More Stories To Warm The Heart

Stories and happenings that simply put a smile on our faces:
1. We knew that prior to Colin being born, the perinatologists and neonatologists had met together to conference about what Colin's prognosis would be and how to manage him once he was delivered. What we didn't know was what specifically was discussed. One of the neonatologists was offering more hope and optimism than his colleagues about what Colin's condition could be, but the overall consensus from the remaining doctors was for the neonatal staff to "be prepared" that Colin may not make it. Or if he did, he'd be in really poor condition. Apparently Colin wanted to prove that one doctor correct, and the others wrong :-)
2. Colin had a new nurse last night. Normally, I don't give out names - even first names - of the staff and doctors that take care of him, but this is one exception: her name is Anna. This is the formal spelling of Ania. Know where this is heading? Yes - Anna is Polish! She was born there, and moved to the States when she was 9. You can imagine our excitement, but especially Ania's excitement. Next thing I know, Anna and Ania were going back and forth speaking Polish and then I was told that Ania had asked Anna to be one of Colin's Primary nurses and Anna agreed! So Anna will help teach Colin Polish while he's in the ICN. He'll probably be fluent by the time he gets out :-) I'm just glad I was able to give my opinion on selecting Anna as one of Colin's Primaries (see, sometimes decisions in marriage are made unilaterally - kind of like when I told - not asked - Ania I was going to buy a new car recently. Only that one didn't work out in my favor - another unilateral decision by Ania). Do you see a pattern here? Ha ha! Hey, I've got to poke fun at my otherwise amazing wife every now and then (I don't want her to think she's perfect or anything) ;-) Truth is, Anna seems great and it's really cute to know that our 50% Polish son has his first Polish girlfriend.
3. Another one of Colin's Primaries was having a conversation with one of the neonatologists about how the advent of bubble CPAP (versus ventilation) has helped babies tremendously over the last 2 or so years that they've been using it. As they specifically discussed Colin, the neonatologist said that it was hard to wrap his mind around how well Colin, starting out so small, can basically breath nearly the entire time on essentially room air because "babies his size just don't do that". Colin has had "whiffs" of oxygen on brief occasions, but even then, it's been very little amounts. I guess Colin forgot to read the Preemie manual about how he "should" be. Defiant little one :-)