1 Week Old

Max is 1 week old today. Boy, time flies....even when you're not having too much fun! He's still in the NICU but doing great. Feeding tube has been out since Tuesday morning and he's been taking all his bottles on his own. Sometimes he struggles but he manages to drink all 35 ml (a little more than an ounce.) His feedings are alternated between breast milk and formula. The formula is higher in calories and will allow him to gain weight faster. He doesn't have any other IVs or anything else. Just a monitor for his vital signs.

To get out of the NICU he needs to be eating on his own, maintain his body temperature outside of the incubator and with no other problems (e.g., jaundice). He's still in the incubator but they keep turning the temp down and he's maintaining his body temp. As of 8 pm last night, he weighs 3 lbs 14.4 oz.

Marcy is usually at the hospital from 11 am. Roger comes to the hospital after work and we stay until about 9 pm. We change, feed and hold him at 11, 2, 5 and 8. The good thing about him being in the NICU is we're getting one on one training on taking care of him and how to breast feed. The NICU nurses are amazing.

We'll post again soon.

Max David Tadjbakhsh

The week of January 4th was a whirlwind - starting with our baby shower and ending with the arrival of Max David Tadjbakhsh on January 8, 2009 at 10:41 AM. On Tuesday we went to the doctor and had an ultrasound. The u/s showed that the baby wasn't growing as he should have been. So the doctor wanted to induce labor on Thursday. On Wednesday night we went to the hospital to start the process. Overnight Marcy was given Pitocin to start the induction and the baby's heartbeat was monitored overnight. The monitoring showed that his heart rate kept decreasing every once in awhile and stayed low for long periods of time. So the doctor decided that the best thing to do was to perform a c-section.

The surgery started at 10:15 and Max was born at 10:41 AM. He only weighed 3 lbs 14 oz and was 16.5" long. Because of his size and prematurity he was taken to the NICU for treatment. He had to be put on oxygen for a short period and was given IV fluids and antibiotics for the 1st 2 days. He now has a feeding tube to help him eat because he is having a hard time eating the amount he needs to eat to grow big and strong. He's also a little jaundice so he's in the "blue light special" (the light therapy to help him get rid of the excess bilirubin.) He will likely be in the NICU for at least a week - until he can eat on his own, maintain his temperature, and gains weight. Now he weighs 3 lbs 12.8 oz. - he lost two oz, gained one and then lost .2 oz yesterday. Luckily he's able to keep taking breast milk and only be supplemented with 2 formula feedings a day. Of course, until he gets stronger all his meals are through a bottle or the feeding tube.

Marcy is leaving tomorrow, which will be very hard to do - to leave Max here - but it is what he needs to grow. We will be making many trips back to the hospital to keep him company, feed and cuddle with him. We'll keep posting to give everyone updates on Max's progress.

Showered with Presents

We had our baby shower yesterday and it was a lot of fun. As you can see, we got a ton of stuff. We're sure more than the baby really needs but it is fun looking at all the stuff....cute outfits, soft stuffed animals and blankets...who won that contest anyway? Thank you to everyone for the wonderful gifts. We spent time last night going trough it all and oohing and ahhing all over again. If the baby decides that January is to be her birthday month, we'll be prepared now....or at least prepared with material possessions. Mentally prepared is another story.
Check the blog later this week for an update after our doctors appointment on Tuesday.

Mele Kalikimaka!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We certainly did. The baby even received a few presents....oh boy, spoiled already. Our baby shower is this weekend so I'm sure he/she will be even more spoiled. We went to the doctors last week and all is good. Baby and Marcy gained another 4 lbs - 23 in total. Roger says she waddles now. So far the pregnancy is going great. Marcy feels a little uncomfortable but not too bad. She's able to sleep pretty good....except for the every 2 hour bathroom break. I guess this is one way to prepare for baby's middle of the night feedings. Maybe she should start waking Roger up so he can prepare too?? We go back to the doctors on 1/6 for another ultrasound so we'll post the latest and greatest picture then.

All Decked Out...

We went to KPMG's annual Holiday party this weekend. Unfortunately, the picture of both Roger and Marcy came out too blurry but here is a picture of Marcy all decked out at the party. Can't believe that we're 6 weeks away from our due date......Oh boy!! Marcy is still feeling pretty good but swelling more and getting tired easily. She has a doctors appointment this week and will post more after that.

32 Weeks and Counting

Went to the doctors today! All is good. The baby is about 3 lbs 7 oz. (give or take 5 oz.) They're predicting about a 7 lb baby - I heard that they are usually not accurate with these predictions. We'll see. Let's just hope that she doesn't take after her father who was 10 lbs. Heartbeat was in 140s. Marcy is starting to gain weight more rapidly - 5 lbs in in the last 2 1/2 weeks (19 lbs total). We can't believe that the baby is due in 8 weeks. Time has flown by. Marcy is starting to feel PREGNANT. The baby got in the way of her cutting her toe nails the other day so she had a pedicure....sounded like a good excuse.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!
Everything is going well. After a few late nights, the baby's furniture is all put together and ready for baby. We went to the doctor last Thursday and baby and Marcy are doing great. Marcy gained another 2 lbs - 14 lbs total. We now go to the doctors every 2 weeks - next appt is Dec 9th and we'll get another ultrasound then. We went to a child birth class on Saturday. It was pretty good. Who knows if Marcy will use the techniques she learned but we feel like we're more prepared - as prepared as we can be given the uncertainty of labor and delivery. Our instructor was very entertaining and made the day go by very fast.