Our first visit with young Douglas!

We finally got to meet young Douglas earlier this afternoon and are still all smiles several hours later. The first thing i realized was that the hospital has quite the sterilization program for people wanting to visit this young'n....a full 2 min's worth of arm scrubbing and a face mask to boot. I felt like a bit like a surgeon and a bit like someone who becomes acutely aware and a little embarrassed at how quickly i normally wash my hands.

They have young Douglas in his own little climate controlled grow box with a pretty intense light to help his skin finish developing. When Mike and i first went in (only 1 visitor at a time, Jenny went afterwards) young Douglas was on his stomach with his legs folded underneath him...a true infant pose..and the only movement you could see was his little rib cage expanding and contracting with his breath, but man was he breathing strong! I snapped the shot above when his Pops put his finger on his tiny hand..i think he recognized Mike's touch because he held his finger for a good while and stayed perfectly still. But that changed shortly because as luck would have it i was there when they turned him over and checked and repositioned the (few) various monitors on his body. They even changed his diaper, which looks like a regular diaper but was so small it took me a while to realize it was just a diaper.

They have a little red light sensor taped to his left foot to measure his heartbeat ( i believe) and another little sensor the size of a small wire taped to his stomach to measure his temperature. The nurse said that his body is so sensitive to temperature changes at his age and size that a lot of focus is kept on maintaining his core temperature, hence the clear box around his bed. As a hand-port is opened on the box, more air circulates past that opening to keep cool air from rushing in. He also has a little tube running into his mouth delivering his first sampling of what's on his menu for months to come, once they remove the i/v, which the nurse said he's getting most of his nutrition from now in the form of a glucose/vitamin/fat rich liquid, but that as his stomach starts processing more and more of the milk, they'll start reducing the i/v fluids.

He has the cutest little cheeks and hands and sure likes to move his feet around when he has the chance...that is until the nurse swaddles his feet back under the blanket (which he didn't seem to dig very much) to keep him from unfastening the remaining sensors.

I'm so thankful for this young ones safe arrival and awestruck at his parents immense strength and patience throughout this little guys early arrival...one he obviously didn't want to postpone any further! All our Love and then some to the family Wilson and wishes of continued astonishing progress for young n' strong Douglas Michael. Jenny would like to add that she's pleased the Wilson Webbed Toe Tradition(WWTT) is still in full effect!