Big Gus Has Landed!

I just wanted to send out some of our first pictures of Magnus (Gus) George Brekke who was born on 2/26/06 at 8:18pm. He weighed in at 1 lb 12.25 oz and was 13.5 inches long and at 25 weeks of gestation. He had good color, was squirmy and taking breaths right as he came out.
I know the pictures of him in the isolette with all of the tubes and machinery look a little intimidating, but please rest assured that he is comfortable and receiving the best care possible.

Picture 1 is of him with his cap pulled over his eyes. He is under the intense lights to keep jaundice at bay so keeping his eyes covered is normal. If you look at the little gold disk on his chest that is monitoring his body temperature you will see that it looks blurry but it is actually shaking. The respirator he is on is called an "oscillating respirator" and sends about 300 little puffs of air into his lungs each minute so he doesn't have to work too hard. It makes him look like he is jiggling and its very gentle - but it's funny that even with the camera shutter at 1/320 of a second it didn't freeze the "action."

Picture 2 is a close-up of his face with the hat off. His eyes will be closed for another 2 weeks or so. The ventilator tube is shown. When we cuddle him by cupping our hands around the top of his head and holding his feet, he raises and lowers his eyebrows and gets very relaxed... He has dark hair like his mom. Just for comparisons sake - the little tube running under his hat is a little less than 1 millimeter wide and his ear is about the size of one-fourth of a penny. I’ll take a picture of him with my hand beside or under his head for size comparison next time I’m in.

There is also a picture of Jill with Gus. I hope you can see the love and joy on her face as she is gently cuddling Gus in the isolette. We won't get to hold him outside for any length of time for about a month, but we can hold him for a minute or so every week as they change out his isolette on Sundays. It doesn't sound like much, but we are truly full of joy that he is here with us! He is a strong little guy, a miracle to us and a blessing from God.

Thank you all for your prayers, emails and calls. We have a long way to go - probably ten weeks or more at the hospital - so keep Gus in your personal prayers and those of your faith community. There are so many babies in this NICU and I'm sure all of them and their families will benefit from our prayers as well.