Caleb's First Week in Photos

Caleb is here!

Caleb Preston Graham was born on February 11th at 5:22pm and was 5lbs 9oz and 18 inches long. The first week has been nothing short of amazing and stressful at the same time. The morning after bringing him home on the 13th he was admitted to the NICU Level II due to high bilirubin levels, which causes jaundice. He was there until Monday afternoon and we got to take him home for the second time. After a fun Tuesday together we took him in for a follow-up lab test and the levels had shot up once again so we are now on home phototherapy until this coming Monday.

But I know that everyone is here for pictures so here are a few to tide you over.

Update!

Just wanted to drop in and keep our followers updated on the latest goings on. At 33 weeks Alyssa went in for a checkup that included a full ultrasound. Everything looked good but the doctor noticed that Caleb was weighing around 3.5 pounds, placing him around the 24th percentile. Typically this is of no concern but Caleb had originally weighed in at the 40th percentile so there was a slow down in growth. Take this fact and add that Alyssa was having unusually high blood pressure and as well as her cervix shortening and it equals one thing....

Bed Rest!

The one thing that we had avoided for so long had finally come. Alyssa was admitted to the hospital for observation for 24 hours and released the next afternoon. Unfortunately this was also the Saturday of her first baby shower so it had to be rescheduled. Fast forward through two weeks of bed rest to 35 weeks this past Friday. Alyssa and I went in for another ultrasound to check on the progress of Caleb and he has grown a full pound! He is still in the low 20's for percentile but the steady growth is all the doctors wanted to see. At this point they are saying that there is nothing to worry about in regards to his weight, he is just going to be a small baby. We headed up to Alyssa's doctor's office after the ultrasound for another weekly check up and it looks like Caleb is even lower in the belly and Alyssa has begun to dilate, albeit very little.

So with all of this, Alyssa will be on bed rest until Caleb is born, which at this point could be any day now. Keep posted for more updates!

29 weeks and still kicking.

We had a little scare with Caleb yesterday, but everything is ok. I went for my 29 week checkup and since Caleb had been less active for the last few weeks the doctor decided to do a stress test. He passed the stress test with flying colors (kicking 25 times compared to the required 10), but the monitoring showed that I was having contractions. They sent me to the hospital for testing and determined I wasn’t having true contractions. What I was experiencing could be a pre cursor to contractions so they started me on muscle relaxers.  All is well for now, Caleb is still strong and healthy.  We made it to 29 weeks which is a huge blessing, and now we need to keep him in there to full term. I can't believe Christmas is 10 days away.

3rd Trimester Begins

We are now officially in the 3rd trimester.  Caleb's bedding arrived yesterday, and it is so cute.  After my Aunt Linda and Mom went to 11 fabric stores and couldn't find primary stripes anywhere, we decided on this peek a boo bedding.  I love the colors and all the different textures it has.  Now we can pick out the paint!  Our birthing class is going well.  We have been learning about the stages of labor and when it's too early to go to the hospital. 

Here's a pic of the bedding.

Birthing Class

27 weeks! My diabetes test came back negative, so bring on the pie!  We had our first childbirth class last night.  It is a faith based class, and we focused on the history of birthing in different cultures around the world.  Very interesting stuff!  We are attending the class at another couple's house in our area.  We are going twice a week because the other Mom is due in 6 weeks and this is normally a 7 week class.  I am excited about being informed on all aspects of birth and delivery while focusing on God's hand in it all.