Update 2

Thaddeus is growing well. At our last visit he was 3 pounds 3 ounces. That puts him in the 61st percentile which is great. Starting in January, Dede will need to see her doctor in Fond du Lac twice a week until delivery so that the doctor can do a non-stress test on Thaddeus. This is done to check that the heart is still working well and that he is getting enough oxygen to his entire body. January 11th we will head back down to Milwaukee for another more though check up. On February 9th we will be admitted to the hospital and Dede will be induced early on the 10th. We requested this date since it is over teachers' conference. This way I will not miss any school and the children can stay at my parents'. (Pray for my mom and dad!) Dede's sister, Gloria, will be coming to help us out. If things go as planned, we will have a few hours with Thaddeus before he is taken to the NICU where an ultrasound will be done. After that he will be in lock-down with very limited access except for Dede and I. Dede and I will stay in the hospital until Saturday. We have already informed the staff that we plan on having a baptism in the hospital before surgery. If possible, we will have one of our pastors come and do it. If, for whatever reason, that doesn't work, I will perform the baptism myself. Saturday or Sunday I will head home with the kids. Dede will need to stay in Milwaukee to feed and bond with Thaddeus. Again, if things go as the doctors think they will, they will wait several days before they operate on Thaddeus. This will give him a chance to get his various systems working. This will also give us a chance to hold and bond with Thaddeus since after the surgery we will not be able to hold him or move him much. As such, I will be doing a lot of back and forth driving to get as much time with him as possible before the surgery. We are on the waiting list for a room at the Ronald McDonald House, which is within walking distance. If that fails to work out we have an offer of a spare room about a mile away as well.

I have promised Dede that while she is away the children will be fed and clothed. I didn't promise the clothes would be clean or match, though. As such, I hear I may be visited, not by three ghosts, but by three sisters-in-law.

I plan to be at the hospital the day of the surgery, but since it is anyone's guess when that will actually happen, we have no real plans in place yet.

After the surgery is completed, Thaddeus will have to stay for, I believe, several weeks for recovery. Right now Dede is thinking she would come home at the end of February, but that is flexible. She is hopping to finish the school year working part time, but we will have to wait and see if that is feasible.