Week 1

Wow!  I know the first week of a babies life is always an emotional, tiring, growing experience but I don't think there is any way to actually be prepared for everything.  The exhaustion of delivery, the emotion of a beautiful new life, and adjusting to having this little person completely dependent on you is quite a change.  Micah was able to experience his first Father's Day the day after Jacob was born.  Jake had a cute outfit to honor daddy for father's day and I gave Micah a new OSU shirt.  What perfect timing for Father's Day!

We were pretty lucky and were discharged from the hospital the day after delivery.  I had expected to be in the hospital another night but we were pleasantly suprised when the nurse asked us if we wanted to go home.  We started getting everything ready to go and the doctors started their final checks to get us out.  One of the last things they told us was that Jacob's jaundice levels were slightly elevated and that we would need to come into the hospital the next day for blood work to make sure they were still ok.

When we arrived home we took some family pictures as we first entered our home as a family.  This was also Gizmo's first time to meet his "brother".  Gizmo has been around quite a few babies over the last few years so he wasn't that surprised to see Jake. I think he's been a little more surprised that this one never seems to leave.

Our first evening home, Brooks and Gavin Perry came over to meet Jake for the first time.  They weren't able to make it to the hospital since Miles got sick and we were discharged earlier than expected. Gavin has been excited about meeting Jacob for months! He was so cute checking him out and meeting him.

The next day, Micah and I took Jake to a hospital here in Jubail just to have his blood work checked.  They called us a couple hours later with the results and wanted us to bring Jake in to be admitted.  AHH!!  We weren't really sure what we wanted to do since this was not our preferred hospital and we really didn't enjoy our experience with the doctor when we were there.  So I called our hospital and gave them the numbers and they told us we were still ok but would need to have it checked the next day.  We also talked to Micah's brother who also said we were still ok but that we would need to monitor his levels. After doing some research on jaundice, we found that frequent feedings and exposure to light helps with jaundice.  So my Mom and I decided to take shifts that night feeding Jake every 1.5 hours and sleeping with him under the only fluorescent light in our house.  It was a long, exhausting, scary, emotional night.

After our experience at the local hospital, I decided the next day I wanted to return to SAAD to have him checked out.  This way if they wanted to admit him we would be at the hospital I wanted.  And our fears were confirmed and the doctor wanted to admit my little baby.  A huge blessing was that this doctor was willing to work with me and allow Jake to be admitted into the Pediatrics wing instead of the NICU.  This allowed me to stay the whole time with him and continue to breastfeed.  The only bummer of this room was that it was semi-private so I was sharing a room with other people.  However, in the end it worked out just fine.  Jake and I were well taken care of and I was able to get some rest while he baked in the tanning bed.

24 hours later we were once again discharged from the hospital!  I was so excited to get to be going back home and hopefully this time to stay.  His jaundice levels were still slightly high but they were on the down trend and he was looking better every hour.

In his first week, Jake also had his first sponge bath.  Our little boy is NOT a fan of diaper changes, changing clothes, or being naked in any way.  So needless to say so far he is not a fan of bath time.

 Jake also went to his first birthday party in his first week of life.  His friend Savannah had her first birthday party on the compound in Jubail.  It was an Owl themed party and Savannah was looking super cute.  Maybe one day she will go for the younger men :)  For some reason I didn't bring my camera to this so I will have to get some pictures from Laura.

During the first week we were blessed with many home cooked meals from different families.  It was such a blessing to have dinner taken care of multiple nights and lots of times even leftovers for lunch!  One night we went over to the Perry's for our dinner and Jacob and Miles were able to finally meet.  Miles was so enthralled with Jake.

At the end of his first week of life, Jacob got the best 1 week present- he met his Papa!  Papa arrived from the USA late Friday night.  What a great way to celebrate 1 week!

Hospital Visitors

Even though our little Jacob was born in the far away land of Saudi Arabia he still was greeted into this world with lots of loving visitors.  I know I have said this many times before but we are so blessed to have so many people here in Saudi to support us and love on us.  Our first visitor actually arrived before Jake was born to bring us lunch but instead of lunch we ended up with a baby.  My best friend Lindsey was able to join us in the room the moment everything was "cleaned up".  It was great having her there so early to have some time without everyone else.  Plus, I was able to eat half of her lunch once I had recovered.

After a few hours, they moved us from the delivery room to our long term stay room.  The hospital didn't have any "Private" rooms available so they put us in a "Semi-Private" room but all alone.  This actually works out better because there is more room and an extra hospital bed for Micah to sleep in.  

 

That evening we basically had a party in our hospital room for Jake.  Steve and Inez stopped by once Steve got off work and were kind enough to bring us dinner from Chili's.  Our friends Tara, Jamie and their little boy Aden were also able to make a stop by the hospital.  It was fun to see Aden's responses to Jacob.  

Around the time Steve and Inez and Tara and Jamie were leaving the hospital our friends Dan and Heather arrived.  They are expecting their own little boy in November.  We can't wait for them to be friends!

 Since it was a VERY long exhausting day, everyone was kind enough to leave pretty early that evening and let Micah and I get some rest.  The next day before we checked out of the hospital we had our final visitors Laura and Savannah.  

Thanks so much to all of our wonderful friends for coming to visit and for bringing us food and drinks. We feel so very loved!

Jacob's Arrival

I have sat down several times this past week to try to write this post but it's so hard to even know where to start.  

Since we decided to be induced, the doc wanted us at the hospital at 1:00am! Since the hospital is 1.5 hours away we left our comfy home at 11:30pm and started our journey for the hospital.  It was such a strange feeling leaving our home knowing we would be returning a family of 3.  Of course I was terrified of what they day was going to bring but I just kept holding onto the idea of seeing my little boy. 

By around 1:30am, June 16, we were checked in an ready to go. For the first half of the morning Micah, Mom, Marvetta, and I spent our time trying to get some extra sleep.  Luckily for them, there was a big leather couch in the room and a rickety chair.  Although I was having contractions when I arrived at the hospital the process didn't seem to be moving along that quickly.  I felt very impatient.  


Around 8 am my doctor finally arrived and came in to check me.  I still hadn't progressed much and were told we would be waiting.  A couple hours later  around 10 my doctors female helper, Dr. Evelyn, came in to check me again.  This time we were about halfway- 5cm but she still thought we would deliver around 2pm.   Once she left, I started noticing that I could "feel" a whole lot more than I was feeling before.  I noticed that I could tell when I was touching my legs, etc.  It took some firm talk to convince the nurse of this but eventually the anesthesiologist came back in to get me fixed up.  While this was happening, Dr. Evelyn came back in and figured out that it was almost go time!  Within one hour I had gone from halfway to "GO" time.  


I'll spare all the ewwy gooey details and just say that after 30-40 minutes of pushing, Jacob Asher Sperling arrived into this world at 12:10pm June 16.  He weighed 6.81lbs and was 20.47" and of course, he is absolutely perfect!

It's Go Time!

Our Moms finally arrived, baby stuff is ready, doc says we are ready to go....Are we ready??  I can't believe the time is here.  We are literally counting down the minutes until our car arrives to go to the hospital. I'm not sure you can ever prepare for this moment.  Mom keeps telling me that I'm acting too calm but what am I supposed to do?  I'm sure I will freak out when everything else starts. Just keep focusing on getting to meet that precious baby boy.  


This pregnancy has been such a blessing and we are praying the ending will be the same.  I'm so thankful Jacob waited for our Mom's (sorry Dad's), that he waited for a Saturday so my doctor can deliver, and that I get to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family even thousands of miles from the USA.  Of course we miss everyone in the USA but thats part of the expat life. My next post will include pictures of a wonderful baby boy!!

Picture Day

D-day is getting closer.  Micah and I realized that today was most likely his last day off without a baby.  How crazy is that?  Doctor is wanting to induce next Saturday, June 16.  I have an appointment this Wednesday and am assuming he won't change his mind.  Micah and I's Mom's will be here Thursday night, June 14 so they better get over jet-lag quickly.  I can't believe we are so close to meeting our little boy. 


Since I know the day is coming in a week (or less if Jacob decides he's ready) I decided I wanted some pictures before baby.  I forced Micah to get dressed and we went out on the compound for no reason except to take pictures.  He was a really good sport!

 Of course I had to get a picture of our fur child as well.