Okay, so I’m not going to be so mean as to actually name my son Xayoz306 Jr. His real name is Riley Patrick. But he was born last Thursday at 11:25pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 2 oz, and was 19" long.
He is currently in NeoNatal Intensive Care for observation, as he was born with a low platelet count (some might remember my panicked threads from early last week to that extent) and wqith signs of Downs Syndrome. One week later, his platelet count is up to normal, and all the signs of Downs have for the most part disappeared (the nose, ears, skull shape, mongloid eyes). They still want to keep him there, though, until they have received the results of the official chromosome tests, which will be the middle of next week at the earliest.
Mom is also doing fine. She is back home (actually, she is staying with her mother-in-law, so SHE can keep an eye on my wife (read: control her life for a couple of weeks)), and is doing well. I am amazed with my wife, considering the labour was 9 hours and 25 minutes from the FIRST contraction (I shit you not) and she did it all without the aid of any painkillers.
If any nurses or doctors from the NICU and L&D departments of the RGH are dopers, I express my heartfelt thankyous to you on behalf of Riley, Andrée and myself.
A final aside, if my wife had let me go woth my wishes for Riley, his name would be: “sdfhknnkhfdbfnvjf”, pronounced “Bob”.
Doctors like to play pranks on people apparently. After I posted the initial information after getting off the phone with the neonatologist this morning, I went down to the ward to spend time with Riley. In the span of the 45 minutes I spent on my way there, two things happened. They came back with the official diagnosis of Downs Syndrome. That, my wife and I were prepared for, and really, we could care less, since we know he will be a bright sparkling light in this world that seems so dreary at times. The good nes was that he would be released from the NICU unit a good 5 days earlier than expected. That lead to one procrastinating husband scrambling home to do the chores he had neglected while his wife was with her mother (dishes, laundry, vacuuming).
Unfortunately, I can’t post his pictures here, but I will be compiling a Yahoo album, and will let everyone see the little guy in just a couple of days.
