Well I'll start with the prequired picture of Joshua Tyler, because that seems to be the important things these days. Important meaning that Josha > Showers/Meals/Sleep combined. But we don't mind a bit. Most of the time he's fairly well behaved. Today we changed his diaper a number of times AND gave him a bath and the only time he cried was when we had to hold his head under the sink.
Of course all of you are reading this "We" and misunderstanding that "We" means Jessica, my wife. Last week "We" meant Jessica and her Mom, this week "We" has been downgraded to just Jessica.
Okay, so I'm mostly kidding about that. I've changed my share of diapers the last few days, done laundry, wrapped the baby, made the bed, cleaned the room, set up dinner and various other things for my wife and the baby to help out, so I am pulling my weight.
Anyway, I had an interesting thought. I'm usually very bad about posting in a blog on a regular schedule, but SOMEHOW I manage to send out a newsletter with our family news in it every month to the important people in our lives (which is not to say that you're not important if you're not getting the newsletter, just that I don't have your email address!). And so I thought, I should post the newsletter here! That way people can read it at their leisure. And so I am. Here's the Newsletter, enjoy:
Don't think we're stopping the baby updates! There's still lots of news to come! I'm going to learn how to use my video camera properly so you can all get video of his first walking!
(To the Dragon Squadron Pilots: I don't normally send you guys my updates [they go out about once a month] but this is the BIG ONE and I still feel like you guys are my aliit [Family, for you non-mandos] from my time as CO, and so I wanted you to be included in this! Even though I'm not so brazen as to send it to the rest of the RS!)
NOTE TO ALL: If you've heard the whole story (minus my humurous [ I hope ] side notes) you don't need to read the whole email. There is picture that was 10 minutes old when I started this email and an hour and a half old when I finished it attached and visible either at the top or bottom of your screen depending on what program you use to access your mail! In fact it's been so long that I now have to switch from battery to AC power because my battery on my laptop - which was fully charged - is now drained.
Also, for anyone reading this, scan the email addresses (most of them have names by them!) and forward it on to anyone else you think would appreciate it, or better yet: Send me their email addresses so I can put them on the next mailer! Don't think that emails are going to stop anytime soon (Maybe I should put a "Send an email HERE if you want to unsubscribe!" option at the bottom of my emails). The feedback from the Baby News Emails has been fantastic, so I'm going to keep including everyone who says they want to be included! In fact, because Joshua is here now, we're going to expand it into sort of a catch-all (to use a term from my websever) email that will keep you updated about our family life. I'm also going to start updating them, so I can refer back to past issues when I'm telling stories! (Refer to Family News Issue 1138A, for example! [Special numbers for any geeks heart. Don't worry RSers, I won't send you all of those unless you ask for it!])
So here's your first update! We're home, and settled. We were discharged from the hospital around 3:00 PM today, quite fast, actually. For those who haven't been updated on everything:
Jessica started having labor pains around 5 PM on Wednesday, we were staying at her parents house for dinner and we decided to leave a bit early to go home and rest. Jessica had a shower and cleaned herself up, and we decided that her contractions were regular enough to warrant a trip to the hospital.
We got to the hospital - and inside about 10:15. It was 12:00 before we saw the doctor (it was a busy night at Labor & Delivery, we offered to go home but for some reason they said we couldn't wait until tomorrow to have the baby. Yes, I actually asked them [I was kidding].). And they decided that Jessica was not dilated enough to warrant a stay in the Hospital. This was distressing all of us as her labor pains were quite strong and she was in quite a bit of pain and distress. I made the mistake of calling Emi before we left for the hospital, promising to call her as soon as there was news, and in her loving manner rather then wait to hear we had been admitted she jumped in the car and flew to the hospital to stay with us while we waited (And we love her for it, crazy as she was!).
We walked the hospital four for about forty minutes (during which Jessica spent as much time walking as she did resting in a wheelchair) to see if she would dilate at all and went back inside desperately hoping she had, as the pain she was in seemed to only be getting worse. They got her back to her room and back in bed, and on her third contraction - the Doctor still hadn't come in - her water broke. She promptly announced this to the doctors - along with a request for an epidural, a request that was repeated every half hour for the rest of the night - and they admitted her on the spot, much to the relief of everyone in the room. This was about 2 AM in the morning. At this time, Jessica had dilated all the way to about 4-5.
At about three they finally gave her the epidural and the remainder of the night/morning passed without incident until about 8 AM. They came in and said that Jessica had been dilated to Nine, but there was a lip that was preventing the baby from being pushed out. We started pushing to clear the lip at 8 AM and didn't stop until 9:49 when the baby was finally arrived! Unfortunately, due to the fatigue I was unable to hold Jessica's hand up until this point - at 8 AM Emmy Bonja - who had stayed awake all night at the hospital with us, and Jessica and I had decided would be a blessing to have in the delivery room was able to spell me for the last hour, making sure to grab me (literally) and drag me (Also literally) to the table to watch the baby coming out. Which allowed me to see everything I wanted to see - and alot that I didn't!
Of course, the immediately put the baby atop Jessica, and he started bleeding out of his cord almost immediately. There was apparently a rupture inside the umbilical cord below where they had clamped it. It wasn't a problem for Baby Joshua, but they called the NICU as a precaution to have him checked anyway, even though they moved the clamp and stopped the bleeding.
(Authors Note: I heard the call for the NICU, but not the reason, and was completely unaware of the reasons for the call. I was not placing the NICU call with the Umbilical cord bleeding because our Kaiser Classes had prepared us so well for the possibility of cord bleeding that I was actually not worried about it at all. So when the NICU call came I almost had a heart attack and started praying immediately because I didn't know the reason for the call. Joshua was also so calm - if you can believe this - that for the first five minutes after he was born, he didn't cry, even though he was very much alert and alive. I remember watching his head turn as he tracked all around the room. I was very happy and pleased that he was looking around - but still convinced that he might be dead because he hadn't cried yet. I know, that's a little silly. But I'd been awake all night, I was also not worried because several times through myself I had to remind myself that Joshua and Jessica were both in God's hands, to do with as he pleased. I'm not to self-less to admit that I told God several times that he had exactly two hands, and one belonged with my wife and one belonged with my child even if it meant War somewhere else in the world. This is all abit silly since God has as many hands as he wants to have, but it accurately reflects my mood at the time so I felt like including it. And for the record, I would never want innocent to die just to keep my wife and child(ren) [there WILL be more, Jessica said so!] safe.).
They took the baby away from Jessica almost immediately as they waited for NICU to respond.
What's interesting to note is that at this point Jessica, her Mom, Emmy, Myself, and now Baby Joshua were all in the tiny little room - along with SIX nurses, and the Midwife who delivered the baby. When the NICU Team arrived (That's what they called it) there were 7 Nurses, the Midwife, and the Doctor, plus the five of us. How they all managed to function I will never know.
NICU arrived a few minutes later and laughed because the baby was fine. The cord had ruptured during delivery - they thought after birth - and he had absolutely nothing wrong with him. He just wasn't very fussy. He did start to fuss, and then stopped almost immediately when we started talking to him. He also started tracking and responding to people talking to him immediately to the shock of almost everyone in the room.
At this point we were all calmed by NICU and their response, and things proceded well from there. Official delivery time was 0949 - That's how the hospital rights it, Nine forty nine AM for you non-military people out there. He was 18.5 inches in length (and already seems to be growing taller) and 6 pounds 8.2 ounces. Our doctor (Linden, the nice older experianced one for those who recall silly stupid details I don't really NEED to share with you, and you don't really WANT to hear from me) had predicted this exact weight about four or five weeks ago.
He and Mommy are both doing very well, Jessica was up and moving around within several hours of her pregnancy while they moved her to her private room, which was much cleaner (Anecdote: Prior to the delivery we were informed by the nurses that some of our bags in the delivery room were in the "splash zone" which caused all of us to laugh, believing they were kidding, but they were quite serious. We moved all the bags in the areas they indicated and - I wish I'd thought to grab a picture of it - had any of them still been where we had them, they all would have been trimmed very nicely in a deep blood red.). Though the new room was also much smaller and much less comfortable (Especially for daddy, who slept all night on the floor rather then the three level bed-chair they had in the room for me).
We spent the night in the hospital and were both able to get some rest - Joshua was almost distressingly quiet - he did not wake me all night long. Jessica said he only fussed a little, and then only once. She said at one point she woke up (she had put the little clear crib thing Joshua was in right next to her bed) and he was staring through the plastic - wide awake - right at her. She had to wake up a few times to feed him (we are Breast Feeding) but he's quite a little angel most of the time. This morning they drew blood from him without a fuss, and from his heel for the PKU without a fuss either (he cried during his circumcision, but stopped when they did [we heard this second hand from the Nurse who was present) and completely ignored the shot they gave him this morning. I blame Jessica for his clam-ness - Force knows that part of him didn't come from me! - she was quite controlled during the pregnancy, and didn't shout or yell at anyone for all of it (except for yelling at the Nurse at one point to check her dilation).
Discharge went as smoothly as it possibly could have today, coupled with her mother being present to give us a hand at the hospital and for the first few hours we were home we've gotten some hands on experience (For which we are truly blessed) and she got to be very excited about being a grandmommy (yay!).
There are many other exciting stories about our trip to the hospital that I will make sure and share with you later - but for now I need to spend some time with my wife. (Meaning that BSG has finished tivoing and we've been eagerly waiting for the new episode. Clearly the Force (of God) had us in mind to get home in time to watch it tonight!
So for now, Goodnight from Jessica Joshua and Mark (Maybe I should change my name to Jark so we all start with a J. I'll have to think on that!) another update will be forthcoming as we give you news of how we're all adjusting to the now no longer pending role of being mother and father! (Maybe I will let Jessica write the next one!)
(Oh, and there's a picture attached, too!)
With Much Love for everyone,
Jessica, Mark, and Joshua
PS: Cindy, thank you for the book and for loaning us your mother for a few days! She was a big help, and the book will be too!
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