I [heart] Davids It helps me to say these things aloud, I think.

I can’t keep apologizing for not posting to the blog, but I do feel bad about being so sparse with content. I’ll try to absolve myself of all sins and use this post as a catch-up. Here’s what’s new over the past two weeks.

Regarding Henry’s health, we have good news. As of Wednesday, his weight was 7 pounds, 6 ounces, up from both his birth weight of 7 pounds, 1 ounce and the nadir of 6 pounds, 3 ounces. So hooray for our little boy. He’s eating like a champ and gaining weight and we’re so proud of him.

Oh, and the other night he slept nearly through the night, waking only at 3 AM and then again at 6 AM. It was like a miracle. It didn’t last, though. The next night he had us up every 2 hours again. Oh well, it’s a sign of things to come, I imagine.

A week ago Cristin and Matt came over for dinner and brought a huge lasagna. We had a nice meal that night and enough leftovers for two more meals – and it was some yummy lasagna! Cristin has blogged about it here and posted her really great pictures on Flickr here.

Here’s a cute picture of them that I took:

Tyra has come by several times to visit and brought the girls by once to deliver homemade chocolate chip cookies. She loves looking at that little teeny baby and the girls love chasing the cats around the house. Tyra also provided us with some tasty prepared dinners that will definitely come in handy.

Lots of people have sent gifts, adorable onensies and checks and other good things – thank you all! If you haven’t gotten your thank you card yet, please be patient. It’s coming!

My great aunt and uncle also came to meet the baby and gave him a full set of onesies bedecked with froggies – too cute. Granma, they can’t wait to see you next time you visit.

Lessee, Henry and I took our first ever stroller walk last week. Here he is getting ready to be pushed.

Dave and I went to dinner at El Rodeo and Waraji with Henry and he was quite well behaved at both restaurants. We also went to breakfast at Camille’s and spent an hour or so walking through the flea market with Kerri last weekend.

And Neil was in from Dallas so he got to visit as well.

Mom got to feeling better so she spent some time visiting, too.

Well, the baby’s crying so I have to go feed him. I’ll post more when I have time!

Some new Henry pictures

And here are some videos, hosted on YouTube

I’m happy to report that as of yesterday afternoon, Henry’s bilirubin score was 12.7, which is great! He’s off the billy blanket and simply needs to go back in for final check tomorrow to make sure that the level hasn’t rebounded.

He’s feeding more vigorously, and he’s waking us up to be fed. He’s even staying awake a bit after feeding, opening his eyes and checking out his surroundings.

So hooray! We’ve got ourselves a little baby who’s going to give us many sleepless nights just like last night. 🙂

Wow, our first week with the baby has passed – Henry is already a week old!

Dave’s parents left on Sunday and he started back to work today, so it’s just me and the little man hanging out on the couch right now.

That means if you’ve been wanting to come visit, the time is at hand! If you want to have girl time and sit around with the baby, I’d recommend dropping by during the day if at all possible. If you want to visit with both Dave and I then you can visit in the evening. Regardless of which is better for you, just call or email me to make sure I’m up and around.

Also, if you drop by, we’d love it if you’d bring some food. Food preparation isn’t high on my list of priorities but I’m the primary cook in the house, so right now any contributions you could make would be really appreciated!

Can’t wait to see you soon!

Henry just did his first “pee straight up in the air” trick while getting changed! Time for the pee pee teepees!

One big happy family!

It is 1:34 AM on Saturday morning, marking the 6 day anniversary of Henry‘s entrance into the world. It’s high time you had an update.

Henry was diagnosed with jaundice while he was still in the hospital. Six out of ten babies suffer from jaundice, so it’s quite a common condition. Also, Henry was a vacuum extraction baby which caused significant bruising to the top of his head – this can increase the chances of getting jaundice. So we weren’t too surprised when he was diagnosed.

The treatment for jaundice is to use a colored light called phototherapy. This helps break down the extra material which is building up in the body that the liver can’t process. In order for this treatment to work, however, the baby has to eat and poop – only through pooping can he rid his body of the extraneous cells which cause the jaundice.

However, a side effect of jaundice is a sleepy, sluggish baby. So you are presented with a Catch-22. The jaundiced baby needs to eat (and poop) frequently, but the jaundiced baby is so sleepy that it’s hard to interest them in eating.

Add to that scenario a lack of experience with breastfeeding on both the mother and baby’s part, and you have a situation where it can be difficult and frustrating to feed the baby with no obvious solution to the jaundice.

That’s where we were a day ago. Henry learned how to nurse on Tuesday, thanks to Joan, an amazing nurse who spent hours with us teaching both me and the baby how to achieve a good latch. However, it was difficult to practice because he would fall asleep after only 5 minutes of nursing. On Wednesday we met with the lactation consultant, Spring, who explained the effects that the jaundice was having on our nursing. It was great to have this explained to us – kept me from taking it personally. She recommended buying a pump and attempting to bottle feed the baby. This would help me feel better physically (it did!), and it meant that Henry would get a steady supply of food, making him poop and relieving the jaundice.

Once we came home on Wednesday, we spent Wednesday night waking the baby every 2-3 hours to feed him expressed milk by bottle. He would fall right back asleep after feedings but at least he was getting food, which helped make me feel better. His doctor’s appointment on Thursday found his jaundice levels still high, so the doctor prescribed a “billy blanket” for the phototherapy and requested we keep his digestive system moving. Thursday night we went back to nursing, rather than bottle feeding, as I was beginning to be quite panicked about the effects of “nipple confusion.” He was not eating as much with breastfeeding as he was with bottle feeding, however, so he was not gaining weight and wasn’t pooping enough. We went back to the doctor on Friday. Henry’s jaundice levels were improving, though not in the clear. The doctor encouraged us to supplement nursing with bottle feeding expressed milk. Friday night (tonight) we combined both breastfeeding and bottle feeding and I think the little guy may have just turned a corner, thanks to the blanket and the consistent feeding!

As of 3 AM, he was actually fussy! This is a remarkable change from the endless sleeping he’s done since we met him. He appears to be waking himself about every two hours, presumably to eat. When he eats, he suckles for at least 10 minutes at a stretch, and in the past 12 hours has nursed for as long as 30 minutes at a stretch. He’s having his 6-8 wet diapers every day and his poops are starting to get that mustard yellow color.

We have an appointment on Sunday to get his jaundice levels checked. I am feeling hopeful that he’ll show marked improvement and we can take him off his billy blanket soon. I also think we’re getting the hang of breastfeeding and we can stop supplementing.

Yay!!

Here’s the story of Henry’s birth. He arrived two weeks early.

The short, edited version

After lunch on Saturday, I awoke after a nap to discover I was losing my mucuous plug. Around 5:30 PM my water broke. We got to the hospital around 6:30 and by 7 PM I was at 1.5 cm. I labored with Dave walking around and swaying on the birthing ball until around 9:45, by which point I had dilated to 4 cm. I requested the epidural at this point, and it was administered by 10:30 PM. By 11 PM I was dilated to 9 cm. By 11:30 PM I started pushing.

I pushed for about an hour and a half and I was in a lot of pain. The baby was facing sideways, not face-down, so he was very difficult to maneuver. After one and a half hours of pushing, we opted for the vacuum extraction, which unfortunately required an episiotomy. It took another hour of pushing to get him out. It hurt a whole lot. Pushing sucks.

Regardless of all that, our precious little Henry was born at 1:34 AM on Sunday morning, March 2nd. He was placed on my chest and I just couldn’t believe my eyes. Dave got to cut the cord and then went with Henry to the nursery where he got cleaned up while I recovered. We got to our hospital room around 3:30 AM and finally got to sleep around 4 AM. We began our busy day around 7 AM.

Now, here is a more detailed, more graphic version. Read at your own risk.

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Tracey won the baby pool!! She had the closest time with a guess of March 2nd, 2:24 am, which meant she was off by only 50 minutes. Congratulations, Tracey!

Shannon was the closest guesser in the weight category, with a guess of 7 lbs 3 ozs, off only by 2 ounces.

Thanks to everybody who guessed!