Baby Dusty at two weeks three days of age. This was during one of the times where they pulled him off the respirator and had put him on the CPAP, he was doing well on CPAP so they decided to try him on a nasal canula. It was actually the first time he ever ate by himself. My wife is the one feeding him. That would have been twenty three weeks four days gestation, as he was born at twenty one weeks one day gestation.


I have one of him somewhere from the day he was born, I was able to fit my wedding band all the way up his arm to the shoulder.

You can not see my hands in this picture, it was taken the same day, we were doing a form of kangaroo care where skin on skin contact is essential, but as he was still having problems maintaining body temp, had to stay wrapped in a blanket. Believe me, he fit in my hands about the same way as the child fits in the parents hands in the last picture.


And here you have him later that evening, just after they had to intibate him again. Note the size of his head to the size of the hands. Then look at the picture below this one.





Just because my child had problems maintaining body temp, and breathing does not mean all the youngins in the NICU did. There was one little girl that was born at 22 weeks, and was completely off the vent, was not using a nasal canula and was maintaining body temp on her own by the time she was a week old. She was about the same size as the baby in the last picture. Now was that last picture doctored? I do not know, I did not take it. But the pictures of Dusty were not doctored and they look pretty similar to the one that was posted before.

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Someone hijacked my sig again.