(3,605 grams or 7 lbs. 15.2 oz.)

Well as we speak I am hard at work breathing with only the help of the Nasal CPAP (little mask that fits over my nose and blows air). At about 5 p.m. today they determined that I was stable enough to take off the ventilator. The tricky part about this transition is that I am still receiving fairly large amounts of Morphine to help me through the pain caused by my surgery, which sometimes makes me go Apnic (forget to breath) and Bradycardic (slow down my heart rate to under 80 BPM). So far they've been able to help me pick back up by rubbing my back or flicking my foot. They have been weaning down my morphine levels pretty agressivly and have cut my dose in half. It will take me a couple more days to get completely off of it but I'm off to a good start. Mom and Dad get nervous when I do the Apnea/Bradycardia thing but Barbara (my nurse) is great and assured Mom and Dad that she would stay right by me to make sure that I keep breathing. Thanks Barbara...Mom and Dad need all the sleep they can get!