Week 2

The second week with Ben has had its ups and downs for us.  Over the weekend, Ben came down with some congestion which has kept him up most of the nights this week, but has him sleeping for much of the daytime.  For his two-week doctor visit, he weighed in a hefty 7 pounds, 12 ounces … 12 ounces more than one week ago.  Today (Wednesday) will be a busy day for us.  At lunchtime we are all heading to JSU for a baby shower and then for dinnertime, we will stop over and have an early birthday party for Linda.  Tomorrow is her birthday, but since I will be at school all day tomorrow, we will be surprising her today.

Here are some more pictures!  I am switching to Google’s Picasa over Yahoo’s Flickr.  Let me know what you think of the change.  Please note that you must click on the picture below to see the entire set of new pictures that I have posted!

My Week

Having a baby is very exhausting, but it is so much worth it.  I can’t believe I can love someone this much.  I like to hold Ben and kiss him all day long.  He is a very good boy for mommy!  He likes to sleep during the daytime but wants mommy to hold him a little longer at night.  I enjoy every moment I have with him.  Ben also likes to spend 3 am each morning with his grandma so I can catch some sleep.   I hope you enjoy his pictures.  I wish that I can be with all of you to share Ben so that you can enjoy him too.  I can’t believe he won’t see all of his cousins until next Christmas.  Each day my Mom and I are so busy with rocking him and feeding him.  Since my milk is not produced enough yet, we have to give him some formula at night, which is good because my Mom can help me feed him early in the morning. Ben doesn’t like having his diaper changed and he will cry, which makes my Mom so sad.  I have learned to change his diaper fast, but my Mom still does it a little slow and was “too slow” one time and Ben went to the bathroom on her!  Now we about to give up and allow Ben to start using a pacifier.  My mom called it a “Magic nipple”.  She lovesto give it to him because she didn’t want Ben to cry, but I am not sure if this will confuse him when we feed him. This Monday Ben will go to the doctor for his 2 weeks visit.  I hope he has gained more weight. Thank you Josh and Ty for your clothes because I can’t believe that I don’t have a lot of newborn size, even though 0-3 months is still quite big for him. We will give you update for how well he is doing after his second visit with the doctor. Love – Jet

Week 1

Well, our first week of having Ben at home is now in the books.  We have gotten into a routine that seems to be working well.  During the days this week, I have been at school working and teaching.  While I have been away, Jet’s Mom has taken Jet and Ben out shopping to Target and the Oxford mall.  From what I was told, Ben has been a real trooper, sleeping almost the entire time starting when getting into his car seat until Jet and her Mom return back home.  I can see already that he is a natural shopper.  During the nights, Jet and her Mom have worked in shifts taking care of Ben.  Since he is still under his birth weight, he is not allowed to sleep longer than three hours on his own.  For the first part of the night, Jet will feed Ben then put him to sleep in his crib.  For the second part of the night, Jet’s Mom will feed Ben from a bottle and then let him sleep with her in her bed.  Jet has still been having some rough nights with the itching, but it appears to be getting better since it is only bad during the night.  Keep your fingers crossed that the worst is finally over.

Here are some pictures from the past week:

       

Exhausted

What should we expect with a new baby, right?  Actually, Ben has been doing quite well.  He has been both eating and sleeping well since we have taken him home.  This morning (Monday) we took him to the pediatrician and confirmed that he has been doing well.  Before he left the hospital, he was down 10% from his birth weight, which is normal, but likely due because Jet had not been producing milk yet.  Yesterday Jet’s milk came in, Ben has been going to the bathroom regularly (and often), and his weight was back up to 7 pounds.

Although things have been going well for Ben, unfortunately the same cannot be said for Jet.  We were originally scheduled to leave the hospital with Ben on Friday, but since Jet’s rash and itching were progressively getting worse, they kept her there until Saturday afternoon.  Saturday night was very painful and exhausting for both Jet and myself as three separate times I had to wet Jet down with cold towels to help temper the itching.  Sunday morning we realized that the rash was not slowing down but was progressing all throughout her body, so Jet and I rushed to the ER and spent much of the day there getting treatment (an IV and prescription medication) to help battle the illness. The ER doctor was sure that the topical creams that Jet was given in the hospital during her stay delivering Ben was not sufficient and that it was something in her system that was giving her problems.  In addition to Benadryl (an H1 histamine blocker), Jet was told to take over-the-counter Zantac (an H2 hystimine blocker) to combat what she had.  For the rest of the day Sunday and much of Sunday night it did seem to help.  However, the pain and itching came back with a vvengeance this morning.  After we took Ben to the pediatrician, we went to see Jet’s OB doctor, who arranged us to see the only dermatologist in town later in the morning (normally several weeks to schedule an appointment).  After seeing the skin specialist, she diagnosed the problem as hives the resulted either from the pregnancy or from a reaction to medication.  However, if it was due to the pregnancy, it should have cleared up shortly after Ben was born.  Therefore, the skin specialist prescribed several different anti-histamines (e.g., Zyrtec and Allegra) to take in addition to a prescription-strength Zantac to combat her problem.  The doctor told her that there is nothing that she could give Jet that would provide instant relief and that the rash she has is the worst kind one could get … and the worst news … that it may be another 3 – 4 weeks before it passes through her body.  After all this, taking care of the baby seems easy while this rash is entirely exhausting.

Not to keep this a sad posting, here are the pictures that the hospital took of Ben!

    

Welcome Home!

After pestering the doctors and nurses all day today, we were finally able to come home!  Ben has been doing very well, but the hospital staff was concerned about Jet’s rash and itching that still seemed to be getting worse, however, we were all ready to go home.  It took a while before our nurses and doctors took care of us and let us home because there were currently monitoring 22 babies, which was a bit more than their usual 8-10.  So when they were able to attend to us, they gave Jet a steroid shot, signed off on Ben’s documents, gave us some instructions, and sent us on our way!  There is a small video clip of Ben that we took which you can see here, or enjoy more pictures taken today!

         

One More Night

Well, we had all hoped that Jet would be coming home today (Friday), but I guess it was not meant to be.  Jet’s itching became extremely uncomfortable and has spread from her stomach to her legs, arms, and back.  It has gotten so bad that she said it is worse than any contraction she had having Ben.  The nurses have given her every kind of lotion and cream they have, each doing little than just giving a few minutes of temporary relief.  We hope things get better and that the doctors can find out what is giving her problems because it is tough for Jet’s Mom and myself to just stay helplessly by her side.

As for Ben, he still has a very loud crying voice and has used it in periods throughout the day today.  Jet did spend a lot of time feeding him, but he had not gone to the bathroom much and last night he was down 10% from his birth weight (as opposed to down 1% the first night).  We hope Jet’s milk comes in soon so that we don’t have to use formula.  This evening the nurses gave Ben two full syringes of formula and he fell asleep right afterwards.  Hopefully things get a bit smoother in the coming days.

Enough of me talking … here are more pictures!

                    

Ben Andrew Jirapat Ciganek

Sorry for not posting for a few days, but as you might imagine, things have been pretty busy around here and the hospital does not have Internet access.  So that is Ben’s full name that will appear on his birth certificate.  Ben is a name that both Jet and I liked for different reasons; short for “Benja” in Thai, which has a good meaning when translated for Buddists and is literally translated as “Five”, which Ben is the tenth grandchild, but the fifth boy.  The middle names Jet picked out.  She really liked the name Andrew after my name, but I really wanted a Thai middle name.  Since Ben was born on a Tuesday, a Thai name that matched that day being born was Jirapat.  I am not sure what it translates to right now (oops!), but it is a name that Jet was quite taken with and is somewhat similar sounding to her Thai name – Jittima.  I also like the name Jirapat because it is similar to the last name of my good friend at UW-Milwaukee, Sup (his last name is Jarupathirun).  The tough decision was going along with two middle names, which is something that I am not used to, but was assured that it was common.  Well, I suppose that it follows in-step with names down in the South in which everyone is known by their first two names (e.g., Betty-Sue, Billy-Ray, John-David, etc.).

The last two days have been very interesting and starkly different than the events on Tuesday.  On Wednesday morning, Ben was circumcised and for much of the day was not hungry.  He was in the mood to eat at 5:00pm and wanted to keep at it for several hours!  Jet would give him breaks after 30 minutes on each side, but for every break, he would not stop crying.  That disturbed us very much as we tried nervously and franticly to find out what was wrong.  His diaper was clean, I tried holding him and sticking my pinkie finger in his mouth (in a non-latex glove), but no matter our efforts, he only stopped crying when he was feeding with Jet.  I guess we would not have much of a problem with that, but the lactation nurses at our hospital said that after a certain amount of time feeding, that Ben was only using Jet as a pacifier.  More of a concern for us, however, was that Jet was starting to get severe cramps from her uterus shrinking back to normal size.  I also didn’t know if Jet was sore from getting exercise during the day.  I had Jet walk around the entire hospital floor at two different times during the day with me, which the nurses said should help with the healing process.  Jet had started off slow and in much pain during both walks, but was able to move at a regular pace without too much strain for most of the walks.  At around 10:00pm on Wednesday night, we decided to send Ben to the nursery so that Jet could get some rest and that I would go home so that I could get some rest.  They gave Jet lots of pills for pain and sleeping, which I was told worked.  I went home so that I could get a good night’s sleep because early in the morning I had to head to Atlanta to pick up Jet’s mom from the airport, arriving from Thailand.  I didn’t want to be driving for 3+ hours in the morning without having much sleep in the past 2-3 days.

On Thursday morning I went to pick up Jet’s Mom from the airport.  Her flight landed at 9:33am Eastern time, but I did not see her until 10:50am (had to go through customs, etc.).  We picked up her luggage immediately and headed back to Oxford.  We stopped at our house first so that we could leave Jet’s Mom luggage there and so that her Mom could catch a quick shower, which can be very refreshing after a 20 hour flight.  Once finished, we set off to Anniston (RMC – Regional Medical Center) to the hospital and baby Ben.  When we arrived, I just brought Jet’s Mom to Jet’s room and then I had to leave for JSU so that I would not miss my classes.  Linda had spent most of the morning with Jet, and in fact, likely has spent more time with her than me at the hospital.  How lucky we are to have her in our lives.  Both Linda and Donald have played a “parental” role in our lives down here, and they have joked that Ben is like their grandchild since they don’t have one of their own, but as great of supporters they have been for us, they have been much greater friends.  I arrived at JSU with only 2 minutes to spare, so my first class was pretty hectic for me and by the end of class, I was plain exhausted.  I then had four hours to rest and finish preparing for my last class of the day at 6:15pm, which served me well.  By the time that my evening class began, I felt ready to take on the world again.  After class, I went back to the hospital to see how things had been while I had been away.  Linda had just left, but had made a huge baked chicken dinner for everyone (including rice – how thoughtful!) that Jet kept raving about how delicious it was.  Jet was right.  I noticed that Jet was moving in and out of bed with much greater ease than on Wednesday, which I took as a good sign that she was feeling better.  Jet told me that Ben had been crying all day again and he only stopped when he was feeding.  This got Jet a bit concerned because she didn’t know if he was crying because she might have not been producing milk yet, and that he has just been hungry all along.  I am not sure if there is a way to tell this other than checking his weight, which is what they will be doing on Friday before Jet and Ben come back home.  Jet wanted both her Mom and myself to go back home and get a good rest after the busy day we had, while Jet planned on sending the Baby back to the nursery for the evening so that she could get some rest.  Friday will be a different story, however, as they are planning on coming home and there will be no nurses to help us out on demand.  It is both a very exciting but scary feeling to have.  With Jet’s Mom and such wonderful neighbors nearby, and family and friends there to help us out afar, I think we just may be alright.

Guess Who?

Hooray!  After a full day of waiting and work, Ben was born (by C-section) at 5:59pm on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 in Anniston, Alabama.  Ben was 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 19 inches at birth.

We arrived at the hospital (as planned) at 5:00am on Tuesday morning for Jet’s labor to be induced with Pitocin.  After several hours of contractions and waiting, there was not significant progress until Jet’s doctor arrived at 10:45am to break the water.  Once that happened, we were told that it might be another 8 hours for Jet to be fully dilated.  After nearly seven hours of waiting, however, her doctor visited her again and there was not the progress that she had hoped.  At 5:25pm, her doctor made the decision to go for the C-section birth.  Her doctor said at the time that the baby had not started moving down and that he was likely too big for Jet to deliver naturally.  Her doctor then told me that within the next 30-45 minutes the baby would be here!  At just before 6:00pm, I was brought into the operating room next to Jet’s side as Ben was born.  The doctors cleaned Ben up and then had me walk him over to the nursery room for him to be weighed and measured.  After about an hour of recovery for Jet, they brought Ben to her so that Jet could hold him for the first time.  It was at that time Jet first fed him.  After a few more minutes, Jet was brought into her room and that is where she, Ben, and myself stayed overnight.  At about 4:00am this morning, Jet (with a little help) took her first steps after the surgery to go to the bathroom.  Once she returned to bed, I gave her Ben to hold onto, and I left for home so that I could post pictures of Ben online and I could get a shower and a little rest.  Shortly I will return back to the hospital to re-join Jet and Ben.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and well-wishing.  We are all doing fine and hoping that by Friday Jet may be able to return home with Ben.  I will keep everyone posted as often as I can about any new details (and pictures!) to share.

          

Baby Tomorrow?

Just to update everyone, Jet has been having regular contractions (not painful) for the past two days.  She also woke up this morning (Monday) with swollen hands and feet.  At her scheduled doctor appointment today at 1:00pm, we were told to go to the hospital so that she could be monitored.  After about four hours we were given the option of either staying overnight or coming back at 5:00am tomorrow morning.  We decided to go back home so that she could have a good night’s rest and a shower before the big day.  When we arrive at 5:00am they will start the process of inducing labor – that is, unless the baby has other plans tonight!  We will keep you posted as often as we can!

Patience

Well, it is all just the big waiting game that we are playing right now.  Lots of anticipation and lots of excitement.  Also lots of pain and grief!  Jet has been progressively feeling worse each day now.  She rarely puts few good hours of sleep together at once and the itching has been getting worse and worse.  She has bought lots of different types of lotion and they all don’t seem to help after only a few minutes.  As for grief, I am keeping my cell phone on me at all times now, even during classes.  I have told Jet to only call me on that on Tuesdays and Thursdays (my class days) when it is an “emergency”.  As much as I think I am prepared for the event, I just know things will fall apart once it does occur.

Dad, Kristin, Josh, Ty, and Sam now have their tickets to come down here in April (Monday, April 9 – Saturday, April 14).  Kristin was debating whether she should go with AirTran and save a couple of bucks or with Midwest for their quality service and hometown support.  She chose Midwest, and I think she made the right decision.  I have never been disappointed after a Midwest flight.  I can’t say that for any other airline I have traveled, although I have never flown AirTran.  Now Kristin is working on renting a vehicle for their trip.  The big decision is to go with either a full-size car or a mini-van.  I think that a mini-van would be better since the extra room may come in handy during their stay here.  Regardless, both Jet and I are pretty excited about it.  Now that the tickets have been purchased, that means that the date is getting closer and closer!