Poll Results, Again

Man, you guys are good!  You voted we were having a boy, and we did!  You voted he would come early, and he did!  You voted we would name him Rafe, and we did!  There was a tie for the middle name, so let me just say, his full name is:

Rafe Kenneth Roberts

Welcome to the world, little boy!

He was born on Monday, March 7, 2011, at 8:56 AM.  He was 7 pounds, 2 ounces and 19.5 inches long.  He was also 3 weeks early, just 3 days shy of being considered full-term.  He has dark skin, darker hair, and we wonder where on earth that coloring came from, because the rest of his little family is about as fair as can be.

So far, he eats well and poops even better.  He sleeps like the dead and only wakes up when he's hungry or being poked by something sharp.

Unfortunately, the latter has happened a lot in his little life.

Because he was born so early, and because he's a boy, he's not as mature as he should be at this age.  His breathing was labored when he came out, and so he was taken into the special care unit at the hospital.  He has little episodes where he forgets to breathe.  At the hospital, it's not a major problem.  They have several monitors on him that beep whenever this happens.  They basically rub his head or his tummy and that's enough to remind him of that constant little chore.  At home, it would be more of an issue because we have no such monitors and there'd be nothing to remind him to keep breathing.  I hate to think of the consequences.

The doctors aren't terribly worried, but just to rule out the possiblities of infections or of something truly abnormal, they've tested his blood, his brain, his spinal fluid, and his urine.  They've pumped him full of antibiotics and tried to give him a catheter.  He firmly rejected that idea.  I can't say I blame him.

At this point, he's still in the hospital, and will be until seven days after his last episode of forgetting to breathe.  At this point, we're hopeful that we'll be able to bring him home next Saturday.  In the meantime, I'll freely admit that I'm loving being able to sleep through the night as I heal, safe in the knowledge that there is a well-trained staff looking after my baby.

A couple of nights ago, we went to give him a blessing.  It went really well.  Because of the blessing, I'm not worried about little Rafe.  At the same time, I continually pray that we'll be able to bring him home soon.  Any other prayers for his health would be greatly appreciated.  :)

Okay... sorry this post took so long to post.  There will be more in the next few days... you know, the birth story, how Schprid is responding to all this, pictures, etc.  In the meantime, thanks to everyone for the warm comments on facebook... and, I'm assuming in advance, here too!  ;)

Lots of love!

Me