Surprise!

I have two of the best friends ever! My friends Emma and Barbara conspired to surprise me Friday morning. Barbara lives in Ruston, LA and is Jackson's Godmother. She wasn't supposed to be able to make it to Houston until mid-July, but we got a knock on the door Friday morning...standing there were Emma and Barbara. Emma lives here in Houston, and she worked everything out so Barbara could stay with her Thursday night and surprise me in the morning. They had been planning the surprise since the day Jackson was born! They let Ross in on the secret too, so I am very impressed they were all able to keep it from me!

Barbara spent two days taking care of us and helping with Jackson. It was so wonderful to get to spend some time with her! Here are a couple of pictures of her with Jackson.

We also had a couple of other visitors this weekend. Ross' Aunt Dottie and Uncle Jim were in Katy, TX for a wedding today, and they made the drive to Clear Lake to meet Jackson.

Then our friends Rhea and Andrew and their three kids stopped by. They have some of the best kids we've ever met, so we always appreciate their advice and enjoy their company!

2 Weeks Old

Jackson is now 2 weeks old! He had his 2 week appointment today, and he's now 21 inches long and 7 lbs 10 oz, which is 5 oz over his birth weight! That puts him in the 50th percentile in height and 25th percentile in weight. His head was under the 25th percentile, so despite what it looks like, his head is small. :-)

I also had my 2 week appointment today, and I'm healing well too! I'm now allowed to drive, but they still won't let me lift more than Jackson until the 6 week mark.

Here's a recent pic of Jackson. He's started getting baby acne, but he's still adorable...not that I'm biased or anything!

Mirror, Mirror on the Floor

After another rough night the other day, we decided to try putting Jackson on a "schedule". Really it just takes all of his needs into account and provides some predictability for him...and us. So far, it seems to be working well. Thanks Rhea for the advice and the book!

Here is a pic of Jackson discovering himself in the mirror and a close up of those big open eyes!

Prayer Request

This morning we received some sad and joyous news. My cousin, Stephanie, and her husband, Jason, were expecting twin boys. She was scheduled for a c-section on the 26th but had to go in for an emergency c-section last night. One of the boys, Alexander, was stillborn, and the other, Andrew, is healthy and doing very well. They also have a three year old boy, Adam. I can't imagine the mixture of emotions they must be feeling at this time. I know they would all appreciate your prayers. Thanks!

Hooray for Sleep!

I'm celebrating our first night without a long crying spell in the middle of the night. Hooray!!! Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a good trend. Our first few nights were pretty rough, but thanks to lots of reading and advice from friends last night was wonderful. Here's a pic of our precious boy sleeping this morning.

Happy Father's Day

Ross' Father's Day got off to a rough start. Our first night at home was spent trying to keep Jackson happy. We took turns trying to figure out what Jackson needed. He finally decided to sleep around 5 this morning. I guess he's like most babies and has his days and nights confused right now.

Despite the rough night, we can't help but fall more and more in love with our precious little boy. Today we've enjoyed watching him sleep and playing with him whenever he's awake. To celebrate Father's Day, Jackson gave Ross a tool chest in appreciation for all of the things Ross built for his room.

Here are a couple of snapshots of Ross' Father's Day with both of his kids.

Since this is my first post since Jackson's arrival, I want to personally thank everyone for all of the thoughts and prayers. We are so thankful for our family and friends. Things didn't exactly go according to our plans, but God knows best. His plans are perfect. We have had such good care throughout this experience from an amazing doctor and team of nurses to wonderful new grandparents taking care of our needs and just loving Jackson. I also have to send a huge thanks to our friends Emma and Chris who have been helping us by running errands and providing meals the last few days. Every prayer and gift, whether time, food, or baby things, have been greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

We're Home!

Actually, we have been for a few hours but I've been a little busy getting us settled (and resting a bit). Here are some pictures from the big move.

Mom and baby dressed to go.

Jackson in his car seat just before loading in the car. The cross was a gift from the hospital.

A closeup. He looks pretty content in the car seat.

The new family after getting out of the car.

And finally, a happy Jackson in his crib.

Heading Home!

E and J have been discharged and we are packing things up! We're excited (and a little nervous) about our first night at home with our new family member.

Status Update

Elizabeth just got out of the shower and is feeling quite well. They took out her epidural and IV early this morning and she's been up and about with very little pain. She's been eating well and is pretty much ready to get out of here. Jackson is also doing great! The pediatrician came by and declared him fit to go home so if the OB approves, we may head home today.

E with Jackson

Really! I promise that is Jackson balled up in those blankets. Well, at least you can see that E is now able to sit up. She has also done some walking today and should lose her epidural tonight. All in all, things are going quite well as we prepare to go home on Sunday.

While Elizabeth is great to look at, I guess I'll give you another Jackson pic as well.

Another Jackson Picture

Here is another Jackson picture for you. I don't have my photo album software available right now so it may be a while before we update the album but I'll continue posting some of the good ones on the blog.

New Jackson Ticker

The Baby Taylor countdown ticker on the main blog page has been replaced with the Jackson Dean Taylor countup ticker. ;-) Now there is no excuse to miss his birthday!

Thank you

E and I would like to thank everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes. It is nice to see that Jackson will be surrounded with such love. Everyone is still doing well. Jackson has nursed a little and E got some (liquid) supper. We'll be here until Sunday and then the next adventure begins. I'll try to get some more pictures up tomorrow but this is probably it for tonight.

First Picture!

Here he is! Of course, we think he is the cutest (most handsome) baby ever!

Jackson is here!

Mom and baby are doing well. It was a very quick and successful c-section by Dr. Klein. It turns out that Jackson's umbilical cord was only about a foot long (compared to roughly 3 feet normally) so the c-section was absolutely the right decision. Jackson is being warmed up in the nursery right now and should be down for E to hold him pretty soon.

He is 7 lb 5 oz and 20 in. Pictures are coming as soon as possible.

Epidural

They went ahead and gave E an epidural. She is a lot more comfortable now, which is good but I think the main reason they did it is to be prepared for a c-section if necessary. They are trying everything to keep that from happening though. They think that he is turned sideways which is putting extra pressure on him and slowing things down. They are having E try various positions as well as giving her oxygen to try to keep his heart rate up. So far, things are looking pretty good since the last change.

It's pretty amazing how many monitors, tubes, etc they put on a perfectly healthy woman. We are now monitoring both heart rates, E's BP, and contractions. She also has a couple of IV drips, the epidural, and oxygen. Whatever it takes though!

By the way, I realized that the times on the previous two posts were wrong. I updated them to my best guess but they are still probably a little off...hopefully, this one will work right.

Fetal monitoring

Dr. LeBlanc put a fetal monitor in because Jackson's heart rate is dropping during contractions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but they want to be able to accurately monitor the timing. They are also prepping E for an epidural because the pain is pretty severe and they want her to be ready for a c-section if necessary. She is 2 cm dilated and 90% effaced.

Saw the doctor

Dr. Klein stopped by and verified that E's water is broken, she is a "loose 1 cm" dilated, and about 80% effaced. He said there was a dramatic difference from yesterday so things are looking good!

Hospital

We're in! We didn't have any problem getting a room since E thinks her water is broken. They are getting her all set up right now. She is still only 1 cm dilated but they can't tell for sure if her water is broken (yet?).

Labor

Elizabeth is in labor! It started at about 2 am but has gotten intense quickly. It is now 5:30 am and her contractions are ~5 min apart and 1 min long. At about 5 til 5, she called the doctor to see if she should go in. About 5 min later she got a call from the hospital to see if she could wait until 8 to come in for induction because they don't have any beds available. We haven't heard back from the doctor yet but this is not very encouraging.

Jackson is Coming!

It's official. I will be induced tomorrow if I don't go into labor some time tonight. We had our 41 week doctor's appointment today, and I had at least made some progress. I was dilated 1 cm. From there we went to the hospital for our "preop" appointment, which took care of all of our paperwork, so tomorrow we'll just show up and have a baby. :)

Baby Room Woodworking

First, a quick update...we are still waiting for Jackson to decide he is ready to come. As E said last week, labor will be induced on Thursday unless he decides to come before then. However, E has gotten sick with a stomach bug that has been going around. She checked with the doctor and they may delay the induction if she still isn't feeling well tomorrow. I guess we'll see what happens...

While we wait, I figured I'd talk a little about the woodworking in the baby room. Elizabeth posted pictures last week so have a look at that (because I don't feel like posting more right now - sorry). The dresser was a fun project and it turned out pretty good. I talked about the plan a while back and have posted one update. The project went pretty smoothly because of my experience with the desk. It is a fairly simple MDF case on a stained birch base. The tolerances were pretty tight because of the overlay drawers but it worked out pretty well. The one new experience is that I got a paint/stain sprayer to try to make finishing easier. It worked really well and I am happy with it. The biggest problem with the dresser is that I didn't realize the "clear" polyurethane actually has a bit of a yellow tint. You can't really tell in the pictures but it is noticeable in person. I guess I could sand it down but I don't think it is worth it.

I'm really happy with the wall art...it is just three pieces of MDF glued and screwed together. I got a circle jig for my router that made the circles pretty easy. After setting it up and cutting, they just needed a little sanding to fix the irregularities. They are hung with my standard keyholes. This particular project made me really feel like a woodworker because I had the required materials laying around and didn't have to go buy anything. I'm not sure that will happen very often though since I usually take on big projects.

Healthy Baby Boy...Still in my Belly

It has been a long morning. We went in for my weekly doctor's appointment this morning, which usually only takes about 20 minutes. My due date is this Saturday, and I show no signs of Jackson's arrival yet. They had a harder time finding his heartbeat today and decided they wanted to make sure he was okay to stay in my belly for another week, so they sent us to the hospital to monitor Jackson's heartbeat and my contractions, as well as to perform a bio-physical ultrasound.

Jackson's heart rate was good, and I was surprised to learn that I'm having contractions fairly regularly since I don't feel them at all. They were around every 6.5 minutes. Unfortunately, they aren't making any progress though.

After being monitored for a while, they sent us to the ultrasound lab where they checked Jackson's biological functions and measured the amount of amniotic fluid. From what I could tell his heart looked good. You could actually see the chambers. They showed us his stomach and bladder and reaffirmed that he's a boy. They also said he doesn't have a lot of hair on his head. It just amazes me that you can get that level of detail!

It took more than half of the day, but we left knowing that Jackson still looks healthy. My doctor has decided to induce next Thursday if Jackson still hasn't arrived. I would much rather go into labor on my own before then, so all prayers are appreciated! Regardless, we'll likely get to meet our little boy by next Thursday!