The name is official: Tovar Miles Friedman. Shannon & I argue about whether the first or middle name is geekier (hmm, character from a LARP vs. character from an SF novel...).

Today I talked to the doctors for a long time. They told us the results of Tovar's "screen" (not sure what for). Everything came back normal, except for one abnormality. "What?" we asked. "He may have a hyperactive adrenal gland." We cracked up, and they looked at us funny. Shannon pointed at me "yeah, him too". They wanted to know more, and were disappointed that I hadn't been diagnosed by an endocrinologist or anything. We mentioned that my heart rate was above 100 for many hours on Tovar's birthing day, even though I was just sitting around.

It sounds like Tovar's PDA is starting to close, they said the murmur is much quieter now. This is good b/c they are limiting his IV fluids until it closes. (Because IV fluids contribute directly to blood volume, and what we want is for an artery to close up, and the more fluid in his circulatory system, the harder it is for things to close). So he's only getting ~70 KCal/kg of IV nutrition (although that's for his original 1kg weight and he's down closer to 800 now). Once the PDA closes, they'll slowly move towards double that, so he has energy to grow.

It was scary seeing him noticeably shrunken, Shannon had mentioned that he had a rough day a couple days ago and was down to 800g, but it was very different to see it. She says he looks much better now. I sure hope that PDA closes up so he can get more energy.

I like to think of his 9 APGAR as having aced his first test :).

Tovar's face is very expressive, apparently that isn't always true for preemies. Other than that one eye opens much more easily than another, which looks kind of funny, he has given us a couple heartwarming smiles, lots of yawns, nose wrinkles, and a few cries.

This whole thing is very difficult emotionally, because its not like a birth where you do it and then get to celebrate. (well, ok, you get to not sleep much and have to pay attention to your new baby a lot...but emotionally, you get to feel like the ordeal is over and its time to be a family now). Even though things have been going well, Tovar's uncertain future fate, distant primary residence, and semi-un-cuddlability put a big damper on those feelings. But as the doc pointed out, we spend a lot more time with him at home than he spends here, so here's looking forward to a chubby happy baby at home in a few months.