Pictures of Caleb!

[Edit July 25, 2010] Have moved the pictures to a new album here



You can see the individual pictures here:

Pictures

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It is a boy!

Caleb Maxwell Flight arrived in the world at 9:23pm Eastern, weighing 8 lbs 2oz (3.7 kg). He has all the right parts, a healthy set of lungs, and is just perfect. Mom is doing good, very tired and sore but happy. No complications in the delivery. Thank you Lord for giving us this wonderful little boy, and thank you to everyone for your prayers. Pics will follow tomorrow.

Another centimeter!

At 4pm the Doc came in to check on us, and Sarah was another whole centimeter dilated! So we are up to 5! She said that if we kept up the pace of dilating 1cm every 2 hours, then she would be happy, and saw no need to put in a monitor to make sure how strong the contractions are. If that pace continues, it will still be a while, but it is nice today to have some progress, especially when compared to yesterday.

Thank you!

I just wanted to take a moment to let you all know that even though we are not replying to all the comments on the blog posts or on Facebook, I am regularly checking them and passing the comments along to Sarah. We have both been so encouraged by the incredible support of everyone, and are very appreciative of all of your prayers regarding the labor and delivery.

Thank you all so very much.

Day 2: 1pm

Still only 4cm dilated, but the baby was in a better position with respect to the cervix, so the Doc went ahead and broke her water. That means in one sense the clock is ticking, there is only so much time they will let Squirt stay in there with the water broken. But the Doc feels that the labor is progressing, and in a couple of hours will probably put in a monitor so they can tell how strong the contractions are. The epidural is in, so at this point Sarah isn't feeling much. She is currently trying to rest and I am getting some nourishment so I can be a help to her in the latter part of labor.

Day 2: 10am and + 4cm

The Doc was in at 10 to check how the dilator balloon was doing, and it popped right out this time. So 4.5cm dilated, but the baby isn't quite in position to be able to break the water yet. So up the drugs a bit, and check again in a couple more hours. The anesthesiologist is here doing history for the epidural. Lots of breathing right now through the contractions and hoping that they do their job. Thanking God for His goodness, mercy, providence, and sovereignty through this entire process.

We even had the time to do some simple worship this morning by singing some psalms and reading scripture.

Day 2: 9am

Pretty good night last night, as we were both able to get more sleep than the previous night. They did let Sarah off the drugs and we freshened up and got something to eat, and moved around. However, as soon as the drugs stopped, the contractions stopped, which in one way was kind of disappointing.

When we got back, they put in a balloon essentially to get things dilated while sleeping. Had a great sleep from 2-7, and the balloon did some dilating overnight, but not as much as we had all hoped. Back on the drugs this morning, hoping the combination of the two (that of the balloon and drugs) will get Sarah to 4cm and active labor. Very thankful for the opportunity to rest last night, and for everyones prayers.

19 hours

So the drug to get contractions going and the cervix dilated haven't been accomplishing a whole heck of a lot, except for bringing on the pain (which eventually brought the need for some morphine). But no real progress in the dilating department. We have word from the labor technicians (the ones who actually help the doctor deliver the baby) that the current plan is if there is no change at the next check, then they are going to take a break, let her eat something and take a shower, and then either restart the current treatment or try another approach. Our new nurse is here (shift change just happened) and she just confirmed that plan.

We really appreciate everyones prayers.

12 hours along

At 12 hours along, after a second dose of the initial meds at 8:30am, and there is now a more regular pattern of contractions, however still not a whole lot of dilation going on. On the plus side, things are thinning out, and some stuff is moving into position, so they feel ok starting the next medication, as it allows finer control of the contractions. Sounds like it could still be quite a while before we finally get to meet Squirt.

Six hours done

So Sarah had the great idea that yesterday we should try to get to bed really early so that we could get *some* sleep before leaving for the hospital at midnight. Great idea in theory, too bad it didn't work. She went to bed at 7pm, and I went to bed at 8pm. Neither of us was able to sleep, and we actually both got up at 9 and watched a movie on TV. We finally managed to get in an hour between 11 and midnight, before getting up and heading for the hospital.

Once there, getting checked in and hooked up was an interesting process. The first bit of medicine for the induction was at 2am, and we may have managed to get an hour total of sleep between 2 and now (6). This was mostly due to various difficulties with IV, bathroom breaks, and then of course some mild contractions started. And in all this, each time she moves, we have to verify that the various monitors are still hooked up and doing thier jobs. So, not a lot of sleep through the night, and of course just as Sarah has finally completely zonked out they should be in shortly with the next dose of meds. I think I will need some coffee with my breakfast. Where is a Tims when you need one? (for any American readers, 'Tims' refers to Tim Hortons coffee and donut shops, probably the most ubiquitous coffee chain in Canada)

The Baby is coming out!

Here we are, 8 days over the due date, and Squirt seems like he/she has no intention of leaving the warm secure confines of Mommy's womb. So this morning we are sitting in the waiting room for a final ultrasound to verify that Squirt is fine, and then late tonight we are off to the hospital for them to induce labor. Lord willing, we will finally meet Squirt sometime tomorrow.

[Update] The ultrasound went well, it was a biophysical profile (bpp) to verify fluid levels and activity. The little turkey was quiet again this morning, so it was a good thing I took along some lyrics for singing to get Squirt to move. But everything is fine as far as the tech could tell.

Singing Fool?

Had another appointment today, as the Dr's office was closed yesterday due to observance for the 4th of July. We are now at 39 weeks and 5 days, with 2 days left until the official due date. Sarah had noticed that over the past couple of days that Squirt was much quieter, so even though the heartbeat was fine (~140), the Dr asked for an ultrasound to make sure that there was lots of fluid and as a double check that everything was ok.

After doing some basic checks, the ultrasound technician says that Squirt needs to make some movements. Up to this point in the exam Squirt has shown no movement at all, like he/she is fast asleep. So the technician starts poking at Sarah's belly with the ultrasound probe. And poking, and poking, and poking. After a good 5 minutes, Squirt still hasn't moved a wink. At this point, we are all a little concerned, and the tech tells us that if Squirt does not move, then Sarah will have to be hooked up to the monitoring system for another 30 minutes. I recalled that Squirt seems to like music, as he/she tends to move during family devotions and during singing in church. Unfortunately, I am really bad at remembering lyrics to songs. However, I was able to remember and sing the first line of Psalm 1A and Psalm 18K (given how often I have sung both, I should have been able to sing the whole, along with many others). And, Squirt woke up and started moving for the technician.

So, Sarah's opinion of my singing aside, Squirt seems to like it. However, I've also been told that at this point babies cannot discern pitch, tone or key, so that is probably a good thing as my range is rather limited.

Squirt is getting bigger!

Squirt (that is our name for the baby while he/she is still inside Sarah) is growing like mad. We had an ultrasound just last week, and they say he is about 4 lbs 7 oz, and is growing at the perfect rate to be on-time for July 8. So it is a good thing that we recently got the stroller and car-seat (which will be inspected on Tuesday), and that I have the change table painted and assembled.

We even have new wheels on our converted tv-stand to bassinet-stand, so we will be able to wheel Squirt anywhere we need to in the apartment without too much disturbance.

Profile of Squirt at 33 weeks.

3D pic of Squirt's face.

Mommy's belly is getting big.

And one very key-lime green change table. Notice it matches the piggy-bank.

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