Well, he’s 11 days old, and it was about time for his first bath. It was mostly to wash all the sticky stuff from his hair and body. Because he’s been connected to IV’s, sensors, and medical tape since a few seconds after he was born, he was covered in “remnants”. The worst was the stuff in his hair, since you couldn’t really get it off without Sterling really fussing.
The bath took about a 1/2 hour, and he did great. Because he still has a tiny little stub of umbilical cord, it was a sponge bath and shampoo. I took several 30 second video shots and many photos. Here’s a couple of the better ones:
I also shot a short little video of Sterling just after his bath, just getting ready to be fed. It’s in quicktime format.
Sorry for the delay in posting about little Sterling, it’s been a busy week. In fact at this very minute as I type this, it’s been exactly one week (10:38am). Here’s the story so far:
Last Monday morning Janet wasn’t feeling well, so I offered to drive Jonah to school so she could stay home and try to get some sleep. About halfway to Jonah’s school she called on the cell phone and said there was a problem – and I needed to get home right away to take her to the hospital. I dropped Jonah off at her sister’s house and then hurried home. We left right from there over to the hospital. I’m glad we took the Cayenne, because we were in a rush.
At the hospital it was very “quick”. The nurse came in and hooked Janet up to some monitors, then the Ob/gyn came in to do an ultrasound. Less than a minute after starting, he turned off the ultrasound, sat next to us and said “Okay, we’re going to give you a c-section in a few minutes. Do you have any questions?” Janet’s and my eyes got very wide - Janet was at 31 weeks - 2 months before the due date. Janet asked about what would happen if we waited, and he basically said “Then the baby will die…” Okay then, let’s go.
Within minutes, Janet was given a spinal and I was suited up in a sterile tyvex like outfit. One of the nurses let me in to the surgery room, and I held Janet’s hand while they did the c-section. They pulled the baby out and a doctor and nurses took off like a shot with the baby toward the NICU (or wherever). They then took Janet to her recovery room, and I waited for about 20 minutes, then they took me into the NICU to see the baby.  He was so tiny!
Sterling Rocky Cook
2 lbs 14 oz. (about 1300 grams)
16 inches long
Monday, October 2nd, 10:38am
He was intubated (standard procedure) and had several IV’s. He was doing well – nothing too scary and he appeared to be breathing okay. My mom arrived and we stayed in with the baby while Diane stayed with Janet until we could wheel her in to see him (about 2 hours later).
In the week since then, he’s gained a few grams, been breathing on his own (very well), been under the blue-light to prevent any billyrubin build-up (standard with premies), and is feeding very well (breast milk from mommy). Janet is also doing well now (after having a bit of preeclampsia/toximia), but is now out of the hospital and taking it very easy.
I have a few pictures, but they’re still in the camera. I’ll post a few up here when I get some more time 
A note about his name: Janet and I were thinking about Ayrton, but were afraid most people (in the US anyway) wouldn’t be able to pronounce it, so my grandfather suggested several names, including his favorite F1 driver: Stirling Moss. We liked it so we went with it (though we changed it to an “e” in Sterling to prevent him from having to correct people 100 times a day). His middle name is my father’s “nickname”, though it pretty much was his name – nearly everybody knew him as Rocky, and I have great memories of going to Balloon Fiesta in Old Blue, and having literally DOZENS of people shout “HEY! ROCKY!” when we drove by. It’s a much more personal name to me – he was Dad/Rocky. (Side note, his nickname was Rocky because he looked like Rockefeller, not because of the Stallone movie…)
