Finally! Here's a close-up photo of Craig Gabriel at home sleeping peacefully.

Craig Gabriel in Dream Land.

I don't know why, but I'm trying to bite my daddy's nose.

CG being admired by his proud Auntie Rongo.

Craig Gabriel Is Home!

Hallelujah! Craig Gabriel was dismissed from the hospital late Friday afternoon! What a great Mother's Day gift for Reba, huh?

Sorry for not posting the good news before now. As you might imagine, we've been quite busy looking after him. Funny, things were much simpler with a team of the country's best doctors and nurses on-hand 24/7. ;-) Nevertheless, we're managing here at home and CG is too.

We took CG to see the doctor today, both because a check-up was scheduled and because he's been really agitated since leaving the NICU. The doctors say everything is fine for the most part, but they gave us a couple of prescriptions to handle some leftover issues.

I know what you're thinking, "Are we going to post photos of CG at home?". You bet cha'. We'll take some tomorrow so you guys can see him enjoying life in his new surroundings. So, come back Wednesday A.M. or late Tuesday night.

As always, thanks for everything.

Craig & Reba

Hi, thanks for visiting. As you can see, I'm holding my own in more ways than one. I'm getting the hang of holding this bottle already.

Pardon me, I take my milk very seriously.

Finally, I'm content.

As promised, here's Craig Gabriel out of the incubator. Sorry he isn't awake and wearing a cute, cuddly sleeper, I guess we were too ambitious.

Just one more hurdle to jump

Today, we're hoping to get some insight into why Craig Gabriel has an elevated heart rate. Although he no longer is on a ventilator or using oxygenated air, his breathing is labored and his heart rate sometimes hovers in the 180 range when it should be in the 120's. His doctor theorizes that either his lungs are not as large as they should be or his body is still recovering from the work done on his pericardium (the membrane surrounding the heart).

Last night one of the attending residents gave him a medication that managed to pull a great deal of fluid from his body and we saw his heart rate lower to the 160 - 170 range. After that, he no longer acted like a sick baby. He was awake, he didn't cry when he was changed, moved or fed. And, and this is the greatest thing, he can hold his pacifier putting it in and taking it out of his mouth again.

So, we have some indication that fluids may be related to the labored breathing and the problem with his heart rate. But, this is just one more hurdle to jump, the most difficult part of the race is already past. So keep praying and keep watching the blog. We'll have photos posted of him awake and playing with his pacifier when you return tomorrow.

Craig & Reba