Hi, and welcome to the Wills family blog! Well, our main reason for starting this blog, and the big news for us recently, is the birth of our son, Adam Michael! He was born on Wednesday, November 5th at 4:23pm, and mom and baby Adam are doing great. He was 7lbs, 7oz, and 22 inches long (future NBA star).
Momma did great, especially given the fact that she had to push for 2 hours and her epidural migrated below her waist, providing no pain relief for the contractions. I’ve told her a few times since she delivered that her ability to endure what she went through amazes me, but she said it was all worth it once they plopped him on her chest and she got her first look at him.
Thursday and Friday in the hospital went pretty well, but not perfectly. On Thursday afternoon, the nurses informed us that Adam’s biliruben levels were a little too high, and if they continued to get worse, he’d have to stay a couple extra days in the NICU, though it shouldn’t cause any long-term complications with his health. Thankfully, it’s not an uncommon occurrence in births (if you’ve ever heard of a baby being born with a mild case of jaundice, it’s basically the same thing), so there are plenty of ways to help combat it. They gave us a bili-blanket Thursday evening to put him on at all times, and they had us start supplementing nursing with formula to help increase his bowel-movements so his body would get rid of the biliruben faster. His levels were more in line with what most newborns have when we left the hospital Friday evening, but they sent us home with more formula and a bili-blanket to continue to help his body get rid of it.
Getting home Friday evening was more enjoyable than we realized. Community North is a great hospital, the nurses were all great to us and to Adam and we felt very comfortable in their care. The hospital had lots of conveniences, like a complimentary valet, room service, free in-room movies, free wifi, and even a concierge who would go change the oil in your car if you wanted. But, as Dorothy said, there’s no place like home. We’ve done well so far, and have even had our first night of no sleep (yes, we know it’s the first of many).
We were back at the hospital today for another blood draw and biliruben reading, hoping to be done with the bili-blanket. Unfortunately, his levels haven’t dropped enough yet to stop the blanket therapy, but otherwise our pediatrician thinks he’s doing great. She even laughed out loud when we told her that he’s already almost back up to his birth weight (he weighed in at 7lbs, 3oz today).
In short, we’re doing great. We’re going through all the classic new parent experiences, we’ve had lots of visitors and well-wishers, the grandparents have been eager to help, and we’re just thrilled to be new parents. Keep checking in here as we continue to post about it.
