He's HERE!!!! (and sort of has been for a while)...

Hey out there!

Sorry that we haven't posted in over a month, but we have been a little busy...here's the scoop:

Nathaniel James-
was born on May 27th, 2011 (2 days late, though our doctor told us on our actual due date that he thought our date was 1-2 days off...he was right!).  Nate weighed 7 lbs., 3 oz and was 19.5 inches long.  He was born at 3:35pm after almost exactly 15 hours of labor (though I wasn't having contractions for most of it).  My water broke at 12:30am while I was sleeping, so we headed out to the hospital (per our doctor's instructions).  The contractions didn't start until a few hours later (and when they hit, they hit hard).  Kurt says that I was a real trooper and "not a whimp", which was my bigest concern.  Somewhat eventful turn of evnts as Kurt and my labor nurse almost delievered the baby before the doctors got there.  Yup, half of Nate's head was out before the troops had arrived, so despite every inkling in my body, I had to stop pushing...with his head halfway out.  He was born with a ton of dark hair and dark blue eyes, we will kep you posted as to whether he keeps all of it.

Day 1 of life

Day 16 of life

Coming home and meeting Sammy- We came home on Sunday, May 29th to a very excited puppy dog.  Sammy really missed me (since Kurt had been stopping home every so often) and was attached to my side for the first 2 days home.  As for Nate, she had minimal ineterest in what he was up to.  She gave a sniff and a lick and that was it.  Now she follows around whomever is holding the baby like a protective mother.  During the first week home we basically just fell in love with our boy.  We got used to having him around, gave him a couple of sponge baths, and introduced him to friends and family.

Firat meeting betwen Sammy and Nate

What time is tipoff? After 8 days of life, Nate was circumcised in the presence of friends and family.  He seemed to take it pretty well, Kurt and I were a bit more on edge.  We topped off the celebration with a little gathering after the ceremony.  So what favor does a person give for a newborn circumcision???  I opted for personalized hand sanitizer, everyone should feel free to use it when they come to visit (don't worry, we have extras at the house).  I'm serious about germs!

First outing for the ceremony

Minor Setback: 

Sadly, a couple of days after Nate's circuscision he had a good amount of bleeding from the incision site (which all doctors consulted agree was a complete fluke and happens in about 1 out of every 1000 procedures).  Being such a little guy and losing blood is a serious thing, so we were transported to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelpia) where Nate recieved treatment and was released after 2 days.  We did not enjoy having to have him at the hospital, but we were really lucky to have so many talnted doctors to help us out!

At the NICU in CHOP

Just hanging out:

With daddy back at work, and all of the hoopla dying down, it's just mommy and Nate at home trying to get a schedule in order (haha).  We spend most of our days singing, rocking on the rocking chair, and exploring our home.  We promise to try and keep everyone better upNated on our adventures in the future!



Nate's firstbath at home (notice how much he likes it)

xoxo, Jilly (and Kurt, Nate, & Sammy)