Interesting. Very Interesting.

Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.
Eliza Tabor

Oh, life... why do you mess with me so?

Ryan and I thought we would be getting a little Christmas miracle. I was so excited to tell you about it! Liam was all set to be discharged on Christmas Eve. We roomed in Wednesday night and everything went swimmingly... until 5 a.m.

Liam's temperature dropped to about 95 degrees and would not come back up until he was under the warmers. I personally believe it has something to do with the room being too cold and the nurse stripping him to his diaper for 10 minutes while she weighed him.. but what do I know? They did some tests and his CRP (otherwise known as c-reactive protein) was way elevated, which indicated that he may have an infection. (It could also be caused by his vaccinations but, coupled with the temperature drop, it freaked everyone out.) They started him on antibiotics, stopped his feedings, and gave him a blood transfusion (his red blood cell count was a bit low; not crazy low.. just a bit). They also did a lumbar puncture to see how his spinal fluid was looking.

And I... cried.

48 hours later his tests were all still negative and his CRP levels had dropped from 4.0 to 1.8; however, they like the levels to be under 1 so he will be on 7 days of antibiotics "just to be safe".... although they have no idea what they are saving him from. They will re-evaluate the situation on the 31st and we will find out if Liam will be coming home for New Year's.

Liam, on his part, has not acted sick in any way. He is as feisty as ever... and still loves to eat. He is gaining weight (4 lbs, 3 oz!) and being cute.

Perhaps Liam just couldn't stand to leave his ladies for the holidays.

Ryan and I are doing our best to find the bright side: a little more time under the close watch of the neonatologists and nurses won't hurt Liam. It will give him a chance to gain a little more weight and be a little less fragile before coming home. Also, if his body is fighting something off, he is in the best place he can be. And we have a little more time to prepare, a few more quiet days to be together and a few more full nights of sleep before life is invaded by our little gremlin.