Granny comes back

Granny came back to California this last Monday to spend some time with here grandchildren. Rebecca and Andy are enjoying having her around. Especially Rebecca, who loves having her Granny and Abuelita to bug on a regular basis.

Andy is doing well as he reaches his 2 week mark. He had us worried for a little while because he continued to loose weight after we brought him home, bottoming out at 4 pounds 12 ounces on Friday January Ninth.

Thankfully he started putting some weight back on over the last few days and today the Doctor weighed him in at 5 pounds 1.5 ounces. He is not going to make it back to his birth weight by 2 weeks like the doctors would like, but he'll get there.

Susana is also doing well, albeit tired from the regular feedings Andy is demanding. We are both hoping that he starts sleeping a little more between feedings to allow us both to get more sleep. I head back to work on Saturday so my time off is quickly coming to an end.

We are also expecting to see Auntie Camille out this way in a few weeks and her neice and nephew will be excited to see her. This week she was some visitors that came out for the Obama Inaugration. I will say that Tuesday was the most television I think I have ever seen my Mom watch. Pretty much all day following the events, definitely a historic day.

Discharge Day

Andy was discharged this morning. Even though he lost 2 ounces (4 pounds 14 ounces) since yesterday, the pediatrician thought we could be released. We were excited to get Andy home, though we will still be going to the doctors office often to get him checked out until he starts putting on weight.

Speaking of weight, since we weren't expecting to bring home a baby that was under 5 pounds, our take home clothes outfit (a classic pooh ensamble) were way to big for Andy. So a couple of nights ago, I went to Babies R Us and picked up a preemie outfit for him that fits just right. (though we only expect to wear it for a hot minute, hopefully).

Now that we are at home, we are also going to start the process of getting everything ready for Rebecca tranistion into her new room, so that Andy can take over the nursery in a few months.

We are taking our first steps into our new family life. It should be interesting, thanks for coming along for the ride.

Day 3 at the hospital

So today has been a good day. Andy, is learning how to poop on his own without the help of the suppository. He also gained 2 ounces, so he is back at 5 pounds. This morning the pediatrician felt that Andy wasn't quite ready to go home yet, so we are spending another night in the room.

We are hopeful however that we should be able to go home soon. Until then we continue to get new visitors. Today we had a visit from Uncle Derek. Of course we had to take the requisite picture.

Susana continues to do well, though I am sure she is ready to get out of the hospital. The last thing I will mention is where we got the name. We took Andres from Susana's Great-Grandfather on her Mother's side as well her Uncle. And of course Irving came from Dad, Granddad, and Great-Granddad.

He Pooped!

Normally a title like

He pooped!

would not get me excited but in this case it does. Andy just passed a very important milestone on his way to being able to go home with us. Hopefully we are getting closer to taking him home.

On a different note, Rebecca, Raymond, Tia Idis and the Abuelitos came by for a visit and we were able to catch another meeting between Rebecca and Andy. Here it is:

Day 2 at the hospital

Day 2 at the hospital saw Susana officially get discharged. However since we are still waiting for Andy to poop, he is not going to get discharged. Luckily however, the hospital is going to transfer Susana's room to Andy, so Mom can continue to rest comfortably at the hospital and feed Andy.

Andy also got a new visitor this morning. Tio Ofilio came by just to see the little one before heading back to the bay. We are very happy he was able to make it visit.

Andy also said "gahhh" to his Granny and Auntie Millie via the phone. They were both happy to hear that he has a good set of lungs. At first Granny thought it was little Miss Rebecca but was happy to find out it was Andy instead.

The only things we are currently concerned about is getting Andy to poop and trying to make sure he doesn't lose a lot of weight. This morning he weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces which is the limit of weight loss we want see over 48 hours for a preemie. So we are also trying to make sure he gets enough to eat.

As far at the poop goes, the nurses gave him a glycerine suppository so we are hoping he will poop soon. As Nehal says Poop is good fun, in this case it is an important milestone.

We have visitors

So Mom and Andy have been doing well today. Well enough that we were able to have some visitors. Finally Rebecca got the chance to meet the little brother she has been telling everyone is in Mommy's tummy. Of course the first meeting was very cautious but she soon opened up and wanted to look at him.

With Dad getting the chance to hang out with the kids, Mom also had to get in on the action. Though this time around Becca was a little happier.

Susana's Sister Idis has been watching Rebecca for the last few days so Susana and Irving could focus on Andy. This meant that not only did she have to deal with her own 3 year old son, but also Rebecca. I am sure it has been fun.

Idis also went down to Sacramento to pick up Susana's parents from the train station. It just so happened that they arrived back from a visit to Nicaraqua earlier this morning. That allowed us to get this picture of Abuelito and Abuelita with all three of their grandkids.

Which left us with the opportunity to catch each of the kids giving Andy a kiss. We'll see if that behavior lasts once he gets older and starts to annoy them both. :) The big group was here for a couple of hours and we expect to see some of Andy's Uncles around tomorrow. If things continue to go well (Andy needs to poop) we may be able to go home with him tomorrow. If he isn't discharged, we will be spending a lot of time in the Nursery waiting to bring him home.

Now we only need to get the car seat, crib, bassinet and everything else ready since the little guy was so early!

A Picture you can blow up

So, after taking a look, I forgot that blogspot doesn't allow you to download "large" pictures, which is silly to me. Anyway, I am going to load the best pic we have so far of the little one as a smaller image so that you can click on it to download the full size pic for better viewing. (We will have more pics later on in the day, after little Andy has had his bath.

Also here is the first picture we have of the little one, right after he was given to a very happy Mommy. Mommy and Andy continue to do fine, we are going to start the whole breastfeeding process again in a little bit. (Andy latched on and fed for about 10 minutes last night but since then has had some glucose water and formula)

Last but not least here is a video of him being checked out by one of the nurses about 50 minutes after birth. He is more calm now than he was when he was born.

More to come....

And here is the newest addition to Birmingham, CA

It is with greastest pride and deepest pleasure that we welcome Irving Andres Birmingham into the world. Even though he wasn't supposed to be born until Feb 23, 2009, Andy (what we will be calling him), couldn't wait to see us and forced Mommy to go to the Hosiptal three times this week before finally coming out to greet the world at 10:41 PM, January 08, 2009 at Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville, California.

We were initially very worried about having a baby so many weeks before full term, but as it turned out, little Andy was actually developing very well and despite our expectation that he would be immediately admitted into the Sutter NICU, he managed to avoid that ward altogether. In fact his Apgar scores were better than Rebecca's were when she was born. Andy, weighed in at 5 pounds 9 ounces and 18 1/4" long with Apgar scores of 9 at 1 minute after birth and 10 at 5 minutes after birth.

Andy was so excited to get out of Mommy that the birthing team wasn't even all in place and out he was coming. I think Mom did the whole birthing process in one big, long push. Definitely a lot quicker than Rebecca (and she wasn't a slow poke) After the initial exam, Andy was allowed to spend some time with Mom and Dad (hence the picture above) before being taken to the Nursery for a series of tests.

The good news is that despite some low blood sugar levels, he is now doing resting comfortably and we are hoping to be bring him home with Mom in a couple of days. Mom is also doing great and is getting some much deserved rest.

Now without further ado here is Irving Andres Birmingham! (Picture taken under the warmer in the Nursery)

May God Bless you all as he continues to bless us!