He's getting bigger!

We had our one month well-baby visit yesterday, and we are pleased to announce that Evan is now 9 lbs. 12 ozs. and has already grown to 22 1/2 inches. We figure he'll be tall, since both Robin & I are tall, so he's right on schedule for that.

Sadly, I am scheduled to go back to work on Monday. I really can't express how much I don't want to do that. I had thought I would be ok with it, but sadly, I am not. I really want to just stay home and be the mom for my little guy. It would be fantastic if that could work out somehow. I'm sure someday I will want to go back to work, but right now... it's the last thing I want to do.

We have some great photos of our little guy to share here. He's got a lot of personality already, even though he's only a month old... although I can't believe he's a month old already, for crying out loud!

We don't have too many newsy items this time either... which is welcome. He's sleeping in longer spurts overnight, but still not as much as any new parent would dream of. :)

Oh, here's something of note. He was sucking on his pacifier in the car the other day... we were listening to Matt Redman, and I caught him sucking in time to the music. He must be a musical genius. :)

Nice and uneventful

Well, we're over three weeks into the adventure we like to call parenting, and since our trip to the hospital at week one, it's been fairly uneventful... VERY thankfully. We had a nurse come out and visit us just about daily for the second week of his life, into the third week, to monitor his bilirubin level and his weight, but now that has come to an end. I'm happy to report that his bilirubin level is down to a normal 10.5. (When we started the whole drama, he was at 29, which is alarmingly high.)

Today, we made an outing to the grocery store, and left Evan with his Grandma Parrish for about an hour. He was very good with his Grandma, and she was super excited to have him.

I've been speaking to my mom every day to give updates on his progress. He doesn't like to let his Mom & Dad sleep at night very much, but I think he's slowly adjusting. We're just very tired. And I hear that's normal. At least that's what everyone tells us. We're glad it's normal. Normal is a great thing.

Thankfully, there's not much else to report. We hope to go to church on Sunday. We haven't been since Evan arrived. We tried to go last week, but had absolutely NO sleep the night before, so we didn't make it.

Anyway, we are still absolutely loving being parents, even if we're sleep deprived. It's all part of the fun. :)

A Brief Hospital Visit

Last Wednesday, that would be the day after Christmas, we had the first drama in our lives with Evan. When he was welcomed into this world, he had a ginourmous bruis on his little head from his life before he joined the world. The doctors warned us that this may cause jaundice in him, but it was nothing to be much concerned about.

Well, as the days went by, he did begin to look a little yellow, but we were not too concerned, since we had been told not to be. Turns out, he was REALLY jaundiced, and after our first Doctor's appointment with his pediatrician, we were told to go DIRECTLY to the hospital with our little boy so he could be treated.

As anyone knows, this is not something ANY parent wants to hear, and even worse is to tell this to a recent post-partum mom. I cried and cried and any time they did anything to him, I cried some more. The treatment involved putting an IV in his tiny little arm and sitting him under a contraption called bililights. Made to reduce his bilirubin level. You get it.

So, after a day, we were able to take him home with more bili-stuff. A 'bili-blanket' that he had to be attached to. It was very traumatic for all of us. Robin was great, being the calm one, even though I know he was freaking out inside.

So, that was our drama of the week. I would prefer never to relive anything like that again. He's doing great now. Still a little yellow, but more canary than banana, and he's improving all the time.

Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement! Isn't he the cutest?

Evan is here!

On Wednesday, December 19th, at 5:37pm at High Point Regional Health Center, Michael Evan Parrish came into the world, 19 days early. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 9 ozs. and was 21 inches long. A wonderfully perfect little boy in every way.

We went into the Doctor's office on Tuesday the 18th because I (Karen) had a migraine, and since they've been monitoring my blood pressure, we knew we needed to go into see them if anything like that every happened. So, after a lengthy wait at the Doctor (they had to fit us in on an already packed schedule), Dr. Sansing sent us to the hospital to be monitored and tested.

Once we arrived at the hospital, Robin filled out our paperwork while I got situated for the testing. Dr. Mattern (my main Doctor at High Point OB-GYN) happened to be on call at the hospital, and after much monitoring and discussion, it was decided they would induce me the next day and bring Evan into the world early.

She told us it could take as long as two days for all of that to happen, because of the induction process. As you now know, it didn't take nearly that long. After a rather smooth day, with pitocin, an epidural, a second dose of epidural and a brief amount of pushing, we welcomed Evan into the world. We cried, of course... we have never seen anything so wonderful.

We were excited for our visitors. My parents made it in time for the delivery, and Grandma Parrish had parked herself at the hospital shortly after lunch, of course. Ross, Robin's brother, and our neice, Kara also came to meet him when he first arrived. We also had many other friends and relatives visit, call and send gifts and best wishes, which was very much appreciated.

We see great potential in our little boy since we've had him home. He has big hands, meant, no doubt, for the NBA or as a virtuoso pianist. He is, of course, brilliant. We swear we all heard him say 'Mommy' the other day. :) We'll keep you posted on his progress in these areas.

We continually thank God for this HUGE blessing he has given us this Christmas. It's the best present we could ever have hoped for.