Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Welcome Davis!

Krista and Jeremy (our dear friends that moved to Tennessee) welcomed their 2nd child last week - we are so excited for them! Here's the recap of the events she sent to me:

Well, as some of you know or are finding out now, Jeremy and I welcomed our baby boy, Davis Michael, on Dec. 3rd at 3:00 pm. He weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. I am just now getting to the email and info because we have had an interesting few days of life. We are all home and healthy now, but the beginning was a little traumatic for both of us...

Davis began his entrance into the world quickly, but then his shoulder got stuck, leaving his head being out for a while before the rest of his body joined him. Along with that, the cord was wrapped around his neck 2 times. 4 neonatal nurses rushed in for the end of the delivery and quickly tended to him. He took his first breath and began to cry only minutes after he was born, but those beginning minutes were the longest of both of our lives. It was very scary, but the nurses kept reassuring me that if he was not okay, they would have taken him to the NICU right away, but that was not the case; once he was breathing and crying, all was well and he was handed to us.

To rest our minds a little more, our WONDERFUL pediatrician happened to be at the hospital seeing another patient and rushed over to check on Davis before Jeremy even left the waiting room to get our families. Davis checked out okay and seemed all of his injuries were just on the surface and nothing was beneath the skull. Just to make sure, Dr. Little ordered for him to be monitored in the nursery 2 out of every 3 hours. That was VERY hard not getting to hold our son as much as we wanted to, which all parents want to do.

Once he was clear to leave the monitors, jaundice set in and he had to be under triple phototherapy 2 1/2 of every 3 hours, so our time with him was shortened even more. His jaundice stemmed from the bruising (which you will see in the pictures) combined with the hematomas (spelling?) on his head and behind his eyes. We were released to go home on Friday afternoon. However, his bilirubin levels jumped back up on Sat. and Davis was readmitted to the hospital for triple phototherapy again until Sunday afternoon. We were sent home with at-home phototherapy until Tuesday. We saw the pediatrician this morning (Tues.) and were finally given the green light to go on normally without anymore phototherapy. YEAH!

I am passing along pictures for you to see. You will see how blue and swollen he was in the beginning... a face only a mother could love (and it still took me a little convincing). I will say that I was very scared with the way he looked in the beginning and made sure Jeremy warned our families before they came back to see him for the first time. The nursery nurses even put a little post-it note explanation on his crib so people wouldn't cast judgement. So... do not feel like you have to let me know how cute he is (yet!). He has come a long way in a few days with his looks, but he still has a little more bruising and swelling to get through.

We are all at home now and doing great. He is a good eater.. typical man already! Reagan is doing great. She LOVES her "new baby" but likes to give us little reminders that she is still in her terrible 2's phase so we don't forget about her.

Love to all!
Krista

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