Days 26, 27 and 28

Hi Folks!

We are sorry for the delay in posting, sometime time just seems to get away from us! The three of us are doing well and have been spending lots and lots of time together.

Here's the medical stuff about our sweet boy. Zachary now weighs two pounds six ounces, he was weighing two pounds, seven ounces last night, but he has been on Lasiks the past three days and has lost the excess water weight that the doctors wanted him to lose. He was put on Lasiks because his lungs "looked wet" when he had a chest x-ray on Wednesday. After his "touch me not" day (Tuesday) and all the de-sats he had the next morning, they decided to sneak a peek at his lungs and his lungs looked wet so Lasiks was the solution. He has done really well on it and they may keep him on a milder diuretic (Lasiks can be hard on the kidneys) to keep his lungs as they should be. They also started him on iron to help him make more red blood cells as he is still anemic and they are wanting him to grow his own red blood cells instead of giving him another transfusion. They are checking his blood twice a week to make sure he's doing okay. The other thing they started him on today was Zantac for his reflux. We are all hoping that the Zantac will help so he will have less de-sats and be more comfortable.

Here's the fun stuff about our sweet boy. Zachary knows his Mommy and Daddy's voices and LOVES to hold our fingers. Holding our fingers almost instantly calms him, no matter how upset he is. He often falls asleep holding our fingers. It's so sweet. Hmm, what else...Kim was making kissing sounds at him yesterday and he was loving it. She was holding him at the time and he was opening his eyes really wide and just staring and just seemed happy. Today was Stephen's turn to hold him and he stayed awake quite awhile listening to Daddy and Mommy talk to him. He just loves being held. Tonight Kim gave him the bath that we talked about a couple of days ago. He did NOT love his bath, but he tolerated it and afterwards was immediately calmed when he held Kim's finger with not one but both hands. It was so cute! Tonight was the first time that Kim turned him over from his back to his tummy. The nurses usually do that, but tonight they taught Kim how to do it. OH! Last night he lifted his head off the mattress and it looked like he was trying to turn his head to face the other way. We mentioned it to his nurse last night, Caitlin, and she told us that actually, he HAD done that before! What a big strong boy! He can already lift and turn his head. He's so amazing! Caitlin also told us that before long he will figure out that he is able to pull out his feeding tube. We're hoping he skips that phase...ha ha ha! His nurse tonight, Barbara had brought him a new blanket for his bed and also brought him a bright yellow blanket that she had crocheted. Isn't that the sweetest! Those NICU nurses and the doctors are just so great. Zachary really is in the best possible place.

For those of you that are keeping up with our podmate Brinson, she is doing well. Here's the link to her blog if you want more details, http://brinsons-buzz.blogspot.com/ she really is such a cutie pie! Tomorrow night we are having dinner with her folks, Ned and Lisa. We spend a lot of time talking with them and we keep a look out on Brinson if they aren't in the NICU and they watch out for Zachary when we aren't in the NICU. They are such great people, as are their parents, most of whom we have already met.

There's not much else going on with us. We're spending most of our time at the NICU being with Zachary since he has learned who we are and is comforted by us. He may be holding on to our fingers, but he also has us wrapped around his (and we love it!)! We hope life is treating all of you well and we send our love to all!