Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Welcome Baby Caleb! (Long Overdue)

Baby Caleb is here!



It has been a long journey with getting adjusted with having this little guy here with us. Life as we know it has changed and we aren't complaining one bit.

Caleb came to us two weeks prior to our expected due date on Saturday, May 9th, 2015 at 6:54AM, the day before Mother’s Day.
Caleb weighed in at 7lbs. 8oz. and was 20 inches long.

Mommy was in labor starting that previous Wednesday, May 6th in the early evening. During the time from laboring to the birthing, we visited the hospital a few times as contractions were regular fitting the guidelines the hospital gave us 4-1-1... contractions coming every 4 minutes or less, lasting for a minute or more, for at least 1 hour.
I was in Sacramento in a meeting during this time and all I could think about was getting home. Luckily, Patty is a tough one and held out til I made it back. When I did eventually get home, we took our first trip to the hospital where she and the baby were examined but weren’t ready to be admitted. The contractions progressed for 2 more days which consisted of 2 more trips to the hospital. The second trip was to check dilation and get pain medication per our Primary Doc to help Patty get a couple of hours of sleep through the night to prevent exhaustion. The fourth trip was the real deal.

It was Friday night and contractions were hitting harder and harder! We scrambled to the hospital, where we were told that Patty was dilated at 9.5cm! At this point, Patty’s birthing plan for a non-medicated, natural birth came true as an epidural (which at this point was not out of the question) was advised against since we needed to start pushing immediately. We made our way to the birthing suite and about 2.5 hours later, Caleb was born! Labor lasted for a whopping 62 hours! I have so much new found respect for Patty…that was some intense stuff.

Since then, it's been a month and a day since Caleb's birth. When people tell us to embrace every moment since time flies, jeez, they weren't kidding! A month seems to have flown by, partly because of the whirlwind of feelings, feedings, sleepless nights, constant Google searches on baby stuff, more feedings, pooping sessions, diaper changes. Adjusting was tough the first couple of weeks, but we're slowly getting dialed in…slowly.

One of the toughest parts of these past few weeks was taking Caleb to the lab time after time to get his cute little foot pricked for blood work as he presented with slightly higher than normal levels of bilirubin and was a bit jaundiced. Kaiser, a huge proponent of proactive healthcare, was persistent with monitoring his bilirubin levels on a very regular basis (every 1 to 2 days then weekly). We’ve familiarized ourselves with all of the lab techs at this point and have our favorites to request at two locations as we’ve unfortunately come across several not so baby-friendly techs. We also learned what a Bili-blanket was (blanket with UV lights that look like a cool raver toy) as we had to have Caleb on it for a couple of days to prevent his bili levels from increasing further.

As hypochondriacs, this experience was by far the hardest to deal with. Fortunately, his testing today showed a significant natural decrease with no additional treatment necessary.
We are so happy to have him here and he is such a blessing. All things aside, he's been pretty easy. His cries are 50% hunger, 30% cuddling needs, 20% other (dirty diaper/gassy).
During this month stretch, he's luckily had a lot of visitors! His new Ba Noi, Ong May, Grandma Li (all the way from Virginia!), Auntie Kristine, O Bibi, Cousins Huelan and Vansen, Auntie Liz, Uncle Hung and several family friends.

We're thankful for all of the advice, help, love and FOOD from everyone!

I can't believe we've waited so long to become parents!

We're super blessed.

Caleb is absolutely perfect.


Absolutely elated ..... and exhausted at the hositpal.

Bathing in indirect sunlight.

Caleb saying, "1 month?! Ain't no thang... it was easy!"



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