Stepping away from trade talk for a minute, I know a lot of you are interested in Dustin Brown and how his family is doing. As you probably know, Dustin Brown’s wife, Nicole, delivered the couple’s second child on Feb. 23. I’ll assume, from some of the comments that were posted here and elsewhere, that some people weren’t aware of the details. They weren’t reported, out of respect for Brown and his family’s privacy. Now, after talking with Brown and the Kings, it’s clear that everyone is OK with sharing the details.

Brown’s son, Mason Cole, was born at 31 weeks, four days, which was just more than eight weeks premature. He weighed 4 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 16.5 inches long. Mason remains in the hospital, in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where he will remain for the next several weeks. The hope is that, in the next few days, Mason will have his IV removed and be moved from an incubator to an open crib, although there are problems with his body-temperature regulation at the moment. The baby is on a feeding tube, but the hope is that bottle-feeding can start in the next week or two. Mason is gaining weight, which is a good sign, and yesterday he got back up to his birth weight.

I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated, and I’m sure Dustin and Nicole appreciate your well wishes.