Jasiu's Baptism

Today was Jasiu's Baptism and he was welcomed fully into the Catholic Church. Though he was Baptised with water in the delivery room by the hospital Chaplain because we wanted him to be purged of the "original sin" and be a child of God, we still wanted him to have Godparents and welcome him officially in the actual church. It was also important for my husband and me to do this before the second surgery. We contemplated having what we consider a normal Baptism and all that it entails in the Polish tradition however we just couldn't risk it and decided to do it our way. Instead of taking Jasiu to a public mass on Sunday during which the ceremony would take place, we opted for a private mass on Saturday with only immediate family and very close family and friends as guests, this way we minimize the exposure to germs. Instead of the large banquet hall party we had a quiet dinner with the most immediate family we have with us (grandparents, my sisters and Joe's sister with her husband and kids). This was also to reduce the game of let's touch the baby and as a result exposing him to even more germs.  I can only hope that everyone can understand our reasoning and that Jasiu himself will one day thank us for keeping him in our little bubble during this interstage period.

We arrived at the church fairly early and sat in the front row and didn't even turn around until towards the end of the mass. I WAS OVERWHELMED by the amount of family that we invited showed up and then some. It is truly touching that so many people really care about Jasiu and shared this special Holy Mass with us to pray for him, his health and well being. Words can not express my gratitude to you all that showed up to mass as well as those that couldn't be with us and still prayed for him. We will forever be grateful and may our prayers be heard.

Jasiu himself was a shining star today. He was quite cooperative and despite his "armor" the traditional outfit that he was Baptised in he did quite well. For those that are not familiar, we come from southern part of Poland near the Tatra Mountains and are called Highlanders, we have our traditional costumes and they mostly come out for special occasions and church holidays. Well this was truly a special occasion and we even got a pint size outfit for Jasiu. He looked so handsome, like a little man but much cuter. He was also very good during mass and slept for a majority of it, the same couldn't be said of his sister, Emily, who was never this naughty in church EVER. This may have something to do with me not holding on to her for the first time as we had Jasiu in church for the first time. She will look at that video one day and say how could I have been that bad...

Jasiu was so good I though to myself, God must really love him  but I thought to myself don't love him so much as to take him away too soon, let us have him first for a long while. I also didn't forget to pray for all the other warriors that are fighting the same CHD battle as Jasiu. These precious babies are so strong I can't imagine ever enduring what they do so we just pray for more strength for them and their parents.

Here are some pics that I took after the mass, some of the outfit parts are already off because we wanted Jasiu to get comfortable after a few hours of wearing his outfit.  Also, notice he does not have the feeding tube, he's been eating much better lately and has taken almost 3 ounces each feed over the course of an hour so we will try to do it one more day to give him a chance to prove himself and run it by cardio team on Tuesday if it's OK, if he doesn't do well we will have to put the tube back in and try again later.

Just missing the belt so pants look a little funny..

Little Goral

My smiley face

Just being silly Jasiu



Emily and her cousins

Professional pictures to come once photographer is done... once again THANK YOU TO ALL THAT SHARED THIS SPECIAL DAY WITH US.