Daddy and Diapers

I changed my first dirty diaper on Tuesday night. I did it with an audience present. The audience was supportive as well. Melissa helped me when I had some trouble with knowing what to do. The difficulty was not in the diaper, it was in baby Elizabeth crying when I undressed her to change the diaper. Now that mom is doing better, she has taken on as much of the diapering as she can handle. Some of the nurses have helped out as well.

Wednesday

Wednesday has turned out to be better than yesterday. Here is what I learned today:

• Babies get diaper rash, even if you do everything right.
• A baby is not recommended to ride in a car seat for longer than an hour?
• Percocet works wonders for pain management.
• Not all nurses are created equal.
• Sometimes, 1 percocet is just not enough.
• Becca's surgeries yesterday would possibly require more than 2 percocets for pain management
• Chipotle tastes good
• Using a swim noodle (yes, the things boys hit each other with at the pool) can be used to prop a car seat enough to make it level.
• Elizabeth is still very healthy.
• I am still holding all of my emotions in - not sure when I will get to let them out.

Ok - now for pictures.

Elizabeth in her crib.



Baby holding Dad's finger. I can't believe how tiny it is!

First picture with her eyes open. Enjoy!

Sara from church came to visit us. She let me take a trip to the car and brought me chipotle and Becca some Sprites (spicy food not good for her right now - and her food is already "paid" for)

Tuesday night

Bryan, Kerri, and Scott came to visit. (sorry David, Melissa, Jimmy, and Amie - I didn't get pictures of all our guests)



Mom gets to hold baby for the first time. After all the surgeries.



Well, Tuesday turned out to be quite a day. Becca's doctors had tried a couple of ways to try and stop her from bleeding after her surgery, but they weren't successful. So Becca was sent to Intervential Radiology for an angiogram and eventually an embolism in the arteries that go to her uterus. What this means for all you laypersons (myself included with this silly doctory mediciney greek speak [additional sidebar - this is funny because most medical stuff turns out to be in greek]) is that Becca's life was kind of at risk. I didn't know how much, so I assumed (maybe naturally) that she was in trouble. Becca ended up ok. We had some excellent doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other support people that made everything ok.

So while I was in the nursery with Elizabeth - who was/is perfectly healthy - Becca was awake and speaking with the doctors while they worked on her. When the doctors decided to take Becca back to IR, they had me come back to give kisses and travel with her to the next OR. Elizabeth stayed back with the nurses in the nursery.


I was given one of those things you get a restaurant when you have to wait for a table. When Becca was done, they would page me. I was told it would be an hour. I had received no word back in 2 hrs. I had some friends from church come to sit with me while I waited.


Before I got there, I had a chance encounter with someone from work. Another Marathon Employee was there with his family because his father had a stroke. His wife worked at United. He recognized me from a special project I had worked on with him a few weeks ago. He and his wife sat with me and listened to my story. I am forever grateful for his kindness. I really needed someone to talk to then.


At 4pm, I was buzzed back to IR to see Becca. The doctors told me everything was okay with her. I stood next to her for about an hour while her medication wore off.


Eventually, we got to our room, and had Elizabeth come in as well. Some of our friends stopped by as well.

Someone thought this would be a good idea for a picture. Not really sure why, but someone had us pose for this?

Newborn Nursery

I got to take Elizabeth to the nursery while Becca was stitched up. While I was there with her, I was able to give her a first bath and first feeding. She ate too much I think. It wasn't long after that when I was called down to the OR to see Becca again. The surgery was supposed to take about 45 additional minutes, but it had been 2 hrs.

Elizabeth waiting around for her vitals to be checked.

We were given two copies of Elizabeth's footprints. Can't tell whose feet she has.

Here Elizabeth is having her vitals checked: she had her breathing, heart rate, and %O2 sat monitored. She is naked because she is laying in a heating lamp that kept her temperature at 37 deg C.

This is Elizabeth getting weighed. 7 lb. 2.25 oz.

A new arrival

Well, Elizabeth Martha Shivers was born at 1156AM. She was 7 lbs 2.25 oz and 19 inches long. She was very healthy at birth. Her APGAR scores were good after birth and she vigorously cried on the way out. Mommy had her first look at the baby here.

A good close up of Elizabeth.

Please comment on what pictures you all like and I will add bigger ones.

On the way to the hospital

Well, we went to the hospital Tuesday morning. We got there a little late because I tried to take a shortcut that didn't work. Becca and I were waiting around in the labor room while they started her fluids (she wasn't able to eat or drink after midnight - good thing we had that party!). At 1115 AM they took Becca back to the operating room for her C-section. Then I had to wait for a while (30 minutes). I had the video camera and the digital camera with me - digital was upside-down in my left hand, video was in my right hand. I was brought into the OR at 1145 AM.

Baby Shivers 0th Birthday Party

Becca and I had a birthday party for Baby Shivers on Monday night. I wanted to have the party at midnight, but Becca got tired and wanted to go to bed. So, we had it at 1030pm. We had hostess cupcakes for the cake and blew out the candles together. Both of our other babies were in attendance - Maya is pictured and Bengal is not. We both said a few words to a video camera to commemorate the event. I took the camera around for a tour of the house for the baby when she is older.