He's growing (and growing and growing)

We've survived 3 weeks, and David keeps getting bigger and bigger.  He's gained 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks!  He's also been getting much more alert during certain times of the day, which is really fun.  A few highlights of this week include his first real bath, sleeping with Grammy and Grandpa Don, and playing with Dad.

In addition, I'd like to share a few of David's funny faces.  Hope you enjoy!

Yoda face

The grumpy old man

The turtle

The thinker

The rapper

And last, but not least - the chubby Asian baby impersonation.  Yes, Claire, this one is for you!

Turns out that you have to feed them...

Well, we've officially survived two weeks!  Last week we thought that we had a fussy baby who didn't like to sleep ... well, it turns out that we weren't feeding him.  Well, we were feeding him, but not quite enough.  We started supplementing with formula (just a little), and voila, our prayers have been answered!  Since then, he's been a perfect angel.  In addition to the supplements, we invested in a new bassinet-like thing (the Fisher Price Rock and Play Sleeper), and he's sleeping very well! We celebrated the first night when we could ALL sleep at the time time.  Granted, David still wakes up every 2 hours during the night, but we'll take what little sleep we can get. 

In addition, we also went on our first outing this week!  (Well, if you don't count the few doctor's appointments that we've been to.)  We went to our favorite Chinese food restaurant for lunch, and David was pretty well behaved.

Some of David's other activities this week:

Playing with Dad

Snuggling with Dad

Snuggling with Dad II

Reading a book with Mom

Having a deep conversation with Mom

Sleeping on Grandpa Don

Helping Dad work

Lifting head during tummy time

Hanging out with Dad

We've survived one week, and he's still alive!

Happy Birthday, Baby David!  I can't believe that he's one week old today.  Needless to say, we're all thrilled that we've survived.

For those of you who haven't already heard this story, David had to spend a few days in the NICU.  Immediately after having a conversation with my doctor about both of us coming home from the hospital early because we were doing so well, a lab test came back indicating he was developing an infection.  Infections in newborns are taken very seriously since they have very immature immune systems.  They transferred him into the NICU and started him on a 48 hour course of IV antibiotics.  Now, you may be thinking that IV antibiotics aren't that big of a deal, but it seems as if David has inherited his fathers veins, which are notoriously difficult to find.  He ended up needing two IV's - one of which required seven different attempts.  After two days, his lab tests returned to normal, and the infection never materialized.  So, he either never had an infection, or the antibiotics worked.  We'll probably never know.  Either way, we're elated to have him home, and he was given a clean bill of health by his pediatrician during our first visit this week.

Caring for David at home as been an adventure to say the least.  Luckily, my parents flew in from Georgia to give us some much needed help.  (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)  David is a pretty good baby, but has created a few "challenges" for us.  First, he sleeps like a champ ... if he's being held.  He doesn't like sleeping if not in someone's arms, and definitely not in his bassinet.  This had led to quite a few sleepless nights for Dad.  Finally, he seems to have his days and night confused.  He's awake and alert at night, ready to play, but really sleepy during the day.  I'm sure we'll figure this out in time - but right now I think we'd all benefit from more sleep.  Hey, at this point, we'd settle for any sleep!

He looks like he's sleeping ... but this blissful face only lasted a few minutes.

We're all hoping that he'll like this new sleeper, at first it looks like success!

Baby Dave and Grandpa Don

Baby Dave and Grammy

Mostly iPoo?

On August 5, 2011 at 2:18am, David William Verges was born. He weighed 3360 grams (7 pounds, 6 ounces) and measured 48 cm (19 inches) long. 10 fingers, 10 toes, 2 arms, 3 legs, and peach fuzz for hair.

Mom (a.k.a. Kate) went into labor around 11:30pm on the evening of August 4th. The contractions were about 1-2 minutes long and spaced about 2-4 minutes apart. The recommendation is to go to the hospital when they are 1 minute long and 5 minutes apart, so needless to say, we were lagging a bit. Kate did an awesome job of focusing on her HypnoBabies relaxation techniques, and I packed up the car to go. We made it to the hospital around 1:00am and got to a room around 1:15am. We had left everything in the car, since we'd been told that it was easier to schlep things to the room once you knew which room was yours. (I figured I'd have time while Kate continued her contractions when I could make a few trips.)

The nurse learned that Kate was already 6cm dilated. The nurse and I started all of Kate's admission paperwork, which took us to almost 2:00am. Upon another check around then, she discovered that Kate was 100% dilated and "ready to pop!" So she called reception and told them to have Dr. O'Callahan come. Then about 5 minutes later, Kate's water broke; the nurse called reception again with the same request. Then 5 minutes later, David started to crown and Kate felt the uncontrollable urge to push. The nurse's eyes got wide and her request this time changed to, "Dr. O'Callahan needs to be here NOW!"

The room filled with about 15 nurses in 30 seconds. Doctor O was still 10 minutes out, and David was coming regardless of who was catching; so one of the nurses ended up delivering him. They clamped the cord and I cut it. Then David was put on Mom's chest. Doctor O showed up just in time to deliver the placenta and call Kate a "superwoman" for having such a fast and relatively easy birthing! 3 hours from start to finish.

Over the next 24 hours, we did all the standard stuff: feedings, tests, swaddling, etc. We mentioned that when we started this blog, we took the name from a cute onesie joke. I'm beginning to think that we should rename it to "mostly-ipoo.blogspot.com!" Five diapers in one day -- now that's progress!

Here's mom and baby right after the birth, taken with my camera phone since the big camera was still in the car:

And here's a close-up of little David imitating a burrito:

The Fortune Cookies Never Lie

Today, I met up with Chris for lunch.  His fortune cookie contained the fortune on the top, while mine contained the fortune on the bottom.  Taken together, he reasoned that my water will break soon.  Only time will tell.  :-)

The Nursery!

 Here are some obligatory pictures of the nursery.  I figured that this may be the cleanest that it ever is.  Hope you enjoy!

The alphabet flash cards and monkey painting

The crib

Close up of the monkey

Airplane painting in the bathroom

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to our blog!  Chris and I created to share pictures and stories of our little boy, who at this point is still on his way.  The title comes from an adorable onesie that Chris got from Think Geek that says "TCP/IP but mostly IP," which is an internet joke for those of you who aren't members of nerd night.  Please check back from time to time, as I'm planning (hoping) to update fairly regularly.  But ...we'll see how this goes, especially given my previous track record with house plants.