The story of little Elliott

So our little guy is here! He was born on Monday, November 17th at 12:54 pm, was 7 lbs 6 oz and 18 1/2 inches long, so he's just the right size. Chelsea told this story in her blog, but I think it's funny so I'll tell it in mine (It's my story, after all). When the nurse took Elliott over to clean him off, she was fixing his hair and said, "Should we comb your hair like daddy's?" then took one look at Jacob and said, "Nevermind." That's Jacob's favorite story to tell lately. About 45 minutes after he was born, they took him to the NICU because he was grunting, they called it. He was making noises when he was breathing that he shouldn't have been making. They said that it was just a precaution and that he should be back down in the healthy baby nursery in an hour or so. It turns out what was happening was that his lungs weren't secreting the soapy stuff they do to keep them from sticking together when he inhales. They were totally developed, it was just a minor problem. So they put him on a little breathing tube with oxygen up his nose and a feeding tube down his throat, but it wasn't working. Finally they had to inject him with the secretion stuff but by that time he wasn't eating properly. Bummer! So he wasn't eating, but there really wasn't anything I could do because I was recovering from just having had my guts taken out of me. Long story short, by Tuesday night he was eating so he finally was able to go down with us on Wednesday morning.

He spent all day Wednesday and Thursday with us, but we made sure to let the nursery have him during the nights so we could have some good sleep (Not that that happens in hospitals, they kept on waking me up for one reason or the other and poor Jacob had a hard time sleeping on the chair-beds they supplied). The food was terrible, but we decided to stay an extra day just to make sure Elliott was for sure ok and his circumcision was healing well enough. We left yesterday morning and got home around 10:30 and have been busy with him ever since!

Last night was our first night alone with him, and I think we handled it well enough. He's still alive anyway. :) Jacob didn't sleep much because he was nervous, excited, all of the above... But I slept just fine. Thank you, Percocet! He sleeps a lot, he's a really good baby. He hates to be bathed and to have a dirty diaper or to have his diaper changed, but those are really the only times he cries. When he does cry, even when he's screaming, it's really easy to calm him down. He just likes to be cuddled by anyone and he'll be fine. He's such a blessing to us and he's more wonderful than we ever imagined he would be. We are so so grateful for him and that he's home and healthy. We're grateful for all the thoughts and prayers said in our behalf and can't wait for all of you to meet him!