Day 41: The Greatest

King Oliver made his grand entrance into the world yesterday, exactly two months before his due date. He came kicking and yelping (more than can be said for his beloved Yankees) at 1:11 PM, weighing 4 lbs, 7 oz! Pink and plump with a head full of black hair, he's already a lady killer. (He was collecting phone numbers from cute young nurses before he ever made it to the NICU!)

The Queen Mum is recovering well from her c-section and should start walking (gingerly) today. Oliver, cleaned up but connected to a few too many tubes and wires, awaits her first visit in the NICU. I will send pictures of the mother and child reunion later this week.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Kristin Atkins, a softly confident doctor with the high-risk OB group at NYU. This woman spends her life delivering premature and high-risk babies. She and Michele developed something of a bond and her last words to us before preparing for the procedure were: "Stop it, you're going to make me cry, too!"

What a wonderful team of people they were, and what an honor it was to witness them at work. Dr. Atkins, Nurses Georgette and Ann were all on her team and on her side... these wonderful and diverse woman who have been part of Michele's care for the past six weeks and, like all of us, were attracted to Michele's grace and tenderness. Good people seem to find other good people.

The next few weeks of Oliver's life will be delicate and critical. He was not able to breathe without assistance due to a pneumothorax on both lungs. This is a relatively common condition for preemies where air pockets develop that put pressure on the lungs, making it increasingly difficult to breathe. He has tubes in his chest that allow the pockets to drain and the lungs to repair themselves. If that happens (and it should), he will be just fine. (The NICU doctors said this will not prevent him from being the first American striker to make the Arsenal starting team.) We should know more on Friday about the state of the air pockets (hopefully the tubes come out then) and the impact of this condition on the brain. Based on his strong blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels through his first hours, the doctors are confident that his brain should be fine. If all goes well, he could come off the ventilator as early as Sunday. However, he'll remain in the NICU for the better part of the next two months.

Oliver has a collection of nine tubes, wires and probes connected to his little (but not THAT little) body. At least as important as any of those is the invisible but real connection between his soul and the collective soul of his parents, friends and family. The handsome devil has made it this far on the back of Team Oliver's deep love and our strong will... let's carry him over this latest hump.

There is so much more I want to say, but I must get back to the hospital. Last night was the first in 6 weeks that I was not able to sleep in my beloved vinyl chair next to my darling wife and inspiring child... I miss them both terribly.


Love,

Oliver, Michele and Charlie