When we arrived home from our big outing with the older kids, I was surprised to find a new baby in the playroom! We hadn't been told of any more impending arrivals, so he was a surprise! Baby D. (boy) came to us very malnourished. He is supposedly 4 months old, but he's TINY. He's about the size of a newborn, and weighs practically nothing. His little legs are just skin and bones. At first I didn't think he could even hold his head up, but now it seems like he can as long as it's for a very brief period of time. He also sleeps quite a bit. It's hard to say whether that's due to the malnutrition or the fact that he may be a lot younger than the 4 months of age we were told (information provided by his grandmother). He's also had a hard time eating. He drinks barely an ounce at a time, and I felt like I was almost force-feeding him this morning. He doesn't cry for milk and didn't want to eat. After that happened, Tía Maria took him to the doctor for a check-up. By this afternoon, he was eating much better, so he should start growing in no time! I don't know how accurate our information on him is, but I've been told that he was living with a grandmother, and she had no way to feed him. I don't know if she chose to give him up or if he was taken. I'm hoping to read over his file in the next couple of days.
Tía Silvia has already said she'll "adopt" him as her new baby (all of the tías and volunteers have favorites who we refer to as our own kids), and she quickly pointed out that "He'll grow bigger with milk, but he'll grow even more with all of the love we have here!" I can't think of a more accurate statement!
Just for comparison… Baby C. and Baby D. are both 4 months old. The differences in both size and abilities are huge!
Then, this morning (Thursday) we said goodbye to K., one of our newest baby home arrivals. She arrived on December 29th after she was picked up by police when her mother was arrested. She has a younger sister living at another baby home, and that baby home requested that K. be moved there to be with her sister. (Normally we would have the sister come to us, but they insisted that K. go to them instead.) It was a bit sudden as we found out just this morning that she would be leaving us already! About an hour later, some authorities from her new home came to pick her up. A few papers were signed and off she went.
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