Baby Spencer Update

Spencer went back to the hospital lab this morning for yet another heal prick/blood draw. Our hope was that the results would show that his jaundice is coming to an end. The doctor said that they like to see test results in the range of 10 - 12 and a score of 20 or above would result in a trip to the hospital. Spencer's score on Wednesday was 17 - not high enough to require going to the hospital, but higher than anyone wanted it to be. His score on today's blood test was a 13! So......so long yellow glow and hello rosy pink cheeks! We see the pediatrician next week for his routine 2 week newborn checkup which will give the doctor another opportunity to verify everything is still looking great. As far as Spencer is concerned, aside from people mistaking his foot for a pincushion, his days are pretty much the same......eat, sleep, diaper change and sleep some more!

Sleeping Again???

This is a common sight with our newborn Baby Spencer. He sleeps, wakes to eat and have an occasional diaper change and then goes back for some more sleep. Not a bad lifestyle if you can get it I guess! You can't really tell from pictures, but Spencer has a little bit of a yellow glow to him as he came home from the hospital with a touch of jaundice. Spencer's pediatrician that discharged him from the hospital said that even though he scored "above average" on the test they ran on him, she still wanted to see him at her office the following day. At that appointment one of the other pediatricians agreed that he was still pretty yellow in his face and torso. She said to continue feeding him as much as he would take as that would help it run its course. We followed those directions and saw the doctor again yesterday. Unfortunately, she said that he was showing signs of the yellow coloring spreading to his legs as well. So, off to the hospital we went for a bilirubin test. This amounts to some blood being drawn from his heal. Spencer was a brave little trooper and handled the experience very well! Mommy and Daddy then waited for the doctor to call us back with his test results. When the phone did ring, it was the hospital lab saying there was a problem with his blood sample and we needed to come back to have the blood test redone. By the end of the afternoon, pincushion boy had matching band aids on BOTH heals! After discussing the results with the doctor, she feels we may have corrected the problem so we will go back to the hospital tomorrow morning to have ONE more blood test taken. Hopefully this will confirm that his score is going back down into the normal range where we want to see it at. Details on that when we have them!

Welcome Grandma!

Until she is back to 100%, Mommy still needs a little help with her two little guys. Since Daddy has to go back to work tomorrow, it's Grandma to the rescue! She flew in from South Dakota today and we are happy to say that she will be able to spend a little over a week with us! This was her first meeting with Baby Spencer and it appears that they are going to get along very nicely together....as if there was any doubt about that!

My Older Cousins

Two of Spencer's cousin's came over for a meet and greet last night! Here he is with his oldest cousin Krista....

....and with cousin Erika!

Mommy's Birthday

Last year, Mommy got a wonderful present the morning after her birthday with the birth of big brother Brian. This year, she got her present slightly early when Spencer Paul was born 6 days before her birthday! Two beautiful little boys all within one year.......talk about winning the lottery! Mommy and Daddy are extremely blessed and not a day goes by that we take that fact for granted!

Spencer Meets St. John!

Due to the power outage at our house, Spencer has had the opportunity to go on several outings since getting home from the hospital. Those outings mainly involved going to restaurants, but today he went to church for his first time. There are so many people who have been following our pregnancy and watching it progress each week, so they were very excited to meet our new young man. Speaking of the power outage, I am thrilled to announce that as of about 2:00PM today we have electricity again! As an added bonus, we also have cable TV service which apparently not everyone has back yet.

Story Time With Spencer

"So....I make it through the hospital experience and am finally brought to this place they keep referring to as home. About an hour and a half after getting there, the biggest storm I have ever seen in my whole entire life (and keep in mind, I wasn't just born yesterday, I was born last Tuesday) hit! We spent that night at Grandma and Grandpa's house and the next day, Daddy and Grandpa went in search of a generator. Since so many stores had already sold out of them, we had to wait for the next truck to arrive, but by 6PM that evening, it arrived and we have all been doing very well ever since! Daddy says its a very nice unit and he is very impressed with how much we are able to power with it. He and Mommy keep talking about it being a "good investment" or something like that. It's been a short lifetime so far, but I already have quite a few stories to share with you all. Just wait until you hear the one about the day I was born!"

Grandpa Paul

Here is Spencer Paul with Grandpa. Who would have thought that picking a boys name would be so difficult! Mommy and Daddy went through just about every name imaginable before hitting on Spencer.....which we both happened to like very much! His middle name was the easy part, we decided on it from the moment we found out "Baby Human" was going to be a boy kid. Paul is the name of Daddy's father and we wanted this boy to share that name as well.

Home At Last!

I'm sure it must be quite an ordeal entering the world as a baby. Everyone at the hospital seems to want to poke you or take your blood. There are tests and a constant stream of new nurse faces picking you up and taking you away from Mommy and Daddy's safe arms! So, with all that in mind, I'm sure being discharged to be able to go home (if you had any idea what that meant) would probably be quite comforting! This picture was taken shortly before we left for home.......

....unfortunately, about an hour after getting home, this was the view from our front yard! Straight line winds or micro burst, whatever you want to call it, the damage in our neighborhood as well as a large part of the Chicagoland area was extensive. And yes, that is Daddy's red truck in the picture! Two trees fell on either side of it and amazingly, the truck came through without a scratch on it! Aside from having no electricity and loosing the beautiful tree that was in our front yard, we all came through the storm in fine shape but we are spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house tonight. We thought Spencer's first night at home shouldn't be a campout with flashlights and candles!

Welcome To The World!

We are very happy to introduce you all to Spencer Paul! He joined our family yesterday, August 21st at 6:26PM. He weighed 7 lbs 4 ozs and measured 20 inches long. He, his Mommy AND Daddy all came through the birth experience with flying colors and all are doing very well. Today has been a busy and hectic day for the little guy. There have been lots of exams, tests, pokes and prods. At this point, I bet he is starting to rethink this whole "being born" thing!