Runnin on Empty

Tired and a bit run down, but overall Parker, Jaimie and I are doing ok. I'm listening to him grunt and squeek in his bed right nwo, through the baby monitor. I have a feeling he will be up in a few minutes so I will make this quick.

Jaimie brought Parker up to my office for lunch today and to meet some of my coworkers. EVERYONE loved the little guy. Baby acne and all. He's so cute and such a good baby. He didn't fuss at all while we were there, but he lost it a little at lunch. Jaimie took care of that real quick.

Jaimie and Parker had a doctor's appointment right after lunch. The update, Jaimie STILL has a UTI. It's ANOTHER strain, which leads me to believe this stuff is smarter than modern medicine. Cure it once, it comes back again as something else.

Jaimie feels great and her system seems to be normalizing a bit, but it sounds like she will be on meds for another couple of weeks. She still has to finish what she's on now, but the new perscription is still safe for breast-feeding, so she is fine.

I just uploaded some new photos to look at on the photos page of the site. Feel free to check them out. He's already getting bigger... scary!

Normal Is Not Normal

Wow, the late nights are no joke with a newborn. I think he may be part vampire. Because I have always been a night owl, Jaimie and I figured this wouldn't be too hard, me staying up late with Parker while she gets up early with him. Boy, was I wrong. If he were out at 2am, I could handle it. But it seems he sleeps soundly UNTIL 2 am. So, by the time I'm slowing down, he's just getting started.

Last night, I handed off the 8lb baton to Jaimie at 4:30am. Now, don't get me wrong, I am completely falling asleep with him and drifting in and out of consciousness while we hang out together. Even I can't watch that many movies on HBO before I can't keep my eyes open.

Playing with him, you can start to make out his ability to distinguish your face, your voice and the surroundings. He knows his mommy immediately, and we are noticing the smell of Jaimie or her voice elicits a response. Interesting to see the little changes begin.

Tuesday will be Parker's first big outing to my office. I can't wait for some of my coworkers to meet him. He is a really GOOD baby in the daytime and he is really alert around other people. Should be fun.

Family Time

Most of your life becomes "Family Time," or "sitting around the house waiting for Parker to wake up, poop or go to sleep." It's pretty interesting, when you have a newborn, how much of your time begins to consist of just staring at him or holding him or wondering what he's thinking.

I just tried 4 times to put him down, and in the end I pulled him out of the crib and put him in the "magic swing." It took a while, but it works. I think he likes the way it cradles him, or the rocking motion, or whatever. But it works and that's all that matters.

OK, so the rest of the week went pretty well. I went back to work on Wednesday, after dropping Chery off at the airport. Jaimie's first official day at home by herself as a mommy! Everything went pretty well, no major hitches. We are now just learning what our new routines are going to be for eating, sleeping, working and repeat.

This evening we were invited over by our next door neighbors to have dinner. It's great to finally get to know our neighbors, especially since they also have kids. Having great neighbors has been one of the toughest part about being in L.A. We all sat outside and got to know each other a little better. They seem really down to earth and have two beautiful kids. It'll be good for Jaimie to have someone she can just knock on the door if she needs to.

The cooing has to be my favorite part about a sleeping baby in the house. When Parker is in a deep sleep, he makes a cooing noise every time he exhales. It's a beautiful sound and makes listening to the baby monitor actually fun. He really is a noisy kid.

Speaking of Austin neighbors, tomorrow we are supposed to meet Jason and Nan Simmons in Anaheim. They are on vacation and taking the girls to Disneyland. I hooked them up with some hotel rooms at the Disneyland Resort, so we are planning on driving down after church to meet up with them for dinner, introducing them to the Little Man. It will be great to see them and learn about what's been going on down in the old hood.

It's Quiet... Too Quiet

Unbelievably, today was a really good day. Parker is doing well, Jaimie is looking up and Chery feels confident enough in us that she is heading back to Austin tomorrow. Jaimie and I get our first crack at being a family on our own this week. Take off the training wheels, it's go time!

Parker is noisily sleeping in his room right now. Listening to him on the baby monitor is like listening to a meat head at 24 Hour Fitness lift weights. The kid is a grunter. Constantly making noises, squeaking and grunting his way through the night, we never have to worry about NOT hearing anything over the monitor. No rushing in to make sure he is still breathing... he keeps us very aware of his current status at all times.

Parker's second doctor visit was yesterday and it went great. I talked about it earlier, but what I forgot to mention is he now weights 8lbs, 8oz and is 21 inches long. The kid is growing quickly. Over a pound and an inch in a week seems crazy, but maybe it's normal and I just have no frame of reference. But regardless, there he is, that little tiny body getting bigger right in front of our eyes. Pretty amazing.

Jaimie had her check up with Dr. Ahdoot today, and overall things look OK for her. The antibiotics seem to be helping although he did notice she still had some blood in her uterus and her abdomen is still more distended that it should be. But, he reassured us that the blood would pass and the abdomen would go down, so we both feel better about our current position.

We also had Auntie Maureen drop by for a little visit tonight after dinner. She is so amazing and we are very lucky to have her so near, especially if we have any trouble. She even offered to Jaimie to take a day off of work to help out while I went back? How sweet is that (the correct answer is pretty damn sweet)?

A Good Day

Even though she is still slowly recovering, Jaimie is finally seeming like herself again. She still has her issues, and the headaches are a bit annoying, but overall things are starting to return to their new state of normal.

We took Parker to his second doctor visit around noon today. It's hard to believe he's two weeks old now. We feel like we missed out on a whole week, being back in the hospital. But, overall, Parker is doing excellent. He does have a case of Thrush, but the doctor gave us an oral prescription, which should clear it up in a week or so. As an added bonus, Parker actually likes the taste of the medicine.

Chery, Jaimie and I took Parker on his first real walk in his new stroller. 

He made it about 1 block before he passed out cold. The kid likes his car seat, that is for sure.

Overall, an uneventful day, just like we hoped to have a week ago. Oh well, it can't always go as planned, now can it?

My plan is to return to work on Wednesday. I am looking forward to it, but cant believe it's already that time. I love this little guy so much, I can't imagine missing any part of his day. I'm glad Jaimie is taking a bit of time off during all of this. This will be great mommy and son time, I just have to make sure she gets good adult time as well, so she doesn't go crazy. But again, nothing goes as planned, right?

As Well As Can Be Expected

So, it's Sunday night, and overall, today was a pretty good day. Jaimie ran a low-grade fever most of the day, but was up in spirits and definitely up in energy. She did not have any major spikes in temperature overnight, which is really good news. Watching her get the chills and hit 102 degrees makes you feel pretty helpless. For the first time since in a while, even considering multiple AM feedings, Jaimie finally got some well-needed rest.

Today we spent most of our time indoors, checking email, watching TV and playing with little man. He gets serious alert time about three times a day now, with one of them still being midnight to 2am. I am writing now, knowing I'll have to jump off in about 30 minutes to have special "daddy and son" time. 

Jaimie is keeping hydrated, taking her drug cocktails and taking frequent naps during the day while Chery and I continue to trade off house and baby duty. Have I mentioned how much we are going to miss Chery when she leaves? UN-DER-STATE-MENT.

Two of Jaimie's coworkers and friends, Kat and Emily, came over this evening, bringing dinner and well-needed company for Jaimie (thank you both so much, the soup is excellent!) This helped Jaimie's spirits quite a bit, it was good to see her up chatting and "showing off" her new son. Even Mickey got some well needed attention from Kat, his favorite babysitter.

Overall, the day was about what you would have thought last week would have been like. We continue to watch Jaimie's temp and liquid intake, along with a few other issues. But otherwise, we really got a chance to start learning our new routines today.

We will keep watching Jaimie tonight, and hopefully she has another good evening. My plan is to stay home tomorrow and Tuesday, to at least get her through one more night and our next couple of doctor visits. After that, I will try to go back to the office. Will keep the updates coming.

Still Pushing Along

Alright, so here we are at midnight on Saturday, and so far so good. Jaimie's fever has seriously spiked twice since we got home. Once last night (which I wrote about) and once this afternoon. It's strange that she can go from 98 degrees to 102 in such a short time, but I've seen it happen twice and I'm hoping it doesn't happen again tonight.

So, I am sitting watching a movie, listening to Parker on the baby monitor as he "coos" himself asleep. Think of it as extremly cute snoring :)

My hope is we make it through one night without her fever spiking again. It may be hoping alot, but if we could get through one decent night without any drama I think we would all feel alot better. Chery is planning on staying until at least Tuesday, to get us through Parker's doctor visit on Tuesday and Jaimie's on Monday. After that, we will be on our own. My hope is that everything will begin clearing itself up these next few days, just so e can get into the normal routine of raising a beautiful little newborn. I'd prefer to write about that than what has been happening over the past week.

Updates will continue, feel free to comment!

Also, check out our newest photos, posted today. We haven't had the chance to take lots of pictures the past couple of days, but we are trying to get back into a rhythm.

Unfortunate Circumstances

God, sometimes I wish I was just making this up so this was a more interesting read, but last night was rough for our first night home, er, again.

Parker did fine, I stayed up with him until 3am while he did his "cluster feeding," then he finally went down pretty solid around 5am. It sounds rough, but actually most of that time he was sleeping. He just enjoys waking up very hour or so for some more mommy time.

Jaimie is another story. It began in the car, on the way home. She got the chills really bad, then once home, we put her to bed where she immediately fell back into the same symptoms from before the hospital stay. Chills, cold sweats, 102.7 temperature, good times. We got her to sleep and once she broke a sweat, her temperature began to drop again. She felt amazing hours before, in the hospital, ready to go. Now, we're worried again.

I drove back up to the doctor's office to fill her prescription for the "super drug" she was prescribed by 5 specialists, who swear this is the answer. During that time, her temperature shot up again and she was having all the same issues as before. Frustrating and scary, to say the least.

Long story short, Jaimie has shot up and down all day and night for 24 hours now. We called Dr. Ahdoot immediately, who has been in contact with us every 8 hours so far. He is concerned, but says it's good that her temperature spikes, then drops again. She is currently ranging from 102.5 to 99.1, and we've figured out we can bring her temperature down will cold clothes, cold showers, feeding Parker and lots of liquid.

Needless to say, it still hasn't been easy. The "magical" first couple of weeks of having a newborn have a completely different meaning to us right now, and as beautiful and wonderful as our new little boy is, it's been equally discouraging and exhausting to see Jaimie feel the way she does without being able to put Parker first.

Jaimie is now asleep next to me on the sofa. Mickey and Boo are surrounding her, keeping a close eye on their mom, and Parker is in his swing, sleeping peacefully.

As usual, Chery has been amazing. She has spent her time here tagging off with me at the hospital, cleaning, making dinner, and taking turns with Parker. Right now she is at the grocery store picking up more supplies. She is now talking about extending her stay until our good friend Amy arrives on Thursday. I hope that we get a good read on how Jaimie is recovering by tomorrow night. If she starts to normalize a bit, I really hope not to put Chery out any longer, she has gone above and beyond.

Let's Try This Again

I just got the call from Jaimie and it looks like our doctor is going to release her this morning at 11! He is sending in her prescription to the pharmacy across the street from the hospital, and if they can fill the antibiotic and we have it in hand, he will let us go. Jaimie's white blood cell count is back down to normal ranges (5-10) and she is feeling much better.

I am at home, feeding the animals and throwing some clothes on. I REALLY hope this is it, I want my family home. Will let you know.

We Have Answers

It's me, Jaimie, this time giving you the update. We finally have some answers to what is going on with me! After multiple tests, scans, and ultrasounds, and after being seen by literally 6 different specialists - they finally "concurred" on an answer. Since I had 3 different strains of an UTI before labor - the UTI came back with a vengeance after birth. Unfortunately, it spread to my kidney, which was called pyelonephritis. Since I've been on antibiotics for now almost 4 weeks, I then developed a bacteria in my colon known as C-dificil. When antibiotics knock out all of your good flora then the bad flora take over, which is basically how the C-dificil was able to take over. After the doctor gave us this prognosis, she then dropped a bomb on us. Apparently the antibiotic that can kill the C-dif would mean that I couldn't nurse for 2 weeks. I would have to feed him formula and pump and dump. Most of you know how upsetting this would make me, the whole nursing thing has been my favorite part. Any mother can tell you how special this bond can be. Anyway, 30 minutes after getting this devastating news, the GI doctor came in and told me that there actually is an antibiotic that will not go through to the breast milk. The cost difference between the generic one (the one not safe for nursing) and the one safe for nursing is pretty extreme, but we are willing to make that sacrifice.

So, I now know I have 3 different infections and I have 2 different antibiotics that they will put me on and send me home on. If my WBC continue to improve, and my inflammation goes down - I may actually get to go home tomorrow night (but this is not a sure thing and we just have to wait till tomorrow). The other good news is they are allowing me to get up for more walks, within the hospital of course, and move around more in my room. This whole thing has been emotionally and physically draining on both Jason and I. However, Parker seems completely content to have both of his parents and his Grandma all to himself in a small confined room.

One other thing is that I know many of you are wanting to visit us either at the hospital or once we return to home but unfortunately I probably need to limit my contact with others. They (the doctors and the internet) say that C-dif is not really contagious but can be passed if people are not extremely careful and those with compromised immune systems (pregnant women, young children) should limit their contact. So unfortunately, I think it best if I don't have many visitors for at least a week, maybe two. I'm officially in quarantine!

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers and hopefully we will be at home raising our son soon!

We will be in touch!

Continued...

It's the end of day on wednesday, and the three of us are in the hotel, er, I mean hospital room we have moved into for the week, just for kicks. Parker isn't interested in sleeping, unless he's attached to Jaimie or laying on my chest. Kinda silly, but I don't mind.

So, here's where we are at with Jaimie. Tomorrow morning, she is now going to have her colon scoped, to see what "might" be happening inside. The Infectious Disease doctor just came in, and is now concerned she heard a heart murmur in Jaimie. It's really getting to the point I am just expecting random people to walk in, tell me what they don't know, order a test and then leave. Jaimie is tired, homesick, bed sore, fatigued, annoyed and scared. I am amazed at how much medical professionals DON'T know. I also find it a little sketchy when a doctor tells you a bunch of information that "she found online." As if, for some strange reason, we forgot the World Wide Web existed.

So, the only news I can really provide right now is that we will be in the hospital for sure until friday. She will be on demerol and pretty loopy tomorrow, but hopefully when it's all over, we will know what is really going on with her. The reality, we will probably only know what else she doesn't have.

Chery is back at our house tonight, babysitting Mickey and Boo. She will be back up in the morning, and depending on the tests timing (which they can't confirm until 5am) I may or may not go into the office. My hope is we get cleared to go home on friday. Of course, I also hope that someone can give us a straight answer soon.

For those who are interested in talking to Jaimie or sending best wishes, please feel free to email Jaimie or just post a message to this blog. She's reading along as well, and we really appreciate the prayers, the love and the support.

Early Morning, Late Night

Jaimie called this morning to give me the low down on Jaimie, Chery and Parker's long evening. Parker is a night owl, so thanks to Chery for keeping him entertained.

The Infectious Disease Specialist is recommending Jaimie stay unti Friday now, not Thursday. Her condition is improving, but no one seems to know what her condition is. Regardless, they will not allow her to leave until she seems to be holding her own and her white blood cell coutn drops. So, again, not much info to provide, but this is where we are at.

I am going to need to spend time at home next week as well, so I am in the office right now while Chery stays with Jaimie for the day. Tonight I will stay at the hospital and switch out so Chery can get some rest. I miss my family, so I'm happy to be heading back up there.

Going to try to focus on work today and go visit everyone around lunch time. More soon.

This Just In...

It's now 9ish Tuesday night, and we have gone from what we thought was a short term issue to a full blown stay at the Hotel del Saint Joseph's. Dr. Ahdoot just left our room and informed Jaimie and Chery that she will probably be in the hospital until Thursday. Her white blood cell count has gone down from a 35 to a 22, but needs to be at 15 or below before he will release her. She has been very dehydrated and they are trying to get her body back up to par before allowing her to leave. This means 2 more nights of the hospital.

So, when I say Jaimie and Chery were informed, this is because I came home tonight to take care of the house, trash, pets and get some sleep. I didn't want to leave my week-old family, but I know Jaimie and Parker are in good hands with Chery, and now knowing we have one more night I hope I can get enough rest to help Jaimie through it.

I'll be honest, part of me was excited to get away from that hospital room for at least one night. Plus, the thought of one night's sleep is appealing. But, after I fed the animals, took out the trash and went through the mail, I now find myself dying to hold my child again. As exhausting as it is, I like being the one to jump up and whisk him out of that plastic bassinet. I like knowing how Jaimie is at all times. I like taking care of my family. Now, I have to focus on finishing this blog, getting some rest and getting to the hospital in the morning.

I will update this as soon as I know how what our next steps are. The "infectious disease specialist" is supposed to visit Jaimie tonight. Yes, that is a real title and yes it is as scary as it sounds. Give a little prayer for us, ok? We'll chat in the morning.

The Hits Just Keep on Coming

So, it looks as though Jaimie may have a kidney infection. What does this mean? More hospital time and lots of antibiotics. We won't know for sure how severe it is until we get blood work results back, but best case scenario is another night or two in the hospital.

With Chery leaving this weekend, I had hoped to go back earlier, then take some of those days next week so Jaimie wasn't all of a sudden alone with Parker. Funny, as I had just sent out an email to my co-workers letting them know I'd be back in the office tomorrow... guess not. If Jaimie has to stay in the hospital longer, then I'm not sure how to split my time up. It's the waiting game right now.

Parker is doing fine, but probably confused on why he's sleeping in a glass box again. He actually got about a 3 1/2 nap last night, his gift to me I guess. Longest he's slept through the night yet, although I have to be careful and wake him to eat every couple of hours.

Hopefully, I'll have more to tell this afternoon.

Rerun

So here it is, 11:30pm on Monday night and we are back in the hospital. After putting up an amazing front, Jaimie came to the realization that she is not going to get better on her own. Having a UTI during the pregnancy, we assume this caused a weakness to her immune system, which in turn gave her another infection.

At admission, they took her blood and put her on an IV to get her fluids back up. She is sleeping soundly next to me on the left, while little man Parker wiggles around in the bassinet next to me on the right. Hopefully, by tomorrow she will feel better or at least we will know what is wrong with her.

Tonight will be a long night, no doubt about it. Parker had a good 4 hour nap right before we were admitted, as he was in his car seat during that whole time in the comfort of a moving car. Combine that with the fact that he has never been asleep that long since birth, I am going to go ahead and assume sleeping is the last thing on his mind.

And as I say that, he is up and alert and hungry. Time to wake mommy.

I will say this, as easy or as difficult as this past week has been, Jaimie's mother, Chery, has been amazing. Had it not been for her, we would not have gotten Jaimie to the doctor or the hospital today. Both of us would have waited until tomorrow's scheduled doctor's appointment. But she pushed to get us both to check her out, and yes once again, mother knows best.

Still Ticking

Parker, now all of 6 days old, is in his "magic swing", as I like to call it. As great as the swing is, it makes an amazingly loud ticking noise. Parker must find it relaxing, the rhythmic sound of a timely percussion, like a mechanical heartbeat. With the room mostly quiet, the ticking can be a bit distracting and monotonous. But, in the end, the kid is happy, which makes mommy happy, which means daddy can rest.

Today Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Christen left to head back to Seattle. It was so amazing to have them be able to come down to visit, just days after Parker was born. After days of doing nothing but caring for a new family member, we both realized quickly that we have no excuse to not see each other more often. Seattle to Los Angeles is an EASY trip. If we don't see much of each other, it's our own fault. Hopefully, Parker brings one more reason for us to visit more. I want Parker to look forward to all of his visits with Uncle Jeremy.

Where to begin...

So, when your heart swells so much that it is difficult to express yourself as fully as you'd like, you search for an outlet to "shout to the world" about your joy, your pride, your happiness. You are reading mine, as the events of the past week have lead me to initiating my existence in the blogger community.

Jaimie and I had the pride and pleasure to introduce Parker John Davis into the world on Monday, August 6th at 2:55pm. He is everything we hoped he would be and more and I can't begin to express the pride and joy we have had over the past 6 days in just keeping him alive, happy and breathing. He is the most beautiful baby on the planet, and yes I am being boastful and bias in my declaration.

My intent is to keep a living diary of what it is like bringing a new little man into the world, raising him in Los Angeles and learning if I really have the chops to be a good father to a child my wife and I have prayed about for years. 

Let the games begin!