Trout Shadrach Alford!

Rose's water burst at about 7pm Saturday night while we were standing in line at Illegal Pete's (Caution Wet Floor) and she delivered after holding off for as long as possible 24 hours later at 7:16pm 8/12/07. Trout was born 9 weeks prematurely and weighed 3lbs 15oz and was all of 17 3/4" long but he is proving to be a strong little kid and a scrapper. He looks perfect to us though a more objective visitor might say he is very skinny (no time to put on baby fat) and his head looks a bit like the Alien from 'Alien", minus the second set of fangs. Now he is 3 days old and is making strides though he still needs to learn to: breathe, not stop breathing, keep his heart beating, regulate his temperature, suck and feed along with drive a car and play the violin before we can take him home from the hospital ICU. If all goes well he will be in the ICU until about his original due date of 10/15. He has already gotten to eat a bit of Mom's milk and been cradled by Rose for 2 short sessions though he can't stay out of his little glass box for all too long yet. We have been visiting him all day today and he is looking great (lots of blond peach fuzz hair and blue eyes, nice and pink) maturing (the nurses took him off oxygen push, started to feed him, let him lie on his tummy, etc which are all great signs) and has a nice healthy wail to him when he gets pissed off. He sits under UV lights all day to help him process waste and wears tiny little sunglasses to protect his eyes. Mom and Dad are a little more torn up emotionally (its been tough) but phsically Rose is recuperating great and producing milk for Trout. We'll be going back and forth to the hospital every day and I hope to write up an update each night until we can finally take him home with us. We can all use your prayers and best wishes so send the good juju our way when you have a moment. All the best, Poppa