We Are HOME!!!!

I think the picture says it all. Evan had a lower bilirubin count Sunday morning, and an slightly lower one in the afternoon (we're down to 12.6 from an all-time high of 13.3). In short, he is on the mend. =)

We've had a good night at the house. Both parents clocked in with Mr. Sandman. NewMom claims five or six hours, but she's forgotten how to add numbers...so all bets are off. =)

Superstar awards go to NewGrandmother Julia and NewGrandfather Julius who spent Sunday cleaning our house, cooking us dinner and more food for the week, stocking the pantry and refrigerator, and doing our laundry. We probably would have gone insane by this point without their help. Thank you. If anyone needs a good tag-team duo to handle situations like these, I have their telephone number...

We're eagerly awaiting the arrival of NewAunt Elizabeth, NewUncle Joshua, and NewCousin Benjamin next week. We will be able to use the help. NewGrandpa Ken and NewGrandmother Marti will be coming sometime later in August or September. Your timing will be perfect, I'm sure...as we will have run out of food in the freezer. NewGrandmother Marti will probably find that her culinary skills are increased from an already incredible level to "Grandmother" status in the kitchen. NewDad and NewGrandpa Ken will probably find something to dig up, rewire, build, take apart, or break in the process of trying to fix it. A good time will be had.

NewGrandma Barbara will have to make it down at some point this fall too...or maybe we will be able to visit her. We're sure that she will have some books for NewBaby Evan. If you know Barbara, you know what I mean. She is a literature guru, lover of books, and her collection makes the Library of Congress staff take pause.

It's Time for a MegaNap!!

NewMom, NewBaby, and NewDad are doing pretty well after a very stressful couple of days. As previously reported here on this blog, Evan had a pretty good case of jaundice going on. Now as some of you have already found out, about 50% of babies have some jaundice...so it's nothing to get too alarmed over. But, if it gets too bad it can turn pretty ugly pretty quick. For a little while, our pediatrician was debating calling a bigger hospital about two hours away to see if we might need to take Evan there. At some point, it was revealed that the point of this trip would be to have a complete blood transfusion/replacement done on Evan. See below for the picture of what Evan thought about this idea.

Thankfully, the combination of light therapy, a little formula supplementing on top of the breast feeding, helpful nurses and doctors, and of course, lots of prayers has led to Evan's jaundice bilirubin blood levels leveling off this morning. He had a bilirubin count of 13 this morning, and to give you some perspective, we were told that 15 meant a call to the mega-hospital and increases beyond that meant an ambulance ride to the mega-hospital. His levels have plateaued (maybe it's the fact that I've had about 8 hours of sleep in the past four days, but that word looks funny), so that's good. As he gets older, his tolerance gets better and the high bilirubin levels become less of a critical concern. We are hoping and praying for a lower count in the morning, and all indications so far are that we will be happy when we get the results.

All this means that NewBaby has not been discharged from the hospital, so we're still at the hospital. NewMom is doing very well and has no complications or difficulties in healing after delivery. NewMom was discharged sometime recently (my brain is fried), but since no other NewMoms need her room, she is able to stay in her room for FREE. We have to arrange meals, etc. for her. I find this to be amazing in this day in age, but the hospital is very supportive of breast-feeding moms. It has been very "non-busy" in the maternity ward (I was told not to use a certain word that scores lots of points in Scrabble and means silence, lack of noise, etc... b/c that was bad luck). A very few other NewMoms have come through since we arrived, and so our NewMom has been able to keep her room.

Evan might get discharged tomorrow, but we are not getting our hopes up. NewMom is spending tonight in her room with Evan, and will rest between feedings. NewDad came home to do some laundry, bring some presents to the house, and get a good nights sleep on his own bed. That last one is coming real soon.

One last thing: Thank you to NewGrandfather and NewGrandmother from Lake Park for all of their support, help, and of course...photos (folder 2006-07-26). Thanks to all the people who were saying prayers for Evan and NewMom and myself. They were felt. Please continue on until we get Evan completely back to full health. Thanks to NewMom for being so wonderful and being a real trooper in the pregnancy/delivery/motherhood adventure. Thanks to everyone and anyone who I am forgetting in my brain-deadness. You are appreciated, I assure you.

That's it. Good night. If anyone calls me tonight with a wrong number...so help them.

--NewDad (who wonders how he is still able to type after all of this)

NBA Arrives on Scene; Decides on Name "Evan Jacob"

Hello everyone! Evan Jacob arrived on Wednesday, July 26th at 11:39 PM. He weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 19 inches long. He was a little small, but he came two weeks early. NewMom and I want to thank you for all of your support, prayers, and thoughts over the past few days. We are getting along pretty well. NewMom is doing very, very well...she managed about 6 hours of sleep last night in-between feedings, and is up and about during the day. NewDad also got 6 hours of sleep last night, and those 6 hours rate very high on the "Best Sleep Ever" list.

Evan is doing well for the most part, but he does have a pretty good case of jaundice going on. The doctors think it has something to do with NewMom/NewBaby different blood types...don't ask me, I can't figure it out right now. Anyway, it's nothing to be seriously worried about, but he is on the "Bili-Lights" (a UV light treatment bassinet kind of thing) most of the time and had an IV for most of last night and this morning. Our pediatrician is handling the issue very professionally, and we expect to have this thing figured out in the next 24-48 hours. Unfortunately, even though NewMom will be able to leave the hospital tomorrow, Evan will definitely be staying through Sunday...and possibly later depending on how this goes. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Thankfully, NewMom will be able to stay in her room at the hospital until Evan is ready to go home...unless her room is needed for other NewMoms who just delivered. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as well...as it would be wonderful to be able to stay at the hospital with Evan until he comes home.

NewGrandfather has posted many pictures online, some of which you may have already seen . He will be updating his photo website (http://photos.yahoo.com/jariail) . Just find the folder labeled "2006-07-26" and the photos will be updated as he takes more and adds them. Kudos to NewGrandfather for being here yesterday and today to "document" the baby thoroughly.

Thanks to whoever had the blue wreath put up on the fence outside the house...I haven't had time to check to see if there is a note or anything. Thank you very much.

That's it from here for now. NewDad is wiped out, but he'll make it.

Pre-Game Show Wrapping Up; Nursery is Complete!

(Notice the Auburn Tigers mobile. It plays the Auburn fight song.
War Eagle, Baby!)

Yesterday, we were visited by the Angels from Lake Park. Julia (NewGrandmother-T0-Be) who made the bumper pad and mattress skirt seen in the picture above, came to deliver a matching set of curtains for the nursery window. We were informed that we had a problem with the nursery when my sister, Elizabeth (NewAunt-To-Be), made a visit a few weeks ago. Benjamin, the NewCousin-To-Be, tested out the nursery by sleeping in the Pack&Play. When it was his bedtime, we realized that the nursery window faces west and the setting sun lit up the nursery like it was, well, daytime. Hence, the need for curtains. Who should come to the rescue but Julia, Sewing Queen Extraordinaire! Not only did she bring curtains, but she also brought a home-cooked lunch, loaves of Julia Bread, and a pound cake. She gets infinity + 1 gold stars for that. =) Dad (NewGrandfather-T0-Be) came along and took pictures of the whole affair. The full set of pictures can be seen at Dad's Yahoo photo site in a folder marked "2006-07-16." The photo below shows Julia surrounded by her handiwork. Thanks!

(notice the changing table in the background. Thanks to Ken
(NewGrandfather-T0-Be) and Marti (New Grandmother-T0-Be)
for that!)

In other developments, the "going to the hospital" bag is now in the car, along with the car seat. We need to fiddle with the straps on it, b/c right now they're set so tight that NBA probably wouldn't be able to breathe (much like his father, NewDad, as he drives home for the first time). NewMom-T0-Be is doing well with the last few weeks of pregnancy, but is about to die of boredom. She's already put together most of the jig-saw puzzles we have, written most of the thank-you cards (they'll be in the mail soon!), and read almost every pregnancy/first-year book we have twice. With the temperature here reaching 95-100 degrees Fahrenheit every day, she tries to stay inside as much as possible. We haven't started re-watching season 1 of Lost just yet*, but it will probably happen soon.

* If you haven't watched season 1 yet, consider it a risk to your time-management skills. Seriously. The best warning I've heard yet went something like this..."Only start watching it when you have several days with nothing planned, lots of snacks in the pantry, and a full refrigerator." We vaporized our spring break last year watching the DVD set. We know nothing about season 2 yet, and don't want to until we can get the DVD set and watch it.

5 Weeks! Or is it 2 weeks? Or 7 weeks?

As of today, we have exactly five weeks to go until NBA's due date. According to all of the reading we've done and classes we've attended, anything from 37 weeks on is considered "full-term." Up to two weeks after the due date is also considered normal. So, that means that NBA could theoretically arrive as soon as two weeks from today or as late as seven weeks from now. We're not exactly on the edge of our seats just yet. However, NewMom-To-Be did wake me up the other night as she was tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable. In my confusion, I thought she was going into labor and that we had to get to the hospital right then. Thankfully, calmer heads prevailed and I immediately went back to sleep. However, the "take to the hospital" bag has been packed and is sitting by the door. I am confident that I will grab everything else in the house on our way to the hospital, only to leave the all-important bag sitting by the door.

NewMom-To-Be is doing fine as she starts the ninth month of this fun-filled adventure. She thinks the baby has turned, as she is reporting frequent kicks to the ribs. Apparently, there is no longer enough room in there for NBA to swim laps. Sleep is going into a declining phase now, interrupted by kicking and frequent trips to the bathroom. She and I had a startling moment today when we both realized (OK, I realized...) that these last few weeks were the last time we'd get 6+ hours of sleep for quite some time. NewMom-To-Be is prepared for this, as we recently bought a chair to go in the nursery for her. While picking it out, I think one of the major criteria for NewMom-To-Be was "can I pass out at a moment's notice in this chair?" We picked a good one, and the saleswoman said that a NewMom would be comfortable snoozing in the chair while nursing the baby.

A few weeks ago, we went to the hospital's childbirth class to learn everything we needed to know for the delivery. We had to watch "the video." I don't think it was the most graphic version of the video, but it did leave us feeling overwhelmed with details. I think that by watching the video, we learned many things that we will not do. Here goes:

1) We will not have our entire families in the delivery room. We love you guys, but hey...you gotta draw the line somewhere. Some of those families in the video were NUTS!
2) An epidural will most likely be in the works. (This seems to be the 3rd-trimester question that NewMom-To-Be gets most often. 1st trimester = "When are you due?" and "It's gonna be a long, hot summer!" 2nd trimester = "Is it a boy or a girl?" followed by "Do you know what you're going to name him?")
3) I will not hip-chuck the OB out of position to grab the baby as he is being born. OK, it wasn't that bad, but there was something almost like it in the video. Honestly, I'm paying the doctor to deliver the baby and not drop him on the floor...I'll watch from the other end.

Other than the class, we've had a quiet summer here so far. I'm sure that things will get more interesting at our house soon. Just check back in two to seven weeks. =)