Life at the Children's Hospital has been a lot more convenient and comfortable. Nicole stayed the first 2 nights with Bentley and I stayed last night, there were a lot of interuptions and Bentley didn't want to go to sleep until about 3:30. Not sure how Nicole got any rest and was able to function during the day. I guess moms are more resilient that way. There have been some activities that were put on by some of the volunteers here that kept us busy. The kids went to an art class during the afternoon on Tuesday and that night there was a Christmas party held in the main atrium. They brought in a magician and a family of fiddlers to entertain everyone and of course Santa also made an appearance giving out stuffed animals to the kids. We were going to bring Bentley down to the party, but decided against it and gramma stayed with him. He has been getting regular daily visits from the surgery team to change the dressing on his omphalocele. They have been coaching Nicole on how to do the dressing changes and she can pretty much do it by herself if needed. Lets just say that I have been watching from a distance. The omphalocele is looking pretty good and has hardened quite a bit so far, but still a ways to go. We had been getting some signals that made us think we would be able to bring him home within the next week, but we were then told by one of the surgeons that there would be no way he would go home until he is eating good and the omphalocele is strong and thick enough to ensure that it doesn't get damaged. The feeding has now become our latest concern. He has been getting a mixture of fats and sugars through his IV along with breast milk through a feeding tube and bottle feeds twice a day. Yesterday they tried shutting off the IV and continuous feed for a few hours and only do the bottle feed during this time, but after half an hour Bentley's blood sugar level had dropped way too low and they had to get the IV back on ASAP to get him back to safe levels again. Later that night they tried again, but left the continuous feed on with the same disappointing results. They now need to find out why his blood sugar levels keep dropping and come up with a new plan to get him eating without the IV as it is not good for his liver. That is where we are at right now, waiting. Hopefully we hear something soon.