First family portrait

Braden slept a lot today–of course during times when we are wide awake and doing things. Kristin’s sister Marcie came over today and watched him (sleep) while Kristin napped and Brian worked out.

It was an otherwise average Saturday for us. We watched the episode of “Heroes” we missed on Monday, watched some Badger hockey and Brian made dinner. Brian also caught up on some work that he missed this week.  

The only difference with this Saturday, of course, was that we didn’t go out at night. As we’re writing this (8:45 p.m.), we plan on waiting for Braden to wake up for feeding, then we’re going to go bed. (Braden’s doctor appointment is 9:15 a.m. Sunday, so we want to make sure we can get up for it.)

Forgot to mention: we cracked open a bottle of wine that we received as a gift this past summer. It’s one of many wines we’ve been saving until after the pregnancy.

The picture that’s a part of this blog entry is the first one of all three of us. We’re thinking of doing a better-looking portrait some time later.

Hope you all saw the Day 5 photos and Episode 3 on the videos page.

Journal home

We had about three 2.5-hour intervals of sleep last night.  Seven-and-a-half hours seem like a lot, but not when they’re broken up. Still, it was nice to be in our own bed for the first time in almost a week.

We took Braden to see the pediatrician at 11:30 a.m. to check his biliruben levels. The good news is that his weight has increased by almost 5 oz. (a lot!), but the bad news is that his biliruben levels rose from 15.2 to 16.6. So we have another appointment at 9:15 a.m. Sunday.

While we were in the waiting room, Braden had the hiccups. We will be posting this video soon.

Kristin’s sister just came over, so Kristin will take a quick nap and Brian is going to go work out. It’s 2:08 p.m. now. We’ll check back later.

Journal, Video pediatrician, sleep

After another feeding and a bath for Braden, we packed up and left shortly after noon. Kristin did NOT have to be carted out in a wheelchair–she is one tough cookie.

Brian, as always, had road rage on the short drive home (1.4 miles according to MapQuest), only this time it was even more severe as his protective tendencies came to play. But we made it home safely, and Braden already has been fed.

It’s 2:15 p.m. and we’re just relaxing (well, Brian is doing some work and then running errands for Kristin) before we have family over.

Check out the new pics (Day 4).

Journal, Pictures family, home, hospital

It’s about 9 a.m., and we are eagerly awaiting to get out of here.

Braden fed at 2:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., and as usual, we had many visits from various staff members throughout the morning. Our pediatrician examined Braden and said he looks great; his bilirubin levels have plateaued, so we will continue feeding him formula but will take no further action to alleviate his bit of  jaundice.

We will be scheduling an exam for him for Saturday. If all is well, we won’t have to have another check-up for two weeks.

Kristin is about to take a shower then get her stitches taken out,  and then we can get out of here.

This morning’s nurse has been super nice and gave us a lot of goodies (formula, diapers, etc.) to take home. Brian will have to make at least a couple of trips to the car now.

More to come! Plus videos, pics, the works.

Journal feeding, hospital

As you can see, we took a ton of photos today!  We also had a lot more family and friends stop by to see us.

Braden has slightly elevated bilirubin levels (which causes jaundice); his are at 14, and average is 12. Since the level is still below 15, we don’t have to take more drastic measures such as putting him under a UV light. Instead, Brian fed him some formula tonight, just to get him to potty more (which in turn gets rid of the excess bilirubin).

We watched the beginning of the comedy movie “Superbad” today. We had to stop a lot, because it hurt Kristin’s stitches to laugh so hard.

Brian is happy both his basketball teams won tonight–Wisconsin over Illinois and the Lakers over the Celtics.

We are anxious to get out of here, hopefully by lunchtime on Friday. We’ve seen that the weather will be mild with clear roads; we’re relieved it’s not going to be a major snowstorm.

It’s 10:18 p.m. right now. Talk to you tomorrow!

Journal, Pictures feeding, visitors

Brian ran home today to get some clean clothes (remember he got peed on?) and picked up some other things from he and Kristin, since we had only packed enough for two days. (Don’t worry, he did this when Kristin’s parents came.)

We’ve been trying to take pictures of every possible face Braden can make. You’ll see more variations on the Day 3 pics page.

Even more staff visiting us in the early morning–the new shift of nurses, the OB, etc., plus today we had a med student come in and ask questions (you could tell he was thinking about what to ask; he was very nice, though). The tough part is they come every 20 min., so we never can get any sleep.

It’s about 2:45 p.m. We’ll update again soon!

Journal, Pictures sleep

It’s just past 10:15 p.m., and we’re going to get some rest before the next crew gets in to do their rounds (around 11 p.m. or so). Here are some noteworthy news:

A tough day for Braden, in that he received his Hep B shot, then his foot was pricked so they could do blood work. The latter was so sad to watch, as the doctor kept squeezing his foot to get more and more blood–she was so poor at filling these circles up with blood (hard to explain)–and he’s crying the whole time.

If you didn’t see it, our birth announcement was in the newspaper today. Other birthdays today include Morgan Fairchild and Norman Rockwell. http://www.famousbirthdays.com/

We are still appreciative of all our family visiting us, and all the great comments, e-mails, Facebook messages and calls we keep receiving. Your well wishes really keep the positive energy flowing!

We should be getting out of here on Friday. Braden has so many clothes, toys, etc. that are just waiting for him at home!

Talk to you tomorrow.

Journal Braden, timeline

Anybody remember that phone commercial in which the son calls the parents collect, saying his name is “Weaddababyeetsaboy” (= “We had a baby, it’s a boy”)? Brian really wants to call someone collect that way.

Speaking of Brian, he was checking Braden’s diaper and got peed on! The worst part is, Brian only has one other shirt to wear. See the pictures in the “Day 2” photo album.

You’ll also see in the album that we had new visitors today–Brian’s aunt Hope and Cora; Kristin’s aunt Cindy, aunt Mary and uncle Rob; and our brother-in-law Josh.

It’s 8 p.m. right now. We’ll check in again later.

Journal diapers, visitors

It’s 9 a.m., and here’s a quick recap since the last blog entry:

So far, the nurses have been the ones who have changed the diapers, because they also have helped with nursing and check the diaper each time.

But last night it was a little busy, and Braden was getting fussy, so Brian checked his diaper at 12:15 a.m., and it was poopy (much more so than the other times). So Brian cleaned Braden up, using about half the box of wipes since the poop was all over (including on the security tag on Braden’s left foot).

If you know Brian, you know he despises poop more than Ohio State and Michigan fans despise each other. But he did it without complaint, and Kristin absolutely marveled at him doing it.

Sorry, we didn’t take any pictures or video of the event.

Journal diapers

It’s 9:15 p.m. right now and we’re going to try to sleep. Braden is a great sleeper, so we’re going to take advantage until we have to feed him again (around midnight).

Speaking of which, he fed three of the six times we tried today (babies don’t eat much right away, apparently).

Before we forget to mention, we’d like to buy a Posturepedic [spelling?] bed when we get back. We’re both sleeping on a bed similar in concept in which you can raise or lower the top and bottom independently of each other. (Anyone watch “The Simpsons”? Bed goes up, bed goes down. Bed goes up, bed goes down.)

Be sure to check out the photo page if you haven’t yet. We’ve been uploading new photos to the birth page throughout the day. It’s funny, Braden has had his picture taken more times today than we did combined in our first few months!

Journal feeding, sleep