Inhale True; Exhale True (Breathing Easier)

Today Hale got the nose hose taken out--the breathing one.

Earlier he had the big clunky CPAP snorkel. For the last few days he's just had the 'nasal cannula', blowing in a little 'room air'--a humidified and filtered version of the stuff we breathe, same oxygen concentration, just a little extra puff to help him absorb the stuff, help his soft little lungs stay inflated.

And today he got that taken off. He's still got a little NG (nasal-gastric) feeding tube in his nose, but that's sposeta be gone tomorrow we hear.
He also got his IV line taken out of his hand. That's nice because (well, of course because it means that he's doing well enough to be taking all his goodies through his guts, which is a great sign of a healthy system)
Looking more and more like Brad Pitt every day. Oh no I did not just type that. (Great. Becoming a dad makes you a dork automatically now? Crap.)

The diet's working--he's lost four and a half ounces in just nine days! Joking. He has lost a bit, but it's pretty usual, particularly as they get his system up to speed for consuming 'outside world' type stuff, like milk and air and stuff.

"We tend to run 'em pretty dry the first few weeks," the neonatologist said today, "to help their lungs dry out enough--imagine how moist it was where he came from, and how that would affect your lungs." Hmm. Makes sense to me. This accounts for most of the weight loss.

Love Diamond Parking. Twice I've gotten tickets slapped on my windshield, right on top of the "Stork Pass" parking permit Group Health issues. I can't tell if they're stupid or ill-willed. But either way it's annoying.

We're starting to realize that the rhythm of hospital trips and breastpumping and trying to make a living is one that's going to take some experimenting, and some serious commitment. It's working, so far, but we're definitely having to work at it. Not a complaint--we knew we were signing up for this. But yeah, the thing about it being a lot of work?
It's true.

No More Visitors. Gimme a Week or So.

(Like his mom, Hale has a tough time letting stuff go on around him and not be right in the middle of it. Upshot? He's tired. So's she. Nothing personal. Really.)

Skin Time: It's Not Just For Mommies Anymore!

Tonight, for the first time, I got to spend some real skin-to-skin time with the boy. We chilled for 90 minutes or so. Talked about women, mostly.

And Amy was there with the camera. This one goes out to you Mom and Dad.

Sweet, or what?

Ooh, and a contest to Celebrate Hale's first weekiversary (Weds, 9:02am)...

We will award a nice handmade print of any picture of Hale the winner selects, to the first person who can adequately describe what's going on in this picture:

Another Family Portrait

This one from outside the Isolette, with Amy's hand inside, my reflection on the outside. A little bit of all of us.

Derek and Eleanor--Amy's best friends from f'rever--were both there yesterday. We four went out for dinner after a long day of visiting. What a crazy bounty of friends and family we got!

Lot of hand washing goes on around here. Each time we pass in or our of the SCN (Special Care Nursery), ya gotta wash up. This time, it's for a delivery of breast milk for the boy's feeding. Hale and Amy are keeping in a tight race--his hunger is increasing at just about exactly the rate Amy's producing more.
Elixir of life, that stuff.

Last night Hale spent about half an hour just making eyes at us. It was completely thrilling, in that quiet kind of way.

I guess it's not totally necessary to gush on and on about how much this kid is making us feel and all that. But heck, this blog thing is more about us remembering what we're feeling and seeing, and sharing it with Hale later, than about revealing any new insights to the world.

Having a kid, and seeing him nuzzle into his Mom's breast and quieten down and breathe easy? Well that's about the most humanly satisfying, beautiful thing I've ever experienced.

Sounds like...

Herewith, the sound of a baby (ours) getting some sweet skin-on-skin action (click here) with his Mom, at about two days old.

That's what it sounds like. It looks a little something like this:

Coming Off Without a Broken Head (On Hale's Name)

This is from a Google Books scan of an old Scottish language dictionary. Click on it to see it bigger, or follow this LINK.

Nature's Majesty Takes Wing in Dawn's Early Light

Now an illuminated sculpture of striking contemporary design brings this glorious morning in the wilderness to life. Hale True's thrilling baby vistas beckon from a sleek tower of lustrous acrylic that lights up from within at the flip of a switch, its crystal-clear beveled surface reflecting all the majesty of the wild. Rich beige, textured genuine polycarbonate supports and crowns the artwork, which is topped by a handcrafted sculpture of a thousand points of light, riding a gust of crystalline.

(inspired by another artist's fine work. The blue light is to help with jaundice, which is very common. Again, probably looks way scarier than it is. Which is why we can be glib about it.)

First Family Portrait

Thanks to Eleanor for seeing and snapping this.

Announcing...

Birthday: 9:02AM Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Birthplace: Group Health Hospital, Seattle

Stats: 3lbs, 11.6oz; 16 1/4" long, and fuzzy. Cute-like.

It took us a bit to get come around to a name, but we found one.

And his name is called Hale True Benson Squire.

Hale as in 'hale and hearty', as in inhale, exhale, as in, 'this is our son, Hale'.

True as in loyal, straightforward, direct. As in true love.

He came a couple months early, and will need to stay in the hospital for a while while his systems mature enough to withstand life in the outside world. Mostly his lungs. He's healthy and we couldn't be happier!

It was a few hours after he was born that Amy got to see Hale for the first time. Kind of a big deal. It took a couple days before we could hold him, because of the inconvenience of the CPAP (Constant Positive Airway Pressure) apparatus he had blowing air into his nose, helping his lungs to get sturdier.

It looks scarier than it is. We keep thinking how glad we are we're getting this chance to get to know him a bit before his official 'coming out' date. It's like cheating, really.

He got that off yesterday (the 20th) and it was replaced with just a little tube. Immediately after he got the tube, he started getting in some skin-to-skin time with us.

All this tube and monitor stuff is evidently pretty standard operating procedure for kids who come out as early as this one did. The word on the street is that Hale is doing great, and has every chance of growing up just fine--he just needs to finish cooking is all.

Assuming all goes normally we will likely be able to bring him sometime around his original due date, April 22. That could go a week or two in either direction with no cause for alarm.

We tried out his name by writing it in Sharpie on his diaper. Which is tiny and cute, by the way. We think it's going to take. Hope so; it's on his birth certificate.

O Madonna. Beatific!