The Arrival of Christopher Sterling Duflo - Part IV

This morning I received a text message from Christopher's mother (Michelle) stating that he was down to receiving 50/60% oxygen, which was good news. A few minutes later I received a call from my her, obviously upset, telling me that the hospital had decided to transport him to a hospital in North Scottsdale because they had better equipment to handle his condition.

I left work and joined them at the hospital to lend moral support.

Michelle decided that she wanted to be released so she could be near her little boy and a doctor and a slew of nurses flooded in and out for the next couple of hours talking to her and examining her.

Going home 24 hours after a c-section is quite uncommon, but the hospital staff obliged and she was released.

We re-grouped an hour later at Scottsdale Healthcare - Shea and Michelle and Jon immediately went in and spent sometime with their newborn. Jon came out a few minutes later to allow me and Christopher's Aunt, Christy, to visit. It was her first time seeing him.

We entered the room and approached a contraption that looked like a minature version of my fake and bake tanning bed, the only thing I can compare it to, and there was this beautiful little boy (nicely bronzed) splayed out with a little gizmo covering his nose and tubes in his mouth, and coming out of his arms, and machines were beeping and displaying his latest statistics.

I was instantly transported back twenty-four years to when his mother, at one and a half years old, and only double his weight, was recovering from her pulminary artery replacement surgery. The memory of that and the reality of his situation, made my eyes start to water.

Christopher, like his mother so many years ago, will make it. He will be fine. One of the nurses even commented on what a fighter he is.

I think he just needs a littles hooplah and drama to accompany his arrival. Either gifted or cursed, he comes by it naturally. Grabbing for, or at least expecting, attention is a common trait. Melodrama is another common trait - one I can live without.

A little star he is and a little star he will be, but he can now knock the crap off and get well so we can craddle him in our arms and welcome him into the world the right way.