Well I've been a dad for a week now, and it's even more enjoyable then I thought it would be. I'm surprised my friends with kids don't make a bigger deal about it than they do. Or maybe I just never understood.
Darren's doing really well. He had a slight complication early on with jaundice -- caused by high biliruben levels -- which made him sleepy all the time. The issue got compounded with some nursing issues, leading to a bad cycle of not wanting to wake up to eat, and then not getting enough food energy to stay awake. Once we fully realized what was going on, we started subsidizing his feeding with bottled formula, and he's been steadily improving since. I'm now in the odd position where I really enjoy his crying (well, as much as anyone really can), since he didn't do much of it at first.
Amy and I are sleeping pretty well for new parents. We've been getting about 10 hours each night, but we get up every two hours for about 30 minutes to feed him. We usually manage to sneak in a two hour nap somewhere during the day.
Here are some photos of his first week home:
This might be my last baby post in a while, as the little guy is taking up pretty much all of my time these days. But if you just can't get enough Darren, check out the slideshows here, as I'll likely keep adding more photos
Everyone,
Allow me to introduce you to Darren John Cooney. Born at 12:35am on 08/12, and weighing 8 lbs even.
Everyone's healthy and doing fine.
1am. Amy's water broke. No contractions, though Doctor says to go to hospital for check.
2am. Arrive at the hospital, all looks good.
3am. Doctor says we can go home if we want. We want. Home we go, told to come back at 7:30.
7:30am. Back to hospital. Still no sizable contractions.
9am. Doc gives Amy some meds to move things along.
12pm. Contractions increasing, but still small. More serious induction meds coming till at 1.
1:30pm:
1:45pm. Meds doing their thing. Contractions coming every few minutes, but not too severe.
3:15pm. Contractions every three minutes or so now. Getting more intense.
4pm. Ditto
5:15pm. Discussing when to get the epidural.
6:00pm. Epidural
6:30pm. Epidural kicks in. A long stressful hour is over. Exam shows we still have a ways to go.
7:30pm. Kinda quiet.
9pm. Still no baby. Trying to nap.
9:45pm. Doctor says it'll likely be an 8/12/08 baby, though there has been progress since last check.
11:45pm. Ready to go. Pushing started
12:35am. Darren John Cooney is born. Everything went great. Pics and details to follow