On Feb. 14, 2008, Brian had a dentist appointment, then went to see Bill Clinton at the UW Stock Pavilion, then got a haircut, then had dinner with Kristin at the Admiralty (inside the Edgewater Hotel).

This year, we “slept in” until 8 a.m., watched ESPN Game Day live from the Kohl Center, had family and a coworker visit us, ordered a heart-shaped pizza from Rocky Rococo, then watched the Badger basketball game on TV. Neither of us left the house the entire day. We did have two different parties we were invited to, but obviously we didn’t go to either one.

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Brian did begin brewing beer (an Amber) Saturday night. It should be ready in about two weeks!

Journal family, home brew

Braden saw his pediatrician this morning, and he looked so good color-wise that the pediatrician didn’t even ask to draw blood for a bilirubin check. So it looks like Braden is in the clear against jaundice. He’s also quickly gaining weight, as he is now above his birth weight (usually takes two weeks).

We asked the doctor about his non-stop hunger, and the pediatrician suggested that we give him a pacifier, which wouldn’t detract him from future breastfeeding. So we did so this afternoon/evening, and it seems to work.

Also this evening, we noticed that Braden is starting to develop eye color. Babies typically don’t get their final eye color until 6-9 months, but obviously he’s going to have brown eyes. Still, it was neat to see a little of the brown starting to come out.

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Brian promises to have Episode 4 up soon! He’s almost done editing it.

Journal eyes, feeding

It was such a nice day today (mid-50s for those not living in the Madison area) that Kristin took Braden to visit Brian at his office in the afternoon. That was a fun little trip, and they returned home just in time for another feeding.

Usually Braden falls asleep after he eats, but once in a while he’ll stay awake. After his 8 p.m. “dinner,” Braden stayed up so we decided to give him a (sponge) bath.

(For you “Seinfeld” fans out there, we were hoping it would be 6 p.m. “Hey Scott, it’s six o’clock. Time for your sponge bath.”)

As expected, Braden cried a bit because he hates being naked. We have captured this on film, and you will be able to watch part of it in Episode 5 (Episode 4 will be out shortly).

Journal bath, work

Braden eats non-stop! Before, we were feeding him breast milk, then half a bottle of formula (the latter to help get rid of his mild jaundice). Now, he breast feeds, has the formula (some times the whole bottle), then has another round of breast milk.

The good news is that his bilirubin levels have finally declined. The bad news is that feeding him takes 1.5 hours or longer. After his next appointment (Wednesday), we are hoping he cuts back to just one round of breast milk, and that’s it. We are already worried how much he will eat when he becomes a teen.

Brian went back to work today. His bosses have been very nice and accommodate his needs (e.g. if he has to run home). However, Brian is continuing to work a lot from home when Braden sleeps, so he’s not falling behind.

Despite a few hours’ sleep, Brian still was alert and functional at work. We’ll see how long that lasts!

Journal feeding, work

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