Emerging Parents

These are both kinda cute. First, Mom and Tigger:



And now one of me, "waking" Tigger. As we were getting going with the whole feeding thing, Tigger kept falling asleep. The process we worked out was that I would wake him by any means necessary, before handing him off to Mama Tigger. I REALLY enjoyed the tort..., er, um, waking process...

More Videos

Now that we are home, I am able to post the rest of the videos!

Another from pre-op:




Post-op:



Hmmm, not sure why my close-up commentary shots are the title image for the video. Scary. Gotta work on that.

Mama's Home!

We are home from the hospital, without Caleb unfortunately. He has to stay in another couple of days. Even though he continues to progress well, the doc this morning said that the worst thing for us / him would be for a problem to arise and us to have to go through the emergency room. He should be out of the incubator sometime overnight. Once he is in a bassinet for 24 hours, he's ours!

IVs

The IV is out!!! We showed up to the last feeding to discover the night nurse (Ro) had removed Caleb's IV! That made me and Mama Tigger VERY happy. We had a rough time last night when we noticed the IV had moved from both hands to, by then, both feet. Ro didn't think another trip around the appendage river was warranted, given how much Caleb is eating. We agreed!

Now, if we can just get rid of that bilirubin...

Video

We have video! We are gonna start from the beginning.



And here's another, from the hospital:



Unfortunately, I have to get back to the hospital (the food isn't cutting it for Mama Tigger anymore, so I need to grab dinner...). For a taste of what's to come...

Quote

"Holy cow!"

-Papa Tigger seeing what Mama Tigger pumped (60 cc - almost 3x her last pump)

A few seconds later:

"Oh, pardon the pun..."

Update

Caleb continues to improve! He just ate 20 cc, mostly from Mom. His bilirubin is a little high, so he is now under an LED lamp. We will check again this evening. Given how much he is eating, we are optimistic he won't have to be under too long. Also, they cut his IV in half. That should come out soon too...

Fun times...

We Have a Name!!!

Introducing Caleb Jay Thomas!

Mama Tigger and I wanted a name from the Bible. Caleb means faithful, bold and brave in Arabic. He was sent to explore the land of Canaan by Moses (Book of Numbers).

Getting to Jay was a winding path (hence the 2 day delay). We both wanted to include a reference to one of our families.

We were working with Gerald - Geraldine was my grandmother on my mom's side. Neither of us wanted G as the middle initial, so I thought we could work with Jerold. I said out loud Caleb J. Thomas. Mama Tigger heard Caleb Jay Thomas, and the name was born...

Pics!!!

I came home for a quick shower, so I thought I'd upload a few pics...

Pre-op:


Dad snuck in to see him about a half hour after birth:

Our sleepy boy:

Momma gettin' to know Tigger, about 2 hours after birth:


Dad checkin' him out the next morning:

Our first family pic:

More to come later...

9 1/2 Hours

Momma Tigger and I just woke up after a 9 1/2 hour snooze.. One of the joys (?) of a "younger" baby - he has to remain in the nursery. So, we focused on Momma Tigger's recovery as they looked after Tigger...

We are enjoying it while we can.

P.S. We will have a proper name for Baby Tigger today. Stay Tuned!

No Internet

I can't find an Internet connection to upload the photos (I'm writing this from my phone). I have posted a few pics on Facebook, however.

I'll see what I can dig up tomorrow...

- Pappa Tigger, now an actual father...

Morning Y'all

Momma and Tigger are doing well.

Tigger:
Breathing: check
Body temp: check
Feeding: trying this afternoon
Name: TBD

Momma Tigger:
Epidural out
IV out
Visit #2 with Tigger: check

Pics to come...

It's a Boy!!

4 lbs 11 oz, 18 inches. Mom and baby are doing well...

At the Hospital

Renee is in - waiting for them to bring me back...

Today's the Day!!!

So, we are heading to the hospital for a c-section. We just had lunch, so we have to wait until the evening to "do the deed". We are heading in to get on the monitor, to make sure things remain as copacetic as they are now...

Yippee!

Docs

At the doctor's now - just had the sonogram. The Afi / fluid thing continues to drop - 5.5 now. It was 9 something last week. It is below normal, but they don't get real concerned until it drops below 5.

The kid is still breach, so if we do go early, it'll be a c-section. We'll see what the doc says. Better knock off my remaining honeydos this evening...

Tigger's Car Seat is Installed

We are now ready to be mobile with Tigger - at least in the car. Papa Tigger and I installed the car seat today in our car (thanks again Kelly and Paul!). Now the hospital will let us take Tigger home:)

Success!! All indicators are a 'go':

Fireman Paul, how's it look?

Week 35

Gettin' closer...

Tigger's New Bathroom!

OK, so it's really the master bathroom, but since we'll be giving Tigger baths in our bathroom, I'm going to call this part of the Tigger home improvements.

As we've mentioned before, we've been doing some home improvements not just for Tigger, but because we finally sold our house in Texas and can do a little work in our new home. Our master bathroom is one room I wasn't thrilled with when we bought the house. The entire bathroom is white and the fixtures just weren't to our liking. So Papa Tigger rolled up his sleeves and made the following improvements:

• New tile
• Paint
• New sink
• New medicine cabinet
• New faucet
• New hardware

We also bought a new shower curtain and rug. Here are some of the 'before' pictures:

My least favorite part, the white tile:


Demo begins:



After demo is complete, the new bathroom begins to take shape; Papa Tigger laying tile:

The new sink and faucet going in:



Tada! The new bathroom:

The bathroom is now a light green ('Eucalyptus' according to Restoration Hardware). The rug is so soft and isn't the tile lovely? It's a gray blend:


The lovely new towel rack:

Note the new handles on the vanity. That was the one contribution I was able to make:

The new medicine cabinet is recessed, so it works much better in our small bathroom:

Pretty new faucet and sink; the sink is a pebbled-gray color:

Even a new towel bar on the other side (the old one was narrow and low):

Didn't Papa Tigger do a great job?

Sono #8

Today we had another sonogram and everything is still fine, though getting a little borderline. As you may recall, we're monitoring fluid levels and blood flow to Tigger. The blood flow through the umbilical cord is still normal, but this is the first time the fluid level has dropped below normal. The magic number is anywhere from 10 to 20, and I had been averaging 11. Today the fluid level was 9. There's no need for concern now; the doctors won't start talking bed rest or early induction unless the number drops to 5.

The technician also took some growth measurements and those were a little low. Tigger is currently 4 1/2 pounds, which is the 16% percentile. Still no cause for alarm and I'm now fairly certain I don't have to worry about delivering a 10 lb baby!

And the last update is that Tigger is still breech. He's running out of time to turn the right way, so we may pursue the acupuncture route to get him to turn (Papa Tigger is very excited about this). The technician pointed out that part of the problem is the reduced fluid level; there's less room for it to turn around now. Maybe the stinky acupuncture herbs will motivate him/her.

Once again, Tigger was not cooperative with pictures. He's been in the same position for weeks - he's facing me, with his back and butt facing out. I guess s/he's not feeling very social.

So all in all, nothing to worry about yet. We might be looking at some bed rest for me or meeting Tigger a few weeks early, but that's all!

Birthday and Baby Extravaganza in VA

This past weekend, the whole family traveled to Virginia for a birthday extravaganza. It was a big birthday for G-Ma C (don't worry Mom, I won't say which one) and my birthday was the following Tuesday. G-Ma and G-Pa T also took the opportunity to throw a mini-baby celebration for Tigger with the neighbors.

Everyone had great fun. Michael and Lorelei (soon to be aunt and uncle to Tigger) tried their hand at wakeboarding and Cassidy (soon to be cousin to Tigger) got to ride on a boat for the first time.

I think at first, Cassidy's not sure about this. Her life vest is a little big:

But she soon starts enjoying the view from the front of the boat:

Everyone takes turns holding on to her:

Cassidy enjoying taking Mom's sunglasses:

And saying hi to boat captain Kim:

I didn't want to post this picture, but Papa Tigger begged me. Here is me none-too-happy that I can't even zip up the Large life vest (I usually wear the Medium):

During the baby celebration, there was a onesie-decorating activity. Several of us tried our hand at decorating a onesie for Tigger. Some of the action shots and results:

For the road trip, Papa Tigger insisted we bring along the car seat ("just in case"). Here's Cassidy trying it out:

She's so smart! She knows how to buckle her own car seat, so here she is doing the buckles on Tigger's car seat:

Whew, what a weekend! Even the dogs are tired: