Enter stage right...
Staci Rai Herrick and Daniel Rupert Herrick are very pleased to announce
the birth of our son, Joshua Rupert Herrick, born at 7:32 p.m. on August 31,
2001. Although Joshua was born a few weeks early, he is a healthy boy, weighing
in at 5 pounds 13.5 ounces, and measuring 18 inches long.
Photo Gallery | Joshua's Birth Story
Dan's Web Site | Staci's Doula Web Page
10/1/01: 9 pounds 5 ounces! He just keeps growing, and growing, and growing, and growing...
9/28/01: Still no new pictures. Yes, I know. I'm working on it! I've been having issues with my digital camera and as for the other cameras, the film we have had developed is not too exciting. I'll probably scan some more in this weekend, though.
9/26/01: This is Joshua's original due date. He'll be 4 weeks old at the end of this week. Since he was weighed at 8 pounds 9 ounces earlier this week, he no doubt would have been around 8 pounds or so for the birth, if he was born at this time. That's a big baby! It's strange thinking that if all went according to "plan" (the due date being, well, a rough estimate in any case) that we'd have a brand new baby at this point. Staci has been remarking amusedly how she is still getting e-mails from the 'baby clubs' she signed up for reminding her that she's due this week. On another note, Staci is feeling more perky but going through a little postpartem blues.
9/25/01: Joshua sure has been noisy lately. Especially at night. Makes it hard to sleep, but I still can't feel any resentment, amazingly. (Usually when I don't get good sleep I get a little resentful of whatever's causing it.) It's far too easy to forgive the little guy anything.
9/24/01: Staci took Joshua in for one of his regular doctor's appointments and found out he weighs 8 pounds 9 ounces! That's huge! I knew he was growing, I didn't realize he'd gained +50% of his birth weight! We discovered that Joshua loves to take baths. We knew he liked showers with mommy, but he really digs the bathtub, with mommy holding him he gets to float and hang out. He cries when his mean parents take him out of the warm water.
9/21/01: Staci and Joshua finally got to come home from the hospital! All I can say is that I'm relieved that Staci is okay, and glad to have them both home again. The house has seemed very empty this last week. It has been very hard on Rebecca and I, and of course Staci, for her to have been gone. It's thrown us for a loop. Since I work and go to school in Fort Collins, it's made it challenging to coordinate things at home in Evans. I've had to take many hours off of work and miss some more classes to get Rebecca off to school and pick her up from school, and such.
9/20/01: Staci had a D&C surgery tonight to clean out the foreign matter that managed to stay in her uterus and is causing the infection. The surgery went well and was pronounced a success by the doctor. Hopefully, she'll be going home in a day or two.
9/19/01: When I went to visit Staci and Joshua in the hospital today, Staci told me that during the night Joshua'd had his first giggle. It was probably an accident, she claims, but it was still a giggle. I'm sorry I missed it. If I'd only slept in the oh-so-comfy hospital chair in her room again, I might have witnessed it! Alas.
9/18/01: Well, a little setback, not for the baby, but for the mom. Staci went to her doctor today for her regularly scheduled appointment, and mentioned that she'd been not feeling well and running a fever for the last few days. We've been fearing a uterine infection, because the time since her membranes originally ruptured and the birth itself was well beyond 48 hours, the 'worry mark'. After checking her out they told her to go check herself into the hospital. She did, and they immediately hooked her up to antibiotic IV and told her they'd have to monitor her for 24-48 hours before even attempting anything (like a D&C). She's very discouraged and not wanting to stay in the hospital again. This is an unexpected event and while obviously not good, it doesn't seem like it will be so critical -- just inconvenient to say the least. Fortunately, Staci is able to keep Joshua with her in the hospital.
9/14/01: The little peanut is doing well. He's sleeping a
lot but also eating a lot. His cheeks are starting to fill out like a chipmunk.
He'll soon be a
nice chubby baby! Staci's doing okay -- still has the infection. She went in
for an ultrasound today and didn't get official results back, but suspects there's
something (like maybe a bit of placenta) in there that's causing her discomfort.
She's in a lot of pain, actually. She has a followup doctor's appointment on
Tuesday. I hope it can get resolved. She doesn't need this -- she's so ready
to get back on her feet and it's been very frustrating for her to be laid up
again.
9/10/01: Joshua is officially off the alien light. Hooray!
9/9/01: Joshua is doing great. He had a fairly high "bili"
count (which measures jaundice in some way, I guess). He was at 21 early this
week, and they start worrying when the child is at 20 or above. Fortunately
we were able to use the take-home solution, the bili-blanket, which we had
to keep on him all day & all night. It was quite disturbing having a glow
in the dark baby but at least he didn't have to be in the hospital. So Staci
took him in the next day and he was at 23 or 24. The doctor was saying that
if he kept going up he would have to come into the hospital. Then the next appointment,
he was down to 15! The doc said that Joshua wouldn't even have to come in the
next day, but to keep the blanket on him and hope for the count to get down
below 10 (which is apparently normal). So Friday his count was down to 12.5,
and the doc said to keep the blanket on him over the weekend but that everything
should be fine. He has another appointment Monday.
Staci has developed an uterine infection and is on medication. She is in much
pain and feels generally awful. It is tiring and heartbreaking to see
her yet again be in pain and feel awful, as she has been during most of her
pregnancy. She wants so much to be better and healthy and mobile again, but
this has made her wait on that.