Finally, new pictures

New pictures up on our picasa account.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mrcmatt/LilaMths23?feat=directlink

No Sleep for Mom

Poor Jasperina didn't get any sleep last night and the only reason I was able to get 4 or 5 hours is Tante Jenni is here to help out. Lila's umbilical cord is not looking so good so we are off the pediatrician in a few. Jasperina is on antibiotics - she had a fever of 101 yesterday and the Dr wants to stop any possible wound infection in its tracks. I wonder what is next on this little journey we call parenthood?

New Pictures Added

We just put some more pictures on our picasa album.

You can see them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mrcmatt/Lila

Yes, I am a proud papa! Just can't help myself.

Arising

We are starting to feel like part of the world of humans again. Well, some of the time anyway. We are going to start showing Lila off pretty soon. Thank you to everybody that has offered to visit, help, and feed us. We are going to take you up on it so get ready.

a few milestones

1. Jasperina's milk came in Monday. It was the morning after several long bouts of inconsolable crying. We were sleep deprived, stressed out and panicked. I was worrying that we were not going to be up to the challenge because it is soooo very hard to listen to her cry and scream. It just breaks my heart over and over to hear her scream and cry for hours. So when Jasperina said "Milk!!" we cried. We really need a good sign and got one at just the right time. I don't cry much at all, so when my tears welled up I knew my life is now very different.

2. Lila is learning to burp and poop! Big stuff. That plus the milk equals much less crying.

3. Lila had a bit of jaundice and we have been using a bili blanket to help her metabolize the extra bilirubin in her system. She gets off the bili blanket today. (if you have not seen one of these in use they are bizarre, there is a unit kind of like an LCD projector with a hose coming from the bulb. the hose goes to a thin flat panel that emits an earie blue light. you put this "light paddle" on the skin. the light helps reduce bilirubin. at night with the lights down our baby glows blue - kind of like whatever was in the trunk of the car in Repo Man. i tried to take pictures but they didn't turn out).

4. Lila slept for almost 5 hours last night.

5. Lila gained 4 ounces in the last 24 hours.

6. Who says prayers don't get answered?

7. Jasperina has ankles again, the swelling from the c-section and birth is starting to go down.

8. Lila is starting to mimic expressions a little bit.

9. I'm starting to think we are going to be OK.

Pictures

Here are more pictures-

Japerina got some sleep last night!

The "no sleep" thing is no joke at all. Jasperina got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep last night, the most sleep she has had in 3 days. Her strength is amazing, she is my superhero.

Lila is doing great. My heart overflows.

She's here!

7 pounds 15 ounces, 20 inches, perfect baby girl.

She is here and we could not be happier.

C-Section it is

The time has come for a C-Section. We'll see Lila soon.

Red Popsicle

Jasperina is having a red Popsicle for dinner. That's her first meal since a midnight snack last night. If you know Jasperina like I do then you know that skipping meals is absolutely not contributing to the ease of this day.

3 PM and holding

Lila is not here yet. Jasperina has been laboring for something like 30 hours now. The progress is slow. If it keeps up like this we are going to have to consider C-section. We hope something happens in the next hour or two. If not we are going to talk over options with the Dr.

We gave Jasperina an epidural and pitocin in the hopes of getting things moving. So far it hasn't worked. Jasperina blames my large head. She is probably right. There is not much for us to do but wait and hope and pray.

So far parenting = waiting, hoping, worrying, not sleeping and at this point smelling a little funky.

7 am and still working on it

Jasperina is still in labor. She started with mild contractions @ 20 hours ago. The contractions, pre-labor and labor labor are starting to take their toll on Jasperina. For me it is like watching my pregnant wife run a bizarro marathon where you stop running every 5 minutes for 90 seconds of boxing.

We are too worn out; going for an epidural.

Jasperina is Amazing

We haven't even gotten to the hard stuff yet and I am already overwhelmed by Jasperina's strength. Wow.

Something is happening

Jasperina has been having pains and cramps since this morning. We are now calling them contractions. They are coming around every 6 to 8 minutes, last 25 to 70 seconds. So it looks like we are in some pretty serious pre-labor and just might be heading to the hospital later tonight.

Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy

Video of Baby Sneezing

Still Waiting

Yup, we are still waiting. We had a few inches of snow last night. I was sure that we would need to go to the hospital at 3 am over icy roads. But no, we got lucky, slept through the night and awoke to a fresh white blanket of snow. We are waiting for labor to start and Lila to come. We have another appointment tomorrow and expect everything to be fine.

Good check up

We saw the doctor yesterday, he says everything is just fine. Jasperina's discomfort yesterday is probably just one of those things that happens when you are making a baby. The doctor did not find her dilated at all, but "softening". She can't eat much in one sitting these days because Lila is taking up so much space inside. We think a big meal Saturday got her system out of order a bit.

Lila will be here before long, I am guessing about 2 weeks which would put her a few days early. Jasperina thinks she'll be a few days late.

I wonder what Lila thinks?