Mayrav and Glenn Gaslin wanna hear you make some noise for their son, Zev Ailon Chai Gaslin, who made a very grand entrance Wednesday, June 15 at 6:54 a.m., weighing 7 pounds 8.6 ounces, stretching 20 inches long and possessing the cutest toenails you've ever seen.
He's beautiful and sweet and looks, exactly, like his mother.
His arrival, however, was harrowing, and his first few days have been tense and traumatic, to say the very least. This update should be prefaced with news that, every minute, his situation improves dramatically--and his parents smile bigger and bigger.
Cementing his reputation as a drama king, during the early stages of labor, Zev released and inhaled a large amount of his own poop, forcing delivery as an emergency cesarean section. His accidental ingestion lead to a series of respiratory issues--from weakened, dirty lung sacs to low blood-oxygen levels (for details, search "meconium aspiration syndrome")--landing him in the intensive care unit, on a respirator, under feverish and expert supervision. He spent his first day of life getting worse and worse, eventually moving to another hospital where he could undergo a radical procedure, if necessary.
On Thursday, he got the hang of things. He had the best day of his life, healing, rallying, "turning the corner," as the doctors say. Today, he's doing much, much, much better. We hope to have him home in a few weeks, and are smiling at everyone we see.
Tiny Zev currently has digs in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children's Hospital of Orange County, and while his situation remains serious, he's improving rapidly. He's been told--and we're sure he understands--that the world is filled with warm wonderful friends, and aunts and uncles, and more who already love him, and who are thinking about and praying for him.
Because of his bravery and resilience during his first two days on this Earth, Zev earned a new middle name: Chai, the Hebrew word for life, the beauty and intensity of which he has brought into bright, sudden, sharp focus.
All of which is just a long-winded way of saying: Welcome!


hi again. thank goodness i didn't ask anything dumb about zev when i sent that other email. i remembered about his meconium problem (just like my daughter jordan had! 5 days at chocnicu about 20 years ago.
i'm glad to have found his page and i'm happy to hear he's doing well...
cheers!
Posted by: lisa | January 09, 2008 at 05:17 PM
Zev Ailon Chai -- he sounds delicious!
Congrats, guys, and I'm very glad to hear that Zev is doing better! Good luck with everything.
Posted by: Mike | June 22, 2005 at 02:03 PM