Sarah is the only one who liked the book and almost the only one who read it. Stork read it, but didn’t like it (as ussual). We didn’t really have a book club meeting this time and for the first time I didn’t cook. We ordered Tai food out and had left overs for ever because I way way over ordered.
Felicia feeding Max.
Tapan holding max. Doesn’t he look really papa like?
Stork laying back…. Hmmm, not a baby person I guess.
A wonderful little outfir that Felicia and Stork sent to us. Max does look like a Dude here!
Jaqualine stopped by to give Sarah some relief and brought a wonderful meal for us.
Barabara was in town to visit Laura, Steve and the kids (and give Laura and Steve a vacation).
John and Lynn stopped by for their first visit.
Soon after Max came home the visitors started arriving. Here is Laura with Max resting comfortably on her in our bedroom.
Sharon and Arianne on the couch int he bonus room with Max.
They have finally released him to leave. Sarah and I went to our last lunch alone together for a long time at the California Pizza Kitchen and Baby’sRUs while we had some last moments of those expensive babysitters at the NICU.
Here we are at the NICU in the final moments. They have given us all kinds of loot to take home, he is in his car seat and moments from this picture we walk out.
As we are rolling Sarah and Max out of the hospital with our volunteer helpers for all the loot, Tom, Sharon and Arianne pull up on their way in to meet us. Two minutes later and they would have missed us. We would have been in the car and on the way home…..
Max got a little jaundice so they put him under the bilirubin lights. He was under the lights for 18 hours and his levels went back into the normal range. This meant he was going to stay a couple extra days in the hospital to make sure he could maintain his levels.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilirubin
Bilirubin is essentially a waste product, formed when red blood cells die and haemoglobin is broken down. Haemoglobin is broken down within the macrophages to haem and globin; the haem is further degraded to Fe2+, carbon monoxide and bilirubin via the intermediate compound biliverdin. Since bilirubin is poorly soluble in water, it is carried to the liver bound to albumin. Bilirubin is made water soluble in the liver by conjugation with uridine diphosphoglucuronic acid or UDPGA. As part of bile, the soluble or “conjugated” bilirubin then passes through the common bile duct and is either temporarily stored in the gallbladder or passes right away into the gut. Some of the excreted bilirubin may be reabsorbed from the gut (entero-hepatic circulation). Bacteria in the intestines modify bilirubin to form stercobilinogen, causing the brown color of feces. The yellow colour of urine is a result of urobilin, another breakdown product of bilirubin.
In diseases where too much haemoglobin is broken down or the removal of bilirubin does not function properly, the accumulating bilirubin in the body causes jaundice.
The IV in Max’s arm went bad so they put one in his head. Apparently convenient and it keeps him hydrated.
They started him off int he Level 4 NICUwhich is the highest care room.
Sarah was in the hospital for a couple days and we went to visit him regularly.
The NICU was actually a great learning experience the Nurses gave us training in caring for Max which we would find invaluable as time went on.
It all started at 6 or so in the morning. Sarah came into to me and said that she thought she had wet her bed. We were six weeks from Max’s due date and things had been going well. Sarah was exercising and just enjoying her pregnancy. I told her to call the doctor, but she wanted to go back to bed. I again told her to call the doctor, but no response. About 10 minutes later I again told her to call the doctor. Finally, Sarah called the doctor and they told her to meet them at the hospital.
Sarah told me to go to work, but I insisted that I would follow her to the hospital. I met Sarah at at the Labor and Delivery desk after she was admitted. She told the receptionist that she would just be there for a few minutes.
The nurse saw us in the labor room and did a test on the fluids. There was evidence of amniotic fluid. Sarah told them to sew it back up so she could go home. The nurse told her that she was having the baby today. Sarah’s response, “I can’t have a baby today, I don’t have his furniture yet.”
Throughout the day Sarah would say, “I am having a baby today!”
At 6:30 PM Maxwell Charles Colyer was born and after a brief stay with mama, he was whisked away to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).
This picture was taken from my camera phone right after birth.
We had talked about having only one kid, but I knew I was in for it when Sarah later said that it had been the best day of her life.
