Pictures and other stuff

Finally a good excuse to get a Flckr Pro account! :) All the good stuff is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/shamsway/. None of the photos are publicly viewable, so if you don't already have a flickr account, you will have to create one. Once you have your account (or if you already have one), send a message to "shamsway" to ask me to add you to the friends/family list, and I will do so as quickly as possible. Flickr is a great site for photo sharing - it has a wonderful interface, and even allows you to order prints with very little fuss. Sorry for the hassle of making everyone create an account, but we think it's worth the trouble :) Just a note - this is my personal webpage/blog, even though the vast majority of the content will be devoted to my new little girl for the forseeable future, I may post other things that I find of interest. Some my find my sense of humor off color or offensive. If that's the case, I apologize. I'm not making you read this right now, so that's your choice. If all you want to see is pictures, then follow the links to flickr above and you can skip all my editorializing and rude humor. Just wanted to get that out there ;)

Technorati Tags: Lexie, Baby, Pictures, Flickr

We're in love

Thanks for all your calls and emails. The last 48 hours have been absolutely wonderful. Mother and Baby are both doing quite well. Lexie has a tiny bit of jaundice, but it is below the level that would cause her to have any immediate treatment. She has been feeding very well, and Mom is quite relieved about that. They just took her to get her official picture, so it should be on the website soon (http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/hospitals/template/hospitalpage.asp?hospitalID=1144). Of course, I will continue to post pictures here as I have them. Mimi was kind enough to write down a complete timeline of the delivery, so here it is in case anyone is interested.

• 7:30 - Hospital calls to ask us to come in at 9:15 instead of 8:30
• 9:10 - Arrived at hospital
• 9:15-11:15 - Filled out papers and got settled in
• 11:15 - Oxytocin IV started (4 milliunits/min I believe). Mom is approx 4 cm dialted.
• 11:15-11:45 - Oxytocin increase a couple times, up to 10 milliunits/min
• 12:15 - Oxytocin increased to 12 milliunits/min. Mom starting to feel contractions a little, mostly in her back.
• 2:45 - Oxytocin reduced to 10 milliunits/min due to contractions being quite close together (although Dr. James will later express a little frustration at the fact that it was reduced).
• 5:15 - Dr. James breaks Mom's water and increases Oxytocin back to 12 milliunits/min. Internal monitor inserted to get an accurate reading on contractions.
• 5:30-6:30 - PAIN
• 6:30 - Nice anesthesiologist comes to do the epidural. Mom has a new favorite person (at least, until Lexie shows up). By 7:00, pain is gone and Mom has completely lost the ability to move her right leg :)
• 7:30 - 4 to 5 cm dialated. Dr. James increases Oxytocin again.
• 10:00 - Mom reports feeling "a little pressure".
• 10:15 - Much to the surprise of everyone (especially the nurse and doctor), Mom is 10 cm dialted and ready to push!
• 10:30 - Pushing begins. Mom isn't feeling any pain but does feel pressure. Nurse Noel and Dr. James both say she is doing a great job pushing.
• 11:51 - Alexis arrives, only to enjoy a 9 minute birthday. That doesn't stop her from being the most beautiful thing either of us had ever seen.

Our only friends! (Ashley and Matt were the only non-family members nice enough to come visit)

Technorati Tags: Lexie, Baby, Birth

Whew!

She's finally here! Sorry that this is posting is a late. Alexis Leigh Elliott was born at 11:51 on July 28th. She was 7 lbs. 15 oz., 20 in. long. After she came, it was a whirlwind of activity video taping, getting pictures, bonding, introducing her to the rest of the fam, and try to get her to eat her first meal. After all that was finished and we moved to the post-partum, I was way too tired to try to write anything. Sorry ;). Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know. I will post some more about the birth and all that craziness later. If any of you are wanting to come visit, please call one of our cell phones first to make sure we're awake/taking visitiors.

Technorati Tags: Lexie, Baby, Birth

Email Lexie!

I forgot to put this in the last post. Lexie already has an email address! Please send her something so she'll has tons of nice notes! (It also makes great baby book material) lexieleigh@gmail.com Labor update: Oxytocin increased to 12 miliunits per minute to help keep the contraction levels up. It's looking like her birthday will probably be July 29th instead of the 28th.

Technorati Tags: Lexie

It has begun

Well, we are finally at the hospital. We originally were supposed to come in at 8:30, but we received a call asking us to wait until 9:15 due to some space issues. After getting settled in and getting the paperwork taken care of, it was 11:15 before we actually started the Oxytocin drip. Life was pretty boring until about 5:15 PM when Dr. James came in and broke April's water. Up until then, they had upped the Oxytocin dose a few times, but April had felt very little contractions, and those were mostly back labor. After the water broke, it was a different story. They upped the Oxytocin again right after they broke the water because Dr. James wasn't happy with the dialation level or number of contractions. Within fifteen minutes April was very uncomfortable, and told me she was ready for the epidural. It's pretty crappy to watch your wife there in that much pain and not be able to do anything about it. Fortunately she had an epidural within about 30 minutes of asking, and it things have been rosy since then. She has been pain free for a little over an hour now, and is attempting to take a nap. I had some much needed dinner (Wendys, yum), and will probably just chill out until Dr. James comes back at about 10 to check her again.

April sewing on her new UK belt before anything exciting happened.

Technorati Tags: Lexie, Baby, Birth