up after we got back to Kitchener while I went to the store for some last minute groceries for tonight and tomorrow.  Isaac made it clear though that he wanted some time with his parents, as while I was holding Josiah he came into the room and said "Baby out" i.e. Daddy, put Baby down and come play with me.  We continue to pray that this whole journey with Josiah doesn't negatively impact Isaac, and it was a gentle reminder that he needs lots of focused attention from his mother and me. 

It will be fun to wake up tomorrow morning and see how Isaac reacts when we tell him he can finally open the gifts under the tree.  He has been very good to not touch them (as far as I can tell anyway) or the ornaments on the tree (well, outside of normal two-year-old curiosity).  We'll get Josiah setup with an oxygen tank so we can bring him into the living room too to share in the festivities.

In lieu of attending a Christmas Eve service we watched the online service from Saddleback Church.  They showed a video version of the song "Mary Did You Know?" that we wanted to share with you.

Have a blessed Christmas everyone!  We are so thankful to have Josiah home for Christmas, and for all the blessings we have received throughout this journey.  God has been very good to us.

Blessings,

Graham