Email from 11-18-09 - The Birth of William

Here is the email that I sent my family, coworkers, and Masters classmates the first full day we were home from the hospital.  I thought I had posted it on this blog as well, but I see that I didn't. My apologies!

"I can't type much now, but I'll do my best. Here are the basics that everyone is asking about... I'm sure Jan really has been wondering about all the nitty-gritty details, but I'll leave them out.

I had been having mild labor pains all day Friday and finally after timing the early labor contractions at 3-5 minutes apart lasting for about 45 seconds to a minute, we decided to go to the hospital at 2AM. Luckily I showered before we went b/c I didn't get to for a loooooooong time after! :-P

After a really rough 29 hours, I delivered William Elixander at 7:32 am on Sunday, Nov. 15th. Dominic and I were both Sunday babies and our bdays were on Sundays this year, so we think that's pretty cool. Will was 21 3/4 inches long and weighed 8 lbs 14 ounces. Both the OB and nurse on duty said that the longest baby they had ever delivered was 22 inches, so our big boy was almost a record-tier. And I beat Carrie's baby size with Xavier so now I have all the bragging (or complaining) rights! William doesn't look that BIG right now, he's just really long. (Allison, our stories were unfortunately rather familiar! Have pains all one day, go in another day, a deliver a day after that - I think you cursed me when you told me your story - JK!) BTW - William is Dominic's middle name and Elixander is a name that my Mom found in my family lineage while doing geneology. Dom and I both loved the name Eli, but with Elijah being so popular now and that just not seeming like a name we would use we instantly fell in love with Elixander (pronounced like Alexander, but with an "L" sound at the beginning.) It is our hope that since we named William after Dom's middle name that Will will one day name his son Elixander something.... and he can go by Eli if he wants. Of course, you all know me to be the one who has her first grandson named already! Such pressure for poor Will!

BIRTHday Gift from St. Luke's

William Elixander Krupp - Born on 11/15/09 at 7:32am.  8 lbs 14 oz, 21 3/4 inches long

The "only two people per room" rule with the H1N1 virus made the time at the hospital really tough b/c we never knew if people were sitting in the waiting room waiting to visit ... so we'd talk to the people in our room for a long time without even knowing other people were waiting to see us. Due to this rule, we had to tell the same stories over and over when it would have been simpler to have all our guests listen to it once and stay in our room for a while and talk to one another as well as visit with the baby. Instead we were pretty much flooded with visitors from the first minute he was born until the day we left, which was awesome but didn't allow us much time to rest.

Proud Mommy - 11/16/09

Proud Daddy - 11/16/09

So anyway, we were at the hospital until Tuesday evening. Tuesday was the worst day of Will's little life because he got circumcised first thing in the AM, and right after that he had his tongue snipped b/c he was tongue tied, then he had three blood tests done, got immunized, had his hospital pics taken, had his hearing test, and on top of everything else he had to take a bath. :-( The entire day was a huge emotional roller coaster for both Dominic and myself.

We just got home last night (Tuesday evening) at about 5:30. It was crazy to be outside for the first time since Friday night, and it was really bizarre b/c the radio was playing Christmas music so I felt like I time-warped about a month... oh 101.5 The River.... but it was really cool b/c it just made us even more excited for Christmas now that we have the best gift ever. Anyway, we left later yesterday that we wanted to b/c Will had an elevated level of jaundice (his level was 14 and anything 12 or higher is considered elevated... if it was 20 or so he would have had to stay at the hospital) and so he has to be on a Bili Rubin (sp?) blanket. Sooooo we had to wait around because he had to get that blanket set up from a company who brings it in and explains it all to us. Don't worry if you have no idea what that means, b/c I didn't until yesterday, but it's better than having to be under the Bili Rubin lights. So all last night we hung out with our little glow worm and felt terrible for him. So much for playing fun dress-up games and hanging out in the bouncy seat. :-(

Our Little Glowworm - 11/18/09

We took William off of the blanket for a little bit, just so we could hold him better. 11/19/09

Sooooooooooo after our first night at home, we had to go back to get bloodwork tested today at St. Luke's to see if his level had gone down at all. Therefore we were right back at the hospital this morning on day 3 of his life. Sadly, his test results came back even higher, so we have an appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow and after that we have to go AGAIN to St. Luke's for another blood work test tomorrow. This is all so sad, emotional, and overwhelming. I just wish we could enjoy this time at home together on our first day as a family, but instead we went to St. Luke's this am and just got back .... and it's already 3:45. I feel like it was just morning! Added to the fact that we haven't slept much at all.... I have only slept 18 hours from the time I went into the hospital Friday night/Saturday morning at 2:30 AM until today...

Anyway, if you are a praying person please just pray that William's Bili Rubin level is down tomorrow so he can finally be off of the blanket and able to move around more.

I hope everything is going well for all of you."

Father and Son on Day #1 ... This Makes My Heart Melt <3