This photo was taken Thurday, March 16, 2006.  He's now 34 weeks and 1 day old gestationally? OR 1 week and 4 days old.  (i.e. 12th day in the NICU)  This was a the MOST alert he had been yet.  Oh, and he's 4lbs 2oz there.

Asher Gabriel actually ate his entire nurtitional requirement of 37 ml. by bottle at 9pm for one of the nurses.  His IV had been discontinued a day or so ago at this point, so all his breastmilk mixed with his extra calorie/mineral supplement goes through his NG tube.  All except for the one bottle he gets daily (so he drinks what he can and then the rest goes via the tube). We have begun our "non-nutritive breastfeeding" sessions that he and I do twice daily.

But I need more time to write later.  My three year old is asleep in my lap right now.

This picture was taken Sunday, March 12th, I think?  No, I'm certain. So that would make him 33 weeks and 4 days old if he were still in utero.  Otherwise, sweet baby Asher is one week old.  He had already exceeded his birthweight in this photo and weighed in at a hefty 3 lbs 13 oz and 2/10ths.  Sometime during his first week he lost weight going down to 3 lbs 6 oz (everyone who knows me will agree, I have very fattening breast milk; so it appears it's working; even if he doesn't get it via my breast!!)

This is all so ironic somehow.  My other children have had VERY few needle sticks, never had bottles (b/c I'm the mommy bottle), and I've never left a child overnight till our recent weeklong cruise when at the time our youngest was nearly 3.5 years old.   So this is VERY, VERY hard for me.     

Here Asher still has velcro on his head for the sunglass protection from the bili lights, an NG tube into his stomach for the breastmilk he can handle, an IV in the top of his head for the TPN and lipids (iv nutrition), and then there are all the 'leads' monitoring his heart, respirations, and oxygen saturation. 

Xanga

Asher Gabriel

March 5, 2006  (Birthed frank breech in the hallway on the way to the operating room for a cesarean section at 11:42pm)

Weighing: 3 lbs 11 oz and 2/10ths

Length: 16"

Head: 11 3/4"

APGAR: 8/9

Asher is truly blessed; as the meaning of his name implys!  His birth turned out NOT to be the horrible nightmare we were expecting.  C-section (gasp)!?  I was going to do it for my sweet baby, I WAS!  But our nurse took too long with our labor slowing drugs and my contractions went from a 2 on the richtor scale to 10 in under thirty minutes.