Saturday, July 23, 2005
Xander Update
So Xander is now 19 days old already and progressing superbly. His first pediatrician visit went great. His birth weight was 6lbs 8oz. but when we left the hospital he was down to 6lbs 2oz and by the time of his first doctors visit a week later he was up to 6lbs 14oz and had grown 3/4". So his weight gain has been great. The doctor was very impressed with his first week. I can't wait until our next visit to see how he's progressing. I can tell you this, I am totally amazed on how fast the days go by. I'm sure all you parents out there can attest to that. Anyway, back to what everyone wants more of.........baby pics!!! By the way, he had his first sitting with a professional photographer, see if you can figure out which ones she took....lol
Friday, July 08, 2005
Alexander Charles has arrived!!!
Hi everyone. This is Josh here to inform all that Alexander has arrived!!!! For those of you who haven't heard the great news yet, Xander was born Tuesday, July 5th, at 9:34am, 6lbs 8oz. - 19-1/4" long. Mommy and baby are doing great. Everyone is home now recovering and doing excellent. Michele did a phenomenal job and received much praise from the Backus doctors on how well she held things together for her first child. With that said I want to give special thanks to the Backus staff on how well they treated us during our stay. They did a great job of keeping the atmosphere loose and laid back especially during Michele’s labor and delivery. As all of you parents know, labor can be an overwhelming experience from start to finish and they did a great job keeping us calm and on the right track.
I would also like to thank Michele's coaches Kari and Berlynda.
- Kari, I'm sure you would have stayed later if you could. Unfortunately people have jobs to attend to and they require sleep. Something I'm going to be doing very little of for a while. LOL. We just want you to know we are very grateful that you were there as late as you were.
- Berlynda, you were awesome. You were there start to finish and experienced everything that I experienced. It felt so good to have another family member in the room with us during the night that could help support Michele when she needed it. Thanks for everything!!
The Timeline
Michele started having her contractions at about 7:15pm on the 4th of July. Of course we weren't home at the time. We had just finished supper with Michele's parents at their place in Jamestown, RI which is about an hour and 10 minutes from home doing the speed limit. ;) To add to the mess we had our dog with us and we had the wrong car. Meaning we had the car with nothing in it as far as baby preparation goods. Needless to say, by the time we got home and switched cars and were headed to Backus (about 1.5 hours) Michele's contractions were now between 3-5 minutes apart. Fortunately this isn't one of those stories that ends with the wife giving birth in the front seat of the car but believe me, I didn't know that was the case and the Taurus suddenly became a 4 door ambulance with total disregard to speed limits. In between contractions, 70-75mph. During contractions, 85-90mph.
We arrive at the hospital and finally get her admitted at about 9:30pm. From there she remained in hard labor until about 1:30am when they finally decided to give her Morphine for the pain since she's not actually dilating yet so an epidural is not an option. To our surprise the Morphine has little to no effect on the pain. At 4am they examine her and determining she's 2cm dilated. Time for the epidural. So after about 8 hours of hard labor with virtually no pain relief, they administer the epidural. I held her in an upright position on the bed and they did the rest. For those of you who haven't seen it done don't go out of your way if you're squeamish.
After that, things went smoothly. By 7:30am she was 8cm. By 8:30am, fully dilated. At that point they reduce the dose of the epidural. By 8:50am, she's ready to start pushing and after 14hours or so of labor, Xander is born at 9:34am.
I would also like to thank Michele's coaches Kari and Berlynda.
- Kari, I'm sure you would have stayed later if you could. Unfortunately people have jobs to attend to and they require sleep. Something I'm going to be doing very little of for a while. LOL. We just want you to know we are very grateful that you were there as late as you were.
- Berlynda, you were awesome. You were there start to finish and experienced everything that I experienced. It felt so good to have another family member in the room with us during the night that could help support Michele when she needed it. Thanks for everything!!
The Timeline
Michele started having her contractions at about 7:15pm on the 4th of July. Of course we weren't home at the time. We had just finished supper with Michele's parents at their place in Jamestown, RI which is about an hour and 10 minutes from home doing the speed limit. ;) To add to the mess we had our dog with us and we had the wrong car. Meaning we had the car with nothing in it as far as baby preparation goods. Needless to say, by the time we got home and switched cars and were headed to Backus (about 1.5 hours) Michele's contractions were now between 3-5 minutes apart. Fortunately this isn't one of those stories that ends with the wife giving birth in the front seat of the car but believe me, I didn't know that was the case and the Taurus suddenly became a 4 door ambulance with total disregard to speed limits. In between contractions, 70-75mph. During contractions, 85-90mph.
We arrive at the hospital and finally get her admitted at about 9:30pm. From there she remained in hard labor until about 1:30am when they finally decided to give her Morphine for the pain since she's not actually dilating yet so an epidural is not an option. To our surprise the Morphine has little to no effect on the pain. At 4am they examine her and determining she's 2cm dilated. Time for the epidural. So after about 8 hours of hard labor with virtually no pain relief, they administer the epidural. I held her in an upright position on the bed and they did the rest. For those of you who haven't seen it done don't go out of your way if you're squeamish.
After that, things went smoothly. By 7:30am she was 8cm. By 8:30am, fully dilated. At that point they reduce the dose of the epidural. By 8:50am, she's ready to start pushing and after 14hours or so of labor, Xander is born at 9:34am.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
It's here!!! Is today the day?
So today is our due date. I went to the doctors yesterday and they said that he is very very low and my cervix is very thin to the point that she can put her finger almost through it and touch the baby. It doesn't make sense that this is happening. So I have to just wait. I have to go to the doctors on Wed and then they will figure out from there what the next steps are. From there they may decide to dialate me using what's called a "Laminaria" which is a seaweed type cigarette they insert in my cervix that will expand forcing me to dialate. The thing is that he is so low that it's possible that they may not be able to give me a Laminaria. But I guess we will have to wait and see if I make it through this weekend without having the baby first. The doctor told me that things can change in a drop of a hat and not to be discouraged. We'll know more on Wed where I stand and at that point we will find out if they are going to decide whether to dialate me on Thurs. and then induce me on Friday or we may decide to wait until Sunday for the seaweed and induce me on Monday. The sec option would work for Josh since he has softball that weekend in Branford but I just don't know if that will work with the doctors. Where ever they can fit me in I guess. Until I know more or something happens......
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