Quick Zach wrap-up:
*He's off the IV
*He's off the bili lights and in a regular infant crib (albeit on a special bili blanket)
*He's off the antibiotics
*The only thing left for him to do before he can come home is learn how to eat.
Sadly, that last one is a biggie. He's sleepy most of the time and it's hard to rouse him at feeding times. He'll latch on to me very briefly, then nod off; or he'll start a bottle of breastmilk and fall asleep before finishing it. Or he'll finish a whole bottle and it'll exhaust him so much he'll sleep through the next feeding. It just takes his little brain a lot of concentration to do all the things he needs to do at one time. He still has his feeding tube so that they can give him the rest of what he needs through the tube. Again, they say this is all very typical for a 34- or 35-weeker.
It can be frustrating, but one thing that lightens the load is Luke. Fresh off his second sibling class, he knows all about changing diapers, giving a baby a bottle, and burping him. Luke has also become an expert at the breast pump - he helps turn it on and off and he is mesmerized by watching the front of it (it's clear plastic with all of the machinery exposed) when it's on. When he's with Zach, he's the most enthusiastic sideline coach: "Zach! You have to open your mouth wider!" and "Zach! Stay awake!" Luke can't wait to teach him to talk, play guitar, and build things. I think it's partly Luke's enthusiasm that helps us keep from getting dragged down by the long days at the hospital.
Speaking of Luke, and the hospital, it's worth remarking that he is a total celebrity there. Every day I am amazed at how yet another person seems to know his name. And I'm talking about people in the departments we don't even go to -- the security guard at the emergency room, the nurses in the regular (non-NICU) nursery, and even other parents whom we haven't yet met at the NICU. Yesterday Luke insisted on visiting our old friends in Labor and Delivery before we left. When we walked up to the nurses' station, it was as if George Clooney had just happened to stop by. All activity stopped; someone paged Head Nurse Diane to return from her break so she wouldn't miss Luke, there was much squealing and hugging, and then Luke quickly resumed his usual position behind the desk -- sending pneumatic tubes downstairs and catching up on his paperwork. You really would not believe it unless you could see it.
Back to Zach again: Surprisingly, he is the same length as Luke was when he was born. Luke just had a few extra weeks to put on two-plus more pounds. Zach is long and lean, a trait he obviously gets from Dave, and his fingers and toes are long and slender. It's hard to give perspective but you may be able to see here from the nametag the nurses made just how big his feet are. Zach also has these enormous blue eyes, which, when opened, look all around at everything. He has a little furrow in his brow that makes him look incredibly serious or perhaps concerned, but maybe that's just him realizing how loud his brother is. So far Zach is not much of a crier (unlike certain other brothers) and is quite mellow and content to just kind of go with the flow. He'll need that...
Otherwise, Dave and I are doing OK, although perhaps under a little stress due to excessive juggling of commitments combined with baby brain. Today when I mistakenly put a bottle of breast milk in Luke's school lunch bag, Dave said, "It's great to have you back...at least physically..." Ouch.
Here are three of the most beautiful men you'll ever see together at one time:
