Hey all,
I'm getting asked for more pix of Gram from time to time, so I figured I'd point you all over to his rolling flickr set.

If you know what RSS is for, you can subscribe to the set here.

We're out!

Gram's last biliruben level was 12, so he's more or less out on no conditions. We can even hold him without the glowy blanket. (which was a hassle)

Sorry about the total lack of further updates.

Gram got out of the NICU the after about a day and a half. It was really nice to finally have him in our room. The fluid on the back of his head got absorbed in that time, but in the process he developed a case of early jaundice. As I understand it, the extra blood volume he had in that bump combined with normal baby start up stuff leaves a bunch of extra red blood cells to process.. etc. Additionally, it's more worrisome on younger kids than ones who have it a couple weeks out.
http://healthguide.howstuffworks.com/newborn-jaundice-dictionary.htm

So, anyway, they've been taking his blood twice a day for a few days. His bilirubin levels went from 6 to 17 in a couple days, which worried people enough that we weren't allowed to leave.

We were hoping to head out on friday night, to the point of packing and such, but then we got the 17 number, which was a bit of a punch in the gut.

So anyway, we're still here. The care at pvh is freaking top notch, but after 6 days of rotating friendly nurses, each of which is not up to speed on you situation your sense of humor starts to crack.

We just got word via a back channel that our current bilirubin level is a 12.. so, wish us luck, we're hoping we'll be sprung from this joint.

(this is our birth announcement email, reposted here for spreading on the intarwebs)

Nah, we’re just screwing with ya... we just like to make the grandparents gasp... ; )

His actual name is Gram Propst (we’re still working on middle names)
He’s 8lbs 4oz. and 20 inches long He was born at 6:53pm yesterday.

After laboring for literally days we checked into the hospital on Monday afternoon. They hooked Celeste up with an epidural that let her sleep through contractions, and things moved along from there. Celeste labored and pushed like a champ, but by the next afternoon our doc was convinced his huge noggin wasn’t going to fit, so they rolled her out for a C section.

So after a night’s sleep everybody’s fine. Celeste is doing better and better by the hour. Poor Gram is stuck in the NICU for 2 days while they test him for infection and track a big fluid bump on his head. They’re worried about blood clotting problems associated with it, but it’s seeming pretty clear he’s doing fine.

Celeste is going to get to go down and breast feed him this morning, so despite the separation we’re on track for normal new family stuff. : )

After the craziness of the last couple of days, there’s not much excitement happening here and not much to look at. We’ll most likely be in the hospital until the end of the day Friday and Gram could possibly be here for a bit longer. We're still pretty wiped out, so we're either sleeping, or being probed by hospital people. If you’d like to stop by, please email to check or just give us 24 to settle in.

Love,

--AB&C...&G!