Saturday, December 27, 2008

Mr. Popular





Today was a welcome continuation of yesterday's activities.  We arrived to find that Angie, last nights nurse had changed out all of Zachary's bedding and swaddled him in some new threads as well.  They all looked great and were much more masculine with the dominant blue coloring.  We thought Zach would feed around 11:30, but he decided to sleep until 1pm instead.  He has developed this routine for the past few days were he cluster feeds in the morning, then sleeps up to 4 hours, feeds in the early afternoon, then stays awake for 2-3 hours until his early evening feed, when he finally falls asleep again for up to 4 hours.  We're hoping to get him on a better routine, but if this holds up we'll just have to adjust it so his long sleep patterns coincide with night time hours.  No sense in having him awake until 3 or 4 in the morning, then sleeping all day!!
Overall things are steadily improving for Zachary.  Dr. Handler was by early this morning to look at his incision, and he is very pleased with its progress and healing, so that was very good news. Our "little" guy is now 6lbs. 15 oz, ever so close to that 7lb threshold, and gaining weight daily which is excellent.  Zachary was also able to maintain his PICC line with minimal back up for another day, so that is yet another small victory.  You can see in the photos above his PICC line starts on the inside of his left biceps and runs into the artery.  This leads to an inability to put Zach in any real clothes since they want to keep the line unobstructed, so he'll have to remain the "naked" baby for the next few days (diapers only!).  He loves his swaddles, and they keep him pretty warm, so it shouldn't be a problem.
Zachary had 5 more visitors today.  Jodee and Mark had a much more pleasant visit today, with no screaming, and anxious procedures to replace his PICC line.  Our good friend Bill stopped by for a while as well, which was very nice.  Then, just before we left for the day, Matt and Cindy stopped by to meet little Zachary and catch up a bit with Mommy and Daddy.  They headed back to New York, but Zach is excited for the opportunity to see them again in February when he has no tubes or antibiotics keeping him from being held.  
As his incision continues to heal, we continue to attempt to regulate his daily routine, but will most likely have to wait until he is home to truly get him settled into a favorable one for Mommy and Daddy.  Tomorrow we will try and be present for a couple more feedings and hopefully can get Mommy and Zachary on the same schedule for breast feeding/pumping.  Until then thank you all for your continued prayers, and support.  God Bless - Brian + Kimmie

6 comments:

  1. Zach is so darn cute! What a wonderful day you had yesterday. May God continue to bless his healing. Lots of love

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  2. Brian and Kim,
    I am so happy with the progress baby Zach has been making over the last few days. May he continue down that path and may God keep watching over him.
    Liz

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  3. Zach is a little sweetheart! I light a candle at church every week for his quick recovery. The blog is great! Sending lots of love!

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  4. Brian and Kim,
    I've been following your blog and keeping up on little Zach's progress. The three of you are in my daily thoughts and prayers. Zachary is certainly a fighter and getting stronger each time he overcomes an obstacle that comes his way. Zach is as cute as they come and the two of you are doing a fabulous job of parenting! May God continue to keep Zach in His tender loving care.
    Lots of love,
    Sharon

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  5. Hi From Mini and Papa. Keep up the great job of healing Zach. You are so cute. Grow Baby Grow. HI Brian and Kimmie love to all 3 of you.

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  6. Little Zachary
    You are a joy and i can not wait to meet you someday soon! Stay strong and hold fast. We are wishing you all the very, very best. You are a beautiful family!

    Terri and Jason Mitchell

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