Ava On Tour (From Home)

While today was our first full day at home with Ava after returning from the hospital yesterday afternoon, Ava began her inaugural tour by being visited yesterday by our friends Sarah and her fiancée Anthony, who both recently moved to Chicago. This was followed by a visit from Margaret (Emily's Grandmother and for whom Ava's middle name is derived), Emily's sister Sara, and Mother Beverly visiting today. Below are some full-sized images (double-click the slideshow to download - hint, hint grandparents and family). We're hoping that all this excitement during the day will get her to sleep more at night . . . actually, we're begging . . . PLEASE SLEEP MORE!!!

What's This You Say?

I hear that after all this fun sun-tanning and hanging out in the air lounge, I have to go home? Can I keep these cool shades?

That's right Ava. As it stands right now, we'll be taking Ava home tomorrow afternoon from the NICU, after a long and arduous first week as parents. While we have heard the old adage "your life will never be the same again", we didn't exactly envision these set of events as the type of change we were anticipating. Nevertheless, we couldn't be more thrilled and excited to finally be bringing Ava home with us, happy and healthy.

Ava isn't completely off the hook yet though. Yesterday the NICU doctors challenged her pulmonary system by removing the supplemental oxygen, and her saturation once again was lower than ideal. This being the case, the team is taking the precautionary measure to have her on supplemental oxygen for approximately the next 4 weeks, until her pulmonary drive becomes more robust, and/or the slight subdural hematoma responsible, is resorbed fully. It is our hope, and the NICU team's feeling, that after 4 weeks, her pulmonary system will have matured to the point where supplemental oxygen is no longer required.

As of now, all tests have come back negative for signs of infection, structural defects, or any other sort of pathology that would lend itself to a more chronic condition. So, as they say, "this to shall pass", and Ava will get on the road to becoming a self-sufficient little breather. Luckily, Chris has another week off from work to help Emily get settled at home, and we know we're overdue on getting in touch with a lot of you, so expect to hear from us in the next week as we get caught up with life.

Thanks again for all your thoughts, kind words, and prayers for Ava, we know she appreciated them, as did we. We look forward to the opportunity for all of you to finally meet her, she's cute as hell!

And yes Ava, you can keep the shades.

Still In The Hospital (Update)

In light of recent developments we're sorry that we've been unable to post anything fun in the past few days. As some of you may already be aware, we were discharged with Ava from the hospital on Sunday night around 6:30 pm, excited to finally be heading home after a long, arduous labor. However, at 10 pm as Emily was about to get Ava ready to eat Ava became dusky and was having difficulty breathing with brief apnic spells. We were able to stimulate her enough to return to normal breathing, and upon advice from our doctor, headed to the ER. She was admitted to Peds for monitoring, but quickly had several more "spells" accompanied by bradycardia while being monitored.

Due to these spells, it was decided by Peds that she would be best monitored in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) along with other tests to figure out what the etiology of her apnic breathing, accompanied by oxygen desaturation was. She has not had a "spell" in over 48 hours and for that we are incredibly greatful and relieved. They have done nearly every test possible including testing her blood, urine and spinal fluid. She had a brain MRI and this showed a small subdural hematoma more than likely caused during childbirth (likely common in a lot of vaginal births, only they never present with complications.)

Neurology is suspecting that this very small bleed (rather the inflammation response to the bleed) may have been the cause of these apnic spells. This is relatively good news as this will heal quickly and should present with little to no further problems or complications. However, her team cannot verify this for sure and feels that we may never know the true cause of her spells. Tomorrow she will undergo a 24 hour continuous EEG to monitor her for possible seizure activity. Again, it is not felt that she is having seizures, only another thing to rule out.

She is on a very small amount of oxygen due to occasionally having some low oxygen levels (nothing dangerous or life threatening, just lower than average). They are unsure of why this may be as well. She also has an IV for antibiotic therapy, a feeding tube for when Emily is not here to feed her (but since we’re staying in her room now they may not need it any further). Her heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen levels are monitored continuously through electrodes and she is still under bilirubin lights (although they should come off very soon...I HOPE...she prefers to be swaddled when awake.)

So, this is the scoop for now. We are very exhausted, stressed but trying to keep up a positive spirit. We are unable to have our cell phones on while we are in her room (and for us that is 95% of the time.) As much as we may appreciate emails at some other time, it just adds another level of stress in that we feel that we have to respond. So, given the circumstances, please be understanding that we cannot respond to everyone and it would be best to just post a quick comment on here. We will try to update things on here as they develop, but again, it takes energy and we have so very little of it.

We appreciate all thoughts and prayers that our friends and family can provide. In the coming weeks when we get her home we will likely welcome help that we may have otherwise turned away simply due to the increased stress and demands that will be placed on us since she will be monitored by machine at home as well.

Thank you all for your support.

- Chris & Emily (& Ava)

Goodnight from Ava

It's been quite an adventure for me these past few days . . . I'm spent . . .

The 31 Hour Labor of Love

Most people celebrate New Years by toasting over a few glasses of champagne. Tired of this commonplace practice, we decided to try something more novel . . . hanging out at UIHC and delivering our first baby.

Emily went into labor December 31st, at ~3:00 AM, and 31 hours later out came our first child, a daughter named Ava Margaret.

As time ensues, we'll include more details and photos, but for right now we're just trying to figure this whole parenthood thing out, and trying to get some much needed rest. We want to thank all of our friends, co-workers, and family for all their love and support along the way. Ava's looking forward to meeting you all soon.

Below are some of Ava's stats, so that you can hopefully get to know her a little better.

Ava's Stats:
Date of Birth: 01.01.10
Time of Birth: 10:16 AM
Weight: 8 lbs, 12 oz.
Length: 21 in.
Apgars: 9,9

Non-birth announcement

Although I was hoping at this point to be posting a birth announcement, instead I'm posting a non-birth announcement. Despite my best efforts including obsessively cleaning, walking circles in our town home, numerous trips up and down stairs, and pineapple (among other things best not posted here) this little stinker is more than likely stuck in the cozy comforts of my ever increasing abdomen. No, in fact, I'm convinced it's probably never coming out. Why? Who would want to leave a perfectly temp-controlled spa complete with wave pool and all night dinner only to be thrust into the harsh light of an Iowa winter? Frankly, maybe the baby is on to something...

Any suggestions? (and no, I'm NOT drinking castor oil!)

"Powdered"

A More Permanent Abode

For those of you who may not yet have heard, we have decided to call Iowa City home. For now. We made this decision for a number of reasons, which go beyond the purview of this entry or blog. The situation being what is was, this decision seemed to make the most sense for us, and we're excited for all of the changes that are in store, even if our location isn't changing.

Suffice it to say, while Iowa City is certainly no Seattle in terms of visual stimulation and outdoor recreational activities at hand, it is a great place to call home and to start raising a family. We're glad that we'll have family and friends close at hand to help us rear 'Flip', as we've been told by others that this will be a big plus to help us maintain our sanity. We hope they are right

One of the perks of deciding to settle in a town where you pretty much know everything both geographically, as well as esthetically, is that you have a pretty good notion of where you'd like to live. Additionally for us, we had the added advantage of knowing who we wanted to design and build our home. This added knowledge was borne out of attending Iowa City's home parades of summers past, when we would attempt escaping the heat and humidity of the season by entering the comfort of an air-conditioned, newly-minted home. It was during these "Parades" that we found a local home builder/designer that seemed to build all of the homes that really impressed us.

We always said to each other that we would be interested in either re-habing an old four-square/craftsman home (there are plenty in Iowa City), or just build a new one, incorporating the same details of these older homes that we appreciated so much. Well, enter a few years later ... we decide to stay in Iowa City, a baby in tow, an $8,000 federal home-buyers tax credit, and we realize that we're probably (actually, definitely) not going to have the time or energy to re-hab an old turn of the century home. Enter option #2 ... building anew.

The second question to answer was, where? Tired of the need to drive ~15 minutes to work (yes, we realize that we're complaining about driving 15 minutes, but hey, when you live in Iowa City, you come to expect it taking only ~5-10 minutes to get just about anywhere in town) from North Liberty, we definitely knew we wanted to live as close in to Iowa City and The University as possible. However, anytime you start to look at homes really close in to campus/work, it usually means paying a premium in cost, or sacrificing peace of mind to live among students. Ideally we wanted to be able to take advantage of what recreation was available in Iowa City (i.e. City Park), be close to the Co-Op and Library, as well as be close enough to bike to work (mostly Chris on this one, his 20 year-old car can't last forever...or can it?).

Luckily for us, there is a small pocket of Iowa City that is far enough away from the typical annoyances when you live close to campus (students, game-day traffic, cost, etc.), yet close enough that it only takes ~7-8 minutes to bike in. It's located on a peninsula bounded by the Iowa River, and a stone's throw away from City Park, The University's campus, I-80, downtown, and on and on. Even luckier, the builder/designer had a few lots available in this area. Score for us! This made us very excited for a number of reasons:

1) see above regarding desire to build a home
2) we'd be within running/walking/biking distance to City Park, great for kids and spending family time
3) we'd be even closer to a new public Dog Park (handy for that future yellow lab that Emily has been dreaming about for so long) situated adjacent to the Iowa River, and just across a footbridge that crosses over the Iowa River Power Company (handy for grabbing a summer brew)
4) a nice sledding hill within walking distance (kids love to sled after all), or a great view of late summer/early autumn sunsets
5) no need to worry about flooding (we're at the top of the peninsula, out of the flood zone)
6) 2 minutes to I-80 to escape Iowa City every now and then

So for the past few weeks, we've been working to settle on a lot (we've completed this part, more on this in later posts) and a home design. While there may still be minor changes as the process moves forward, what follows are some images that come fairly close to what the final result will look like, when its finished this summer. As of right now there will be ~2,300 sq. ft. finished on the main and upper level, with a walk-out lower level that upon being finished in a few years, would add another ~1,000-1,200 sq. ft., plenty of space for friends and relatives to come and get acquainted with Flip.

We'll keep you posted as things continue to develop :o)

Cookie Party '09

Last friday we headed over to Ann and Adam Introna's home for the annual "Cookie Party", a tradition since before Emily started working at the U. We shared laughs, ate way too many cookies, and had a great time, as in years past, despite the fact that Emily couldn't partake in some of the celebratory imbibing that took place (hence the slightly blurry photos on Chris' behalf). And for some reason this year there was the uncanny absence of the usual pornographically decorated sugar cookies... one can only posit that there may be a possible connection?...

Flip's Future Bedroom

Shower mania

As mentioned in the previous post there have been a lot of baby showers that I have had the fortune to have been thrown on my behalf. The first being my family's shower in Des Moines. It was hosted by my Aunt Connie at our church in Des Moines. It was a great time complete with games, snacks and of course gifts. My Mom made a beautiful blanket for Flip that goes with the animal theme in Flip's room. We love the faces and handcrafted stitching, we're pretty sure Flip will take to it as well.

(The blanket my mom hand-stitched for Flip and clothing garb/accessories for Flip - or Chris)

The second shower was in Buffalo Grove and was hosted by Chris' Mom and sister. It was at the soon to be grandparents home, and was beautifully done, the food was amazing! We had a delicious lunch followed by games and gifts. My favorite game at both showers was the guess the belly size game, to which every single person had at least 6 inches too much, some as much as 2 feet extra. Hilarious!

The third and final baby shower was hosted by my co-workers at the hospital, and unfortunately the weather didn't want to cooperate, as this was the beginning of the blizzard that dumped about a foot of snow in town and shut down pretty much everything in central Iowa. In any case, five of my co-workers braved the elements and helped me hone my culinary indulgences in baby-food taste-testing, as well as a hilarious edible dirty diaper game (you had to be there to understand). We shared a bunch of laughs, and everybody pitched in to help Chris and I get the stroller we registered for.

Thanks again everyone for all your love and generosity, we (including Flip) feel blessed to have such great friends and family.

No, we may not have children yet but...

Since it's been mentioned by many that it's been awhile since we've posted anything on here, let me make our excuses now. First, there have been pressing issues regarding jobs and relocations that have taken up 99% of our free time. Luckily, we have that all ironed out and have time to focus back on what's really important in life. Second, babies (even before they're born) are time consuming. Here's a list of things I've been working on/ being consumed by:

1. Baby Showers: Three in total, the last one being Tuesday night with my co-workers. As wonderful as they are, most require some form of travel. Then you have to sort, organize and determine any unnecessary/duplicate items that need to be returned. Then you make the trip to the store with the items and receive your new gift card. The gift card will then be added to the already growing stack of gift cards to be used on items you don't receive at your showers but really need.

2. Baby Stuff: With all those wonderful baby gifts you receive at the shower, there are then hours of work that go into washing, drying, folding, and organizing drawers/cupboards and overall just trying to find a place for everything so that the baby isn't lost in a pile of onesies. And you'd be surprised how many times these items need to be reorganized due to receiving a new set of clothes that now need a place in the drawer. And I'm sure they'll be reorganized again when the baby is here and I find that my original placement is totally not practical when in actual use.

3. Diapers: We took a cloth diaper class in Des Moines to learn about and then purchase our nondisposable diapers. Afterwards, you get them home and then wash them the recommended EIGHT times before placing them in some sort of organized fashion that you hope will facilitate easy diaper changing.

4. Assembly: Between the bouncer, car seat (with base attachment for 2 different cars), stroller, pack-n-play, breast pump, gyminee playmat, and other random items, I've spend a lot of time assembling stuff for functional usage. Some of these things numerous times because Chris thinks it's ridiculous to have the pack-n-play already in the livingroom or the car seat already in the car. So, in my nesting urges I often find myself reassembling things 2 or 3 times.

5. Organization: If you haven't got the gist already, I'm an organization nut. I overdo, redo and undo things numerous times, often taking up several hours of one day only to end up in the exact same spot I originally started. This happens at least weekly.

6. Phone Calls: There are many calls that need to be made to prepare for a baby. Included in this is finding a pediatrician. Do I go with Mercy where I'll now have to pay a $25 copay but have more consistent doctor coverage? Or the U of I hospital where I pay only $5 and have better access specialists but will only be able to see my doctor on Thursday afternoons and at all other times likely see a resident? I'm sure the local receptionists are getting tired of my calls (in fact, today I spent 10 minutes on hold...I think they know my number). Also, with things rapidly changing with my body there have been several calls to the OB to ask "is this normal?" To which the answer always is, "yes".

7. Reading: Although your only true knowledge of how to care for a baby will come once you're actually doing that, I'm trying to prepare myself as much as possible for those little things I may not expect or remember from when my sisters were young. Some resources I've scoured the last few months include: "Husband Coached Childbirth", "What to Expect: The First Year" and "Babywise." And we're not talking pamphlets here...more like 500 pages or more per book.

8. Sleep: Since I've still been working and actually picking up extra shifts, I'm exhausted most all of the time. Plus, working night shift disrupts my sleep for up to 2 days after I've been working. This is not friendly to a pregnant body. Luckily my last night shift is tonight. Plus, I work 12 hour shifts, so you can imagine how exhausting it must be to be on your feet for 12 hours, lifting patients all while standing on a concrete floor.

The good news is that all this "stuff" and lack of sleep is preparing me for parenthood. Right? Oh wait, I guess there will eventually be a baby thrown in there with their own set of rules, sleep schedules, demands, and of course assembly of more unsavory things than a stroller. But for now, I'll get as much sleep as I can and reorganize to my hearts content.

Iowa Trounces Michigan (Not Quite...But We'll Take It!)

As was mentioned in our last posting...this past weekend Ryan and Vamsi made what may be one of their last voyages to Iowa City to hang out with me, sans baby, to watch the Hawkeyes host the Wolverines, in a battle to defend the Hawks' undefeated record.

To all of our amazement, the Hawkeyes actually didn't let go of this one, and pulled of a victory, even if by a slim margin. The game was cold, even with the handwarmers, but was a great game to attend. There's something about night games that are just a little more interesting.

Nathan and I were more than happy with the result, while Ryan, on the other hand, was not so enthralled. He drowned his sorrows with a few of the other Michigan fans with seats near ours while the rest of us headed out on to the field afterwards to celebrate. Vamsi didn't really care either way, a past Illini and Wildcat himself, he had no loyalty to either team, but just wanted his money's worth from the tickets.

We all had a great time, especially with the pre-game festivities. We can only hope the Hawks will pull out a victory against the Badgers next week.

Flip's Furniture Arrives & Sarah Visits

The past couple of weeks have been somewhat busy around here...seems like just about every weekend we've had someone in town. Starting about 4 weeks ago we finally moved the last of our "stuff" (furniture, keepsakes, wedding gifts, etc.) from storage at Chris' parent's house back to Iowa City. We figured they'd had enough of our stuff clogging up their house for the last two years, and since we'll be moving this coming summer, we figured now would be a good time to consolidate. Luckily we had the help of friends to make the process more expedient, but no matter how much help you have, moving always sucks.

So now that everything is under one roof, there are some new additions to the household worth mentioning...

1) Chris' parents decided that they may one day want to join an Amish community after retirement, and figured they'd better get to know the ins and outs of furniture refinishing and restoration if they are to be accepted fully by their fellow Amish. So in pursuit of this goal, they went about the mammoth task of stripping, sanding, refinishing, and sealing not one, but two items of furniture for Flip's room. One is a changing table that Chris' mom used as a dresser as a child herself, and the other is a rocking chair that Chris' parents purchased when Chris was born. The stains turned out great, and we're so excited to use them when Flip finally arrives. We're pretty sure that if you happen to see Chris' parents, at any time, especially at a dinner party, they'll tell you the whole gruesome story.

2) "Ebert", the armoire that we purchased from our family friend Jeff Kessler. "Ebert" was made in Germany in 1860 by a man named Christopher Ebert for his son. It still contains the original German newspapers that line the inside of it. We just think it looks cool, and is a great storage piece for blankets, but the history of it is definitely interesting.

A couple weeks later, Chris' sister Sarah visited from Peoria, IL, where she lives and works as a news reporter. We enjoyed a lazy weekend all hanging out together, grabbing some good food around town, sharing some laughs, rubbing Emily's belly, and going for a hike up at Palisades Kepler Park on the Cedar River.

Jill Hansen, the dentist from Seattle that Chris will be partnering with next summer, came all the way to Iowa to visit for a long weekend. Chris and Jill had a pretty busy itinerary, but in between we got time to show her a little midwest flavor. We can't blame her if she still prefers the northwest to the midwest.

This coming weekend Chris is looking forward to hosting Ryan (Michigan Alum), Vamsi, and Nate, as the guys head over to Kinnick to watch the Hawks defend their undefeated record against Michigan on homecoming evening. Should be a good game, go Hawks!