Daddy & Me

Bret enjoying some snuggle time with his new best friend. The first few days he slept a lot - he's since discovered his vocal cords :)

Growing baby

Doctor Appt today.  Henry has already gained 1/2 pound!

-Bret

Mobile Stimulation

-Bret

Henry comes home!

Henry in the carseat ready to bust out of the ICU...

After several days of running back and forth to the hospital and a few restless nights of sleep, we were able to take Henry home for good.  It was exciting to finally get a chance to see him in the nursery that we had been putting together for the last few months.  Rachel picked out colors and theme and I put together everything.  Cribs are surprisingly easy...giraffe lamps take a bit more time!

Nursery (pre-Henry)

He has been a terrific sleeper during the day.  He sleeps about 2-3 hours at a time between feedings.  He so far loves the swing and being held.  He also has done well in his crib as long as he has some background music or noise.  Apparently has extended stay in the ICU got him acclimated to noise and lights and when it is too quiet he gets a little fussy.

We quickly discovered that our kid is a night owl.  He is most active from 11pm-4am.  This mostly involves him moving around - flailing arms, eyes looking everywhere - but he actually gets so worked up that he starts to cry.  He's pretty easy to console but it quickly wears off.  It was cute the first night, but I am hoping this activeness switches over to the daytime - for everyone's sake!

-Bret

ICU for 6 days

We never did completely figure out what caused his infection; however, he responded well to the antibiotics and each day he got a little stronger.

Rachel developed a low grade temperature and required some antibiotics which extended her stay for a day in the hospital, but this ended up being a bit of a blessing. Henry was in a different part of the hospital, but it was a quick elevator ride to see him, and it was nice to be able to run up and see him as much as we wanted while Rachel was in the hospital.

Once Rachel got discharged, we had to run back and forth to the hospital which added a bit of a logistical challenge.  Luckily the hospital was not too far away.  We were lucky to have some family and friend support through all of this which helped tremendously to not have to worry about meals or running errands.

Grandpa feeding Henry

Henry spent a total of 6 days in the ICU.  It was a challenging 6 days, but it was made infinitely easier by a dedicated and caring staff at the hospital.  We are thankful for their help throughout this.  Our hearts go out to the other families that had little ones in the ICU and we hope that they can make it home soon with healthy little ones!
-Bret

Henry & the ICU

Henry's delivery did not go as planned.  We realized that our 'plan' was probably going to get changed going into this, but never did we let ourselves imagine this may happen.

Henry came out limp, not breathing on his own, and quiet as can be.  He had been stressed out by the cord wrapped around his neck and been exposed to meconium during the delivery and had to have it suctioned out in his first few minutes of life.  All of this led to him being admitted to the ICU immediately after his airways were opened up.

Once in the ICU he almost immediately became more active.  His tone improved and his vitals quickly stabilized.  He was placed under a warmer.  He was put on IV fluids and hooked up to a CPAP machine to help open his airways.  Dad finally had a chance to take a breath and was able to snap a few pics of him all hooked up.

The staff in the ICU were amazing throughout our stay.  The doctors were very thorough with their workup and did a nice job communicating with us about Henry's progress.  Henry went through a barrage of tests.  His initial labs showed that he had developed an infection at some point around the delivery.  He was started on antibiotics.  Additionally, the staff performed a lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis.  I've had to do lumbar punctures as a part of my PA rotations, but it was incredibly challenging to see them do one on my own little guy.  He did great throughout it though and the tests ended up coming back negative, thankfully!
-Bret

Henry Arrives

Rachel went into labor last Thursday, Sept 27th, in the morning.  She started having contractions around 6 am in the morning.  We made it to the hospital shortly thereafter.

Rachel timing her contraction in front of hospital

The doctors initially said she was just in pre-labor and discussed whether or not we needed to stay.  However the testing showed that our baby was getting a little stressed inside of mom and they decided to admit Rachel for monitoring.
After getting our own room - the nurse discovered that Rachel was indeed in active labor as she had progressed to being 4cm dilated in less than 2 hours.  At that point things went really quickly and she was fully dilated by noon - less than 6 hours since labor began.
Henry's heart rate was bouncing around during the delivery and the OB had some concern that the cord was getting stressed.  The delivery took about 2 hours which was intense.

I believe this picture was after the epidural...

Henry Andrew Taber was born at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, CA on September 27, 2012 @ 2:04pm - 5lb8oz and 19 inches tall.  He initially was limp and not breathing.  It was probably the scariest experience of my life.  He was attended to by the Peds staff at the hospital and required suction to get some of the meconium (if you do not know what this is - I will let you look it up) out of his chest.  He responded well to this - though it was the longest 5 minutes of my life!  From there it was off to the ICU for what would be a 6 day stay.

-Bret