Ty was born December 27 at 4:11 am.
He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long
The story:
I woke up at 1:47 am with a bad contraction and had to go to the bathroom. I timed 3 more contractions that were pretty painful and they were getting closer together quickly, so I woke Jeff up and told him we needed to go. We were on our way to the hospital at 2:30 and by this point my contractions were getting pretty hard. They wanted me to fill out some paper work at the desk, but by this point, I was getting on the floor on my hands and knees during contractions and told them they needed to check me. I was at a 7. Luckily, I still was able to have the epidural, my doctor got there, broke my water and I pushed Ty out--he took four pushes during one contraction. We were all making guesses at what he weighed (the highest anyone guessed was 7 lbs 10 oz--I was measuring a lot smaller then I was with Kate and she was only 6 lbs 9 oz) We were also so excited to find out if our baby was a boy or a girl.
He came out--he had such a healthy cry and red skin and he was a BOY and SO big. It's always such an amazing experience--bringing one of these precious babies into the world. We fell in love so quickly. I especially had a lot of time to get to know Ty in the hospital and he is such a sweet little guy, we're so grateful he is here and safe and healthy.
This is right after he was born, my first time holding him.
This is Jeff's first time holding him, also right after he was born.
He has lots of hair on his head--mostly blond.
Grandma and Grandpa Lewis came to visit, Ty was a little sad that day.
These are the flowers Jeff got for me, I loved them.
Ty coming home.
Ty's billirubin was high when he was born, so we had to take him to get it checked the next day, it was still really high, so we took him the next day (New Years Day) and it had shot up to critical levels. We had to run him up to Primary Childrens Hospital for the night to be under lights and get IV fluids because he was dehydrated. I didn't get a picture because the whole thing was traumatic--especially for an emotional, newly post-partum mom. I forgot the camera. One nice surprise is that some good friends from our neighborhood were there working that night, it was nice to see a familiar face, they were great.
They weren't sure, but one of the main causes (I think) was that I didn't have enough milk, so the bilirubin wasn't getting flushed out of Ty's system. He was fussy those first few days and then started getting more lethargic and wasn't having a ton of soiled diapers, so I'm pretty convinced that's what it was. When we came home, I was feeding him a bottle after every feeding--about 1-2 oz extra. I had very little milk and was pretty discouraged that I wouldn't be able to nurse. A couple things have helped turn it around. I started getting more sleep, I was less stressed (after Ty's bilirubin levels finally came down) and Fenugreek--a supplement to increase milk supply, it works wonders!! I also got a double breast pump, and things are working much better now.
We're starting to get things figured out and Ty is such a little sweetie (I guess he sleeps about 18 hours a day, so maybe we can't judge yet). He has already captured our hearts and we're so so grateful to have him in our family and so grateful he is healthy and well.
