When I first met Liam

I have finally broken myself away from Liam to catch up on a little blogging myself--If I am not nursing him, I find that I am holding him while he sleeps. I tried to have a bit of a break today and managed to put him in the pack and play for a total of 45 minutes before he asked to be picked up again. I will be more strict about it later on, but for now I like that he likes being held and I like holding him.

I wanted to share the video of the first time I met Liam. Babies know basically nothing when they are first born: they know how to suckle, pee, poop and as this video shows, they recognize the sound of their mother's voice.

First Night

I spent the night at the hospital with Annika last night because they couldn't leave Liam in there alone with her, and we didn't want him to be in the nursery all night. I slept on the luxurious chair that pulls out into a lumpy cot and had the jobs of changing, swaddling and transporting (from bassinet to Annika and back) Liam, while Annika nursed him. He was very well behaved through the night and only cried for a change or food. He is a pretty quiet baby so far, and we hope it stays that way :)


Liam continues to nurse well and has really been great! We did have him stay in the nursery for 2 hours last night so we could get a nice solid 2 hours of sleep (my sleeping expectations have changed when I think 2 solid hours is "nice"). I'm getting much better at changing him now and we're both learning a lot form the nurses at the hospital. They tend to come in about once an hour to check on things like Annika's pain level, Liam's nursing, etc. They've all been very nice and expressed excitement about our new family member (even though they see this all day every day) so that's been nice.

Annika is now up and walking on her own and is starting to feel better. Being mobile has given her a psychological boost as well. The pediatrician visited this morning and said Liam is in good health and has no problems. Another OB from Annika's group came by and was happy with her progress so far too. Everything is going smoothly and we're both thrilled about it all. Even Liam's cries make me smile.

Mariah has been a big help by taking care of our pets while I stayed at the hospital and taking a shift at the hospital to enable me to come home and update this blog!

Delivery

Today, Annika and I woke up like it was Christmas morning. We anxiously got ready and went to the hospital for a 9:30 check-in. We got a room and started getting ready for the sonogram and probable C-section. Over the next two hours, Annika was prepared for surgery as we waited for the doctor to do the sonogram and find out if the surgery would be necessary. Annika's sister Mariah came to the hospital around this time and provided support and company as we got closer to the time. At about 11:30, the doctor arrived and did the sonogram and found out that Liam was still in the breech position, so the C-section would proceed as planned.


I got into scrubs and Annika was whisked to the operating room where she was given her anaesthesia. After about 15 minutes, I was let into the room to witness the delivery, comfort Annika, meet the baby and document it as much as possible on camera. The surgery went smoothly and Annika didn't feel much. She talked to me and the anesthesiologist for most of the operation. The nurse asked Annika to recite her name, birth date and why she was there - which she did. But I thought that was too easy, so I asked her the square root of 81, which she also got right away :)


At 12:34 (pretty cool time eh?) Liam was delivered by C-section and brought around for Annika to see. After a quick hello, he was shuttled to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) station in the operating room. This is standard procedure for a C-section. Soon, he was crying on the NICU table and I was able to video tape again. I then got to go visit Liam on the NICU table and let him grip my finger in his hand, talk to him, and get a better look. He currently has dark blue eyes and light brown hair. I also got to cut the remainder of the umbilical cord and put on his first diaper.


The nurse weighed him in at 8 pounds, 6.4 ounces and 20 inches. This makes Kitty the winner of the baby pool with a guess of 8 pounds, 6 ounces and 20 inches! Congrats Kitty!


Now, they brought Liam up to Annika for a real introduction. She gave him a kiss on the head and asked if he recognized her voice. He stopped crying when she spoke, so I guess he did! Soon after, I escorted Liam as he was rolled to the nursery for a bath and some quick tests. He is perfectly healthy so far :) Unlike many breech babies, he doesn't even grab his ankles, but just lies flat. As I walked out of the nursery, I saw my parents and Annika's dad as they were just arriving. They came with me to Annika's room where we all visited with her while Mariah took a turn looking at Liam in the nursery.

Liam had no trouble nursing and has been doing fine all around. Annika and I will be at the hospital this weekend as she continues to recover. She's doing about as well as can be expected for just having surgery so I'm hopeful about her recovery.

So far, everything has gone really well and, as long as Annika recovers well, there's nothing more we could ask for. He's a cute little guy and we love him already :)

Pi

Since Liam is in the breech position, the doctors had us schedule a C-section. We were able to get scheduled for March 14th (3.14) which are the first three digits of pi. Besides revealing our nerdiness, this also gives double meaning to calling him a cutie pi or sweetie pi. Sadly, we couldn't schedule it for 3pm (15 in military time) or 1:59 which both would have given us a few more digits!