Boy

Tonight after Nathan had picked me up from the hospital and I had given him the full report he turned to me and said "If this is what it takes to get a boy in our family..." My response, "We may only have one."  Baby Z has given us quite the roller coaster ride this first two weeks of his life, but he is definantly worth it.  One of the nurses told us the reason he has given us so much trouble is because he is a "wussy white boy."  Apparently white males are the ones that take the longest to recover - black females are the quickest.  So Nathan now has his boy - the namesake for the Zollinger family - but boy oh boy was it a trip getting him to stay here.    

As for the latest updates. He has also made HUGE strides and according to the fellow (the senior resident over him) we are now looking at days before he can come home.  Granted days can turn into weeks but...we hope not.  He is currently drug free.  Tonight they turned off both his Versed and his Morphine and thus far there has been no signs of withdrawals.  He has also had his oxygen flow turned down to 4 liters/minute and although his breathing is still quick the doctor isn't worried, she says it will just take some time for his muscles to be strengthened.  He is also working his way quickly up the feeding ladder.  In fact, by tomorrow he should be at full feds (60 mL).  Granted he is only taking about half of that via bottle but still that is a big step to getting him home.  They have scheduled an evaluation by a Occupational Therapist (OT) for Monday.  Baby Z can suck but he can't latch so we have to get that figured out.  Meanwhile, Mom and Dad get to help out with the bottle feeds AND we even got some nursing time in, more for stimulation then for feeding but nonetheless...that was huge for Mom.  Each day our little boy gets more and more personality and it is great to have him awake and not drugged up.  He really is a sweet little spirit.  We love our little baby boy.

Meeting his Aunt Marissa - aka Big Sister's Nanny

Mom getting to feed her boy - notice how alert he is, do NOT notice how tired Mom looks.