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alvonator
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Country: United States
State: California
Gender: Male
Interests: God, missions, basketball, computers, blogging, sports, AIM, working out, eating, swing dancing, shared experiences, trying new things in a safe/comfortable environment, psychology, and discussing relationships...=P.
Occupation: Engineering
Industry: Computers (Hardware)
Message: message me
Member Since:
6/26/2003
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| The most common question people ask me now that Madelyn has entered the world. After Wilma and I got married it was, "How's married life?". I would answer, "it's good, but not without its challenges." Now people ask, "how's fatherhood treating you?", "How's it going?" or they say, "Man, you look tired." My response these days is, "Nothing in life can prepare you for the fatigue you experience as first time parents." | | |
| It's been about a week now since I have become a father. Madelyn has brought a lot of joy in our lives. She sleeps a lot, and seems to be most awake during the hours of 2-5a.m., not ideal for mommy and daddy, but it's ok. When she looks at you even at 4 in the morning you don't remember. it's amazing how much you can love and care for one person. She came via c-section, as she didn't move from her breech position for the last 3 months of the pregnancy.
I waited outside the delivery room in my scrubs, as Wilma received her spinal tap. I was reflecting that within the next 10 minutes I would become a father. The whole 9 month journey from conception to birth had happened so fast. During the c-section delivery, the doctor mentioned that her butt was very wedged in the birth canal. We're glad that she got out easily within 10 minutes. She was born on Mon. 11/16 at 9:25p.m., the same birthday as my father. I guess he won't be the focus on his birthdays in the future. =P. Within 24 hrs. of her life she had multiple visitors who came to bless her. On early wed. morning, after we sent her to the nursery for the night, they told us that she spit up blood. We talked with the pediatrician in the morning, and she said that all other tests run came back normal. She said that it shouldn't be anything to worry about and told us to monitor if she exhibited any weird behavior. There was going to be another blood test at noon to see if there is there was a drop in her blood count to see if she was losing blood somewhere. We were hopeful that there was nothing wrong. We took our baby back to our room after the meeting with the pediatrician. Madelyn didn't exhibit any signs of distress or being uncomfortable. They called us to bring her back to the nursery for the blood test, and we started changing a diaper. We noticed a large amount of poop, but not being experts in merconium vs. bloody stool, we didn't think anything was wrong with the stool. The nurse happened to walk in as they were anxious to bring Madelyn back for the noontime appt. and she said that the poop was burgundy, showing that there was some blood in the stool. We weren't sure what that meant, but we knew it wasn't good news. Immediately after she was brought to the nursery, we were visited by the Neonatal intensive care unit social worker and was told Madelyn was going to be transferred to the NICU. She was being transferred there because blood came out of two locations. As the social worker talked with us, my heart broke, and I began to cry. I tried to hold it in, but the worst case scenarios kept flowing through my mind. My in-laws were also around, and they probably didn't know I was so emotional. My mother in law prayed for Madelyn. What made me emotional was not not knowing what the issue could be. All I could do is trust God and know that he is in control. This was the initial e-mail I sent to our family and friends. "First we would like to announce the name of our baby daughter, Madelyn Wu. We're asking for some more prayer. Last night in the nursery she spit up a small amount of blood. They ran some tests, and everything came out normal. After talking to the pediatrician, we were told to monitor to see if Madelyn did anything unusual this morning. They were concerned about possible internal bleeding. This morning, she had some blood in her stool, and because blood has been shown in two areas, she has been admitted into NICU (neo-natal care) for 24 hr. observation. She'll get an x-ray and we'll visit with the NICU doctors this afternoon. Please pray that this is nothing serious. We're glad that she is in good hands here with the hospital staff. We'll update you on further details as we know them. Thanks for your friendship and encouragement. As we're processing all this, please don't contact us by phone, but you can contact us by e-mail." We went in around 4p.m. to see Madelyn in the NICU. It's heart-breaking to see your daugther hooked up to an IV with a splint. She had other sensors monitoring her heart rate, blood pressure and temperature. As Wilma held her in the NICU, she looked comfortable. The NICU doctor came and talked with us and told us that there could be two possible causes: The first was a problem with the gut. If the colon is not twisted correctly, the bowels would be stuck. This would be an emergency situation. They did an x-ray prior to our arrival and were able to rule out any issues with the colon. The second issue was the baby having an ulcer. In some babies, the mucous lining for the stomach develops later than the gastric acid, and the gastric acid could create an ulcer. She said in the past year, she saw about 3-4 cases of this occurring and everything turned out fine. She said it was most likely an ulcer and that they would need to monitor her to make sure she has no more bloody stools. They perscribed an antiacid to neutralize the acidity level. We would need to consider feeding her formula to neutralize the gastric acid and basically for her bowels to process food, as she was only getting colustrum for the first couple days. They said they would monitor her. We went back and told the news to my in-laws and my parents, and they were all very positive.
Update: I didn't finish this until today, 12/5. We stopped taking visitors, and only had our parents come to the hospital. In the NICU, the nurse to patient ratio is about 1:3. We were blessed that we were still in the hospital because of the C-Section recovery, so that we were able to be with our daughter. Most typical NICU patients are preemies, and their parents don't stay in the hospital. During the Wed. evening shift, as we talked with the doctor, they were talking about Madelyn possibly swallowing Wilma's blood coming out of the C-section. In a typical blood swallowing situation, the blood passes from the baby within the first 24 hrs. of life. In Madelyn's case it was after 24 hrs. so it wasn't a typical scenario, and why the doctors took so much precaution. They ran an APT test which determined that the blood in the stool was adult blood and not baby blood. After this, they wanted to make sure that the stomach pH was not extra acidic to rule out the ulcer, and that everything else was normal. The stomach pH came out normal, and Madelyn was released back to us on Wed. evening, as she had a stay of about 30 hrs. in the NICU. It felt much longer, but we were so glad that it was only swallowed blood. In the NICU we received excellent care, and had a lot of support in learning how to breastfeed. Since the nurse to baby ratio was low, we had excellent support. We received lots of compliments on how well-behaved Madelyn was. Parenthood is a journey of faith, and reliance on God is a requirement.
We finally left the hospital on Fri. morning, and brought Madelyn back home with us. We are so happy to have her home. She is growing up so fast. Thank You God for watching over her.
As of her last doctor's appt., she weighed in at 6lbs., 14oz., gaining about 13oz. in one week.
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| We are entering week 36 now, and are entering the home stretch, where our family of 2 becomes a family of 3. As I'm reflecting on becoming a father soon, I'm reminded from our infant care class to really cherish the first time we do anything. Like change a diaper, hold the baby, put on clothes, etc. I think our home is mostly ready for this new transition. After putting up some new blinds, and then hanging up some more pictures in the nursery, it will be time to do a lot of laundry. I first didn't think I would like the "high-efficiency" washer/dryer that my sister purchase, but the more I use it, the more I like it. I discussed during Sunday School yesterday with the junior high boys what dreams their parents have for them, and what dreams they might have for their own children some day. Of course, the discussion didn't go far, and I had to send three boys out of the classroom, but it started me thinking of what I would want my child to be. I think first and foremost, I want them to love the Lord with all them heart, mind and soul. I want them to be independent and confident in who they are as people. I want them to have life balance and to have opportunities to try and experience many different things and appreciate, love and respect all people. I want them to do their best in everything they do. Anyways, life is changing very soon. I better get more rest. =P. | | |
| I have been teaching junior high boys Sunday School. The students are in the 7th and 8th grade. Sometimes we have great discussions, and other times like today, are very challenging.
Since the 8th graders were graduating to the high school sunday school class, I decided to do something fun, like play Jeopardy and also play "Catch Phrase."
The boys didn't seem very interested in all. Their first questions were, "Are there any prizes?" Another kid goes, "I don't want to play." Anyways, I just moved forward with playing Jeopardy. In choosing teams, I just asked the boys to either put their palm up or palm down. Two boys who wanted to be on the same team, whispered to each other what they wanted to do. Come on. Even choosing teams, you have to cheat. hahahaha. Hilarious.
Anyways, we started the game, and since I didn't have any official buzzer, I would see the boys raise their hands, and based on that, let one team answer the question. One student on an opposite team said, "You favor the other team." I'm like...who do I favor? He said a boy's name, and then I asked him, "How do I favor him?" He goes, "I don't know." I said, "as a teacher, I can't play favorites." I said it's even worse in a family, if a parent favors one kid over another. Anyways, he backed off his statement. I said, if I see the hands go up equally I'll choose your team.
Later, after Jeopardy, I decided to play Catch Phrase. Now, since catch phrase uses a randomized timer, the easiest way to get through items is to do it as fast as possible. What one team devised a strategy to describe a word by making a statement with the first letter of each word of their being the answer to the clue. The clue was circle and he said, "cat is round, cat loves eating" I was like, "that's not in the spirit of the game," and docked them points. Anyways, they then gave me attitude and said it was smart way to playing the game. Hahaha. I'm glad I can laugh it off, but Wilma can sense my frustration.
Anyways, every week when I go into class they go, "I have an idea, let's not have class today." Hahahahaha. Hilarious.
As these boys grow older, my hope is that they'll eventually mature and know that we care about them. Junior highers need structure, but they desire freedoms that they can't handle.
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| my sister/bro-in-law/nephew left for thailand about 2 weeks ago now. it was a bittersweet goodbye, as i was so happy for them to begin this new season overseas, but also difficult as we won't be seeing them for awhile. i miss them. my father and mother have been devoting themselves to preparing my brother's house for rental, and my parents and myself will begin the process of refinishing the hardwood floor in our homes in the upcoming weeks. for us, that requires the removal of all the carpet, and therefore, the removal of all the furniture and stuff that sits on top of the carpet. honestly, it's not that much stuff, but just daunting that we need to clean up our whole home except the kitchen. as i reflect on the upcoming process of refinishing the floor, i'm a little overwhelmed, but also expectantly excited. once we finish that, we will be able to prepare the nursery for our upcoming baby. we went shopping at babies r' us last weekend to get an idea of the things we need. let's just say, that babies r' us did a fabulous job of creating their own market, and transforming into a top-notch store that caters to babies. kudos to them. we have lots to clean up in the upcoming days. =P. who reads xangas anymore? | | |
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