The little boy is my great-nephew. He was due on Christmas, born early in the month, and born with serious problems.
He has Tetralogy of Fallot, a miserable heart defect. The main problems when he was born were both from weakness, maybe from the heart, maybe from the infection he was fighting off: he didn't want to breathe or eat.
The effort of breathing exhausted him. They used some kind of special baby C-Pap to force air into his lungs. And because he was so exhausted, he just didn't want to eat. He couldn't nurse.
I sent out blasts of requests for prayers and thoughts for the little boy (his parents are nervous about posting his name or pictures of him). And so many of you have responded.
He goes up and down. Last week he was strong enough one day to yank out the breathing apparatus and the feeding tube - not good, but good enough to finally get a picture of him with his red hair and wide green eyes. And then he just stopped eating. One feed, hours of sleep, a little more, and exhaustion.
He's up right now. His eating has increased steadily since Thursday, and he has no breathing assistance. Room air!
Please keep thinking of the little boy. So much already and he hasn't even been alive a month yet. If things go well, if he continues strengthening, he will have heart surgery in the spring, and - well, that's a long way to look ahead. Keep him in your hearts, and in the light, and in your prayers, please.