Jonas is home - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We were in for a great surprise today -- the doctors said we could take baby Jonas home!!!! It's been a very busy and exhausting day for us, but a VERY HAPPY one too. Jonas was able to nurse at the hospital, which was the last thing holding him back from discharge. They are telling us that he's still very weak and it will take him a bit to learn how to nurse well because it takes so much energy to eat. Please pray for him to get all that he needs just from nursing and for strength for his little body. We were really surprised that he only lost 1/2 pound (he's down to 7.5 pounds now) after not eating anything for 7 days!! He will get his last antibiotics by injection tomorrow morning and see the pediatrician (great thing about Morocco is that tomorrow - Christmas - is a normal day with all the offices and doctors open). The doctors are wanting Jonas to have a CT scan of his brain and another test that looks at his brain activity -- they said this is just standard practice after a NICU hospital stay and is a good 'baseline' test. He ended up having the spinal tap yesterday that showed he does not have meningitis - thank you Lord!

Elijah is getting used to having a baby brother around the house, and already he's been pretty helpful - getting the baby's diapers and wipes or a blanket, and he's learning to gently stroke the baby's head.