Wow!

I've been pondering a proper title for this one. Some of the ones I toyed with:

I leave for 2 days...;
He exploded;
I hope he doesn't have a random drug test;
A bigger baby ate my baby;

But I just went with Wow. That's because Thomas is now 2 pounds, 12 ounces, up 6 ounces from just 2 days ago, and from what Rebecca tells me, he looks huge! I don't think its so significant that we've considered the thumb stomach, but I'm watching him. He's also 14 inches long. Thomas is feeling much better and was wide awake and smiling and staring at Rebecca today when she held him.

Unfortunately, Rebecca was solo, so there were no pictures of this supposed smile. We are left to trust that this smile occurred, much like we trust in the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot and Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game through eye witness accounts.

Rebecca also saw the lead doctor, Dr. Kwan, who was very pleased with Thomas' progress. He also smiled (again, no video proof). He said that the infection is under control. He also said that if things keep going the way they are, he may take Thomas off of the Si-pap next week, which seems really soon, but who knows.

Yesterday was a travel day for me, so I did not do as I promised and describe our ring side seat as Thomas got a new roommate Sunday night. So without further ado:

To the right, is the "portable" unit that was used to bring in the new baby. Its quite a sight. The blue box is where the baby goes. (Do you think that's the way they describe it when they're training nurses on this contraption? "The baby goes here."). Its significantly larger than the isolets, but its a little more self-sustaining.

The really interesting part is the all-hands-on-deck fire drill (very organized fire drill) that occurs when this thing rolls in. There was a sense of anticipation and tension leading up to the moment. Then the unit rolled in with a flurry of activity and a blur of arms. At the highest point, I think there were 7 nurses and 1 doctor surrounding the bed and it looked like everyone was doing something.

Its also kind of neat that every other nurse (I'm guessing it was all of them, I didn't do a head count) that was on duty came by to check out the new arrival. Its really been interesting watching the inner workings of the NICU.