Baby Details

Whew, we're FINALLY home! This has been a very interesting couple of days. But first...

So, the details....Jen's water was broken at about 8:15am, and we immediately saw that the fluid was tinged with meconium. We knew that this was a sign that baby was stressed, but we didn't know why and had no specific reason to worry yet. By 10:22 Finn was delivered, with an unpleasant surprise - his cord was wrapped tightly around his neck. Luckily, the OB had called the pediatrician and was very quick to unwrap the cord, but Finn still had a little difficulty. He had aspirated meconium, and had to have his tummy pumped. He was also immediately given oxygen (blown across his face) to ensure that his oxidation levels stayed up, and was rushed to the nursery.

Finn spent the rest of the day under observation. He only needed the oxygen for about 20 minutes afterwards, but his breathing was a bit labored and he was breathing too often: he was taking over 80 breaths per minute, when the norm was around 60. He needed to remain in the nursery, which was especially tough on Jen, who had only had a single, very short chance to hold her new baby. Meanwhile, Jen was having her share of challenges - she had to be on a couple of different medications due to her hypertension, which not only made labor more difficult but caused her initial recovery to be that much more unpleasant.

Finn really was a trooper - while his respirations stayed a little high, he otherwise did very well and we were able to send all of our visitors through the nursery to see him. Finally, Wednesday evening, the nurses gave the okay for Finn to go to Jen for feedings! He was given 45 minutes every three hours to spend time with his family outside of the nursery before returning for further monitoring.

Finally, on Thursday morning, Finn was given the okay to stay in the room with us, to our immense relief! He and Jen both recovered very well, and everyone was given the okay to come home Thursday evening. So, now we are home and all Finn has to do is adjust to our chaotic household.

Thanks to everyone who was (and is still!) helping us, we are very grateful! We'll post more pics as they come, but here are a final two for you.

It's a BOY!

Finn Xavier Leon D. was born at 10:22 a.m. on Wednesday, 8/27. He weighed in at 9 lbs, 6 oz, and was 20.8 inches long!

Despite a somewhat exciting birth, mom and baby are doing just fine now. We can't upload any of our own pictures yet, but if you want a preview check out the Harrison website at http://www.harrisonhospital.org/ and click on the "See Our Babies" button at the top of the page. Use the password "public" to access the site!

We will post more as soon as we can, but right now we're very tired.

Surprise! It's a ....

DOLL!

Okay...I just couldn't resist - We're all ANXIOUSLY awaiting the real arrival of our baby so we can finally meet him/her! We'll post for real when we get to meet our new little bundle! Current plan is to be induced on Wednesday, but I would love to go into labor naturally before then...keep thinking good labor thoughts for me!

Down To the Wire

See this little hole here?



It wasn't enough for Jen to see our addition through it. NOOOO. She needed to experience the addition. So, what does she do? Wait for the hallway hole to be cut?



No.



My wife climbed through this little hole, just so she could take a jaunt around the addition! Truly, it was exhilarating and terrifying, all at once. Unfortunately (or fortunately, according to her), she hid the camera first, so that this event couldn't be chronicled in picture form

Afterwards, we felt that an additional picture was warranted:

Jen wishes to let everyone know that these studs are on 16" centers, so she's not as huge as you think she is.

3/4 view of baby's face looking up to the left.

So, we went to get an ultrasound last week, because of our tendency to make Large babies. This one is no exception! In fact, at 36 weeks it was measuring 39 weeks, 6 days. It is currently estimated at 9 lbs, and this fact combined with some mild hypertension means that we're planning on inducing Jen next week. So, unless plans change, our absolute outside birth date for this one will be next Wednesday. The truth is, however, that Jen could pop at any time!

We will, of course, update as soon as we can with further developments...stay tuned!