Saturday, June 30, 2007

We have a new roommate...

After spending a couple of days in the NICU and the Special Care Nursery, Trace got to come up to our hospital room this afternoon. This was the news we had been waiting for and its made for an exciting day.



After Trace was born, he had to go from the transition nursery to the NICU. During his initial bloodwork, they found what could have been an infection, so the began to give him antibiotics. Also, there was a concern about his breathing, since he was grunting and would sometimes breath too fast, but his breathing issue went away the next day. They also began to monitor his bilirubin levels, which cause jaundice. He was moved to the Special Care Nursery on Thursday evening. While there he spent most of his time under a special light to help break down the bilirubin in his blood.

We were able to visit him a few times in these nurseries, but we couldn't wait to see him better and able to spend all of his time with us. Today, we went to the nursery for his noon feeding and while there, the nurse practitioner made her rounds. She gave us the good news that he no longer needed the light and that he could come stay with us. Also, they did one more blood test, and it came back negative, so no more antibiotics, which also means no more IV.

It was awesome to have him in our room for the first time. From the diaper changes to feeding to just getting to hold him and stare in his eyes, we are finally getting to do the things that we've been thinking about for the past 9 months. Trace has a big day tomorrow and if everything goes as planned, he should be able to come home with us tomorrow afternoon!




Thursday, June 28, 2007

He's Here!

Trace Gladden Ballard made his arrival at 5:44 p.m. on Wednesday, June 27, 2007. He weighed in at 6 lbs 3.8 ozs and was 19 3/4 inches long.

After our doctor's visit on Tuesday, they found that Ashley's fluid level was low again, but it was lower than before, so the doctors decided to put us in the hospital. The plan was to induce the next morning. Around 3 a.m., they began the induction process. By 10:30 a.m., contractions were being felt, but Ashley had not started dialating. Dr. Harris then mentioned that we may need to consider a c-section.

This was a nervous and anxious time for us because we hadn't really considered a section, and Ashley was strongly against it. But they talked us through the process, and we understood that we would do whatever it would take to insure Trace would arrive safely. Around 3:00 they checked Ashley again and still no progress, so the decision was made to do a section around 5ish. So just about 5:00, they began preparing us for the proceedure.


It turned out to not be as bad as we thought and everyone made us comfortable and relaxed in the surgury room. It was not long before we heard Trace's cries. It was a joyous moment that we had long been anticipating.

More updates to come on how Trace spent his first few days to follow.



Monday, June 25, 2007

Quick Update...

We're home! We were released from the hospital Saturday afternoon and I'll be on bed rest until further notice. We have appointments with the specialist and Dr. Harris on Tuesday and again on Friday, if necessary. It looks like Trace will be coming sooner than we thought. The doctor mentioned that we will deliver by 37 weeks, which is next Wednesday, July 4th or if my fluid comes down again, whichever comes first. So, we should have him here within the next week or so. :-) Can't wait!

Also, I did get permission to attend my baby shower on Sunday, which was so nice to have all of my friends together in one room celebrating our new family. I can't say enough about how wonderful all of my friends are and how special they make me feel. I'm just so glad I didn't have to miss it!

I'll post some pics soon and will keep you posted on any activity.

pregnancy week by week

Thursday, June 21, 2007

It's getting close...Wait is it time?

What a day?!? We had our regular maternal fetal appointment this morning to look at the amniotic fluid level. This morning it was on the low side again, so Dr. Jaekle decided to give Ashley IV fluid over night to see if that could bring the levels up. So tonight we'll be staying at Women's and tomorrow we'll get another look at Trace. If the fluid levels have gone down, then they may deliver this weekend. This is both an exciting and nervous time because while we are "ready" for the baby, we still have a lot of stuff to do. But no matter what we think, we're ready.

Dr. Jaekle had another concern with the baby's growth. He is currently 6 lbs 4 ozs and we are at 35 weeks. They figure that in a couple weeks, he'll be at 8.5 lbs and then at term he could be up to 9.5 lbs. Basically, he's growing really well, actually too well. So this is another thing for us to watch out for.

Stay tuned....
babies

Thursday, June 07, 2007

33 Weeks

We’re now at the 33 week mark and we’ve had a couple of doctor visits this week. We went Tuesday to Dr. Harris and she said everything looked good. Then we went today and saw Dr. St. Amant at MFM and he said that Trace’s growth is right at the 56% mark, which means he’s growing right on target. His current weight is 4lbs. 8oz. and he got an 8 out of 8 on his Bio/Phys. Assessment, which is excellent. Also, some more good news…my amniotic fluid is back up to 10.5 cm, which is within the normal range. Yeah!

Other fun stuff for this week…we had a shower in Grand Isle on Saturday, given by our moms and Trace’s nanny Mikelle. Everything was really nice and we got all kinds of great stuff for Trace. Some of the big items were his stroller from his nanny, his swing from my parents, and his high chair from Ernie’s parents. He also received lots of toys from his Aunt Rhiannon, some nice blankets from his great-grandmothers, and lots of LSU stuff…we hope his first words are “Geaux Tigers!”

Here are some pics of the shower and of the guys putting together some of the stuff we received. Enjoy!