Adjusting to life at home

While still in the hospital they discovered that Samuel's bilirubin was going up. A normal thing in most babies to a certain degree, but something they watch. On Saturday night they ordered that he be put under the bili lights (a special blanket) for babies that are jaundiced. We thought he might have to stay in the hospital another day but on Sunday morning the pediatrician said he could home and use the lights at home. It means that he was hooked up to a machine that was connected to a light wrapped around him. It was a bit of a pain to carry the machine and tubing around with us when we wanted to lay him down, change him, or feed him but we were glad to be able to go home together! He stayed under the lights till Tues evening when his levels improved. This is a picture of the hospital bili bed which was more confining than the one we used at home. It also shows a rare look at his eyes open!

Samuel's take home outfit-- picked by mommy. Because we didn't know what we were having, I picked the boy outfit and David picked the girl outfit (opposite of how we did it with Amelia). Poor David never gets to use his outfit!! Maybe next time??!! :) He does pick cute outfits

Mommy and Daddy are happy to be going home!

Samuel taking a nap in his crib

Showing off the bear Daddy got him- you can kinda tell he's still hooked up to the light, thus the gap in the sleeper where the tubing comes out.

Family Visits

We were blessed to have our family come and visit us within hours of Samuel's birth.

Jim, Cari, Isaac and Zachery came up to visit their new boy cousin. Isaac was especially interested in holding his new cousin. He seemed to feel great pride in being the oldest boy cousin. We know the "boys" will have lots of fun in years to come!

Mom again got to help in the delivery room and see the arrival of Samuel. Dad came shortly afterwards. Grandma Vesta will be staying with us for a week after we get home.

Uncle Bryan and Aunt Stacy came up to see their new (and 1st nephew) I think Stacy is pretty excited about being an aunt again.

Aunt Kim proudly holds Samuel. We are grateful all our family lives so close

Grandma and Grandpa Baird hold Samuel. Grandma Baird came up on Thursday to watch Amelia while we were induced and had lots of fun with Amelia while we were at the hospital

Samuel Michael Baird Arrives

I'm including a few pictures from the hospital-- I have many of course to choose from. I will try to update you with more once we settle in to home. Samuel has to be hooked up to a bili blanket for awhile and we will have frequent clinic visits this week to check his levels. Thanks for your prayers-- Things went very smoothly and we are all doing well



The scale is a bit blurred but it shows 9lbs 14.6oz (they round up to 15!)
What a big boy! He was a week early. Mommy actually had a better labor than with Amelia and only pushed for 30minutes. Epidurals are wonderful!

Early picture of us holding Samuel- I don't feel as stoned as I look-- daytime deliveries are wonderful!

Amelia's first look at her baby brother. We're still not sure she understands the whole concept but she loves to give him hugs and touch his nose.

Our family

Amelia comes up to visit her brother again. He is pretty sleepy most of the time, but nurses well and is doing everything babies are supposed to do.

Baby Baird Arrives

The day came and Baby Baird was born. We went in for an induction at 7:30 am and had a healthy baby boy delivered at 1:22 pm. Samuel Michael weighed in at 9 lbs 15 ozs and was 22" long. He is a big boy but has been great so far for mommy and daddy.

Pictures to follow later.

Things are moving along!!

I was at the doctor yesterday again for a biophysical profile (ultrasound), lab work and doctor check. My blood pressure is creeping up again so the doctors have decided to induce me on Friday!! yeah! I love a plan. Assuming we can get into the hospital (if they are not full) I will go in on 7:30 Friday morning to get things started. I am already further along (dilated, etc) than I was with Amelia so hopefully things will move quickly. We will let you know updates-- I can not promise that David will post pictures or updates to the blog so you may have to wait till I return home (and feel up to it) for that to happen. Thanks for your prayers.

Summer Splash

Our Church puts on a Neighborhood Block party each year called Summer Splash-- it is a really great outreach event for the church and always a lot of fun. David helps with the set up. This year I just helped with some fliers and behind the scene prep as the due date approaches.
We were excited to see how Amelia would enjoy the event this year. She loved the kids inflatable jumping thing (do they have a better name?) I think she would have spent all evening in this. She would run around in circles, jump with the other kids, and just all out love being in there. It was so funny to watch.

I finally got her out to try to eat a hotdog ( I was hungry). Here she was probably on the lookout for the Purple animal that was entertaining kids. It had been at the entrance greeting kids and she was so freaked out by it. If she even saw it across the yard she would start to scream!! Thankfully she was not as scared by the many clowns that were parading around.

Showing off her face painting-- I was surprised she sat still to let them do this. David said she loved it. I was visiting with friends while he did this so I didn't get to see it done

Hanging out with other kids- listening to the praise band play and blowing bubbles they got as prizes at the carnival games. Amelia always makes lots of friends. I don't know these girls- I think they were visitors from the Neighborhood.

This is one of my new favorite pictures of Amelia!! It was taken by our friend Lindsey who was taking pictures of the event for the church. You can tell she is a professional. I can never get Amelia to stand still long enough to pose, yet alone smile. Thanks Lindsey for capturing this great picture!!

Little House on the Praire- The Musical!!

Many you you know how much I love anything Little House-- the show, the books, the pageant. I was even signed up to take a class at Moorhead State on Little House but it was canceled due to lack of interest (imagine that!) Anyways the Guthrie theater in Minneapolis is the world premier site for a new musical based on Little House and to top it off Melissa Gilbert who played Laura in the TV show was going to be Ma (Caroline) in this production- You could only guess at my excitement!! David and I decided to go for one last date before baby and hoped I would not be on bedrest/in labor before we could go!!

The Beautiful Guthrie Theater- David's company' has humidifiers that are installed here and he has toured it. I was excited to see this new building that is very unique.

Views of the Mississippi River and the stone arch bridge. It was a a beautiful night. The first anniversary of the 35W bridge collapse and a memorial had occurred at the park right next to the Guthrie.

Waiting to go in. We arrived early downtown and had a wonderful dinner at the Spaghetti factory and then toured the Guthrie and the park.

The show was amazing-- I may be biased because I'm such a little house fan but they do a great job of retelling the books. Melissa Gilbert actually does not have a huge speaking part and of course doesn't sing a lot, but adds a lot to the show. Nellie's character is played by a great actress. By the way I had to educate David on who Nellie is!! One other interesting piece of trivia is that Mary Ingallas (the oldest daughter) middle name is Amelia!!!! I love it.

This is a view from the "bridge to nowhere" the observation deck that sticks off the end of the Guthrie and provides great views of the city and the river.


Thanks David for a great evening.