Birthday

Hey Folks,

What a wonderful day! After beginning the process of grieving for Cooper (her twin) we are surprised by the early arrival of

Brinson Elizabeth Katherine Zaldivar.

She is born on 3/5/2008 at 724am.
She weighs 1lb 2.9oz and is 11 1/2 inches long.

Cooper really gave her 1 more week of development. He truly was a strong fellow. We will love him forever.

I am delighted and scared sh**less all at the same time.

My tour of the NICU (by myself) begins less than an 1 hour after delivery. All I saw was my daughter struggling and all these people poking and proding her. And a half a dozen machines helping her. Not really what I envisioned. Really scared me.

I learned she is on a respirator for 5-7 days The machine is breathing for her at 40bpm. The 02 given to her is at 35%. I learned about blood pressure like that 22/6 (11) is not good. The mean avg should be around her age in weeks (which is 24). So dopamine is given. She is starts at .8. The side effect is retaining fluids which means her sodium goes up.... So it is a balance. Also her body temp was very low at first arrival....so something else they will be working....getting her warm....warm air and warm light.

I also learned about some future milestones. At day 3, she gets an echo of her chest to determine if a valve above her heart is closed. She will have to have surgery if it is not closed. (not heart, but still major because of her size, weight and proximity to lots of vital stuff) (surgery is usually pretty quick...like less than 20 mins) Another milestone is getting off the respirator and moving to CPAP (positive pressure air through the nose). Another milestone is an ultrasound of her brain. This tells us if she has any bleeds.

Lisa and I see her about 6 times today. She is so feisty.....she takes the leads off every few mins and pushes against her bubble (provides humidity and allows her body temperature to rise)

Oh yeah....after parading Mike, Kit, Elliot and Marion in front of her, they tell us....we are limited to 4 people until she leaves. And they have to be the same people. So only Kit, Juan, Elliot and Mary will be able to see Brinson until after she comes home.