Stories

August 14, 2007 - (Another must read for new parents, projectile poop) - Aliyah was a complete angel yesterday during the day. After we got that whole fussy cry (I need to fart and it hurts) thing out of the way, I thought we were home free. She was sticking to schedule. Every 2-3 hours, there would be daddy getting her up for feeding, getting her prepped for mom, pass her like a football to mom to feed. She does 'soooo biggg'. After feeding and when she gets the 'milk drunk' going, dad gets to check her again and do some burping, and put a new outfit on for later. Lets do some more burping.....she is laying spread eagle on my chest, gives him a couple hugs with that one arm that she has tucked around my side. (babys are awesome).

She did pretty good this morning. Mom was up with her on schedule, and the fussy cries started about 8am. Still without a full nights sleep for either of us, 8am felt like 4am. This was like yesterday, she had gas again. I learned a new trick, while changing diapers, I move her legs like a bicycle, and she poots the gas out. Except this time, she is armed with a nice seedy yellow-green poop. I have now been initiated as a catcher into the "Projectile Pooping Team". A little cleanup, a new outfit, some bouncing up and down on my leg and she is 'out' for the count. Gas gone.

These things happen (as explained by the nurse) because the poor little thing hasn't had to use her digestive system all her life 'till now. The colors of poo we have seen is like a technicolor dreamcoat of black tar, gray, green, gray-green, and now yellow-green over the course of her 5 day existence. They call it seedy now, and it is.

Lesson learned today, always keep an extra wipe or the diaper handy in case of projectile launching, and always wait a little bit to see if they want to pee on you one more time. No sense in wasting a diaper.

It seems that every day is a new lesson. But we would not change it for the world. -- Al

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August 13th, 2007 (A must read for new parents) - 2:00am, Susan and I have been up all night. First its the stress from making sure we get Aliyah up every 2-3 hours to feed, whether she wakes or not (trying to feed aggressively), and the added nervousness of having the cats trying to figure out what is in that darn bassinette. Smokey was the most curious, but when he saw what it was, he left her alone. Sadie was scared from the beginning, then I caught her on the side of the bassinette at about 2am as we were dozing, reaching a paw in. Watching, watching, then she turned away and has not been seen. Introducing a non-crying baby to both of them the next day helped immensely.

2:30am - Just finished watching Black Hawk Down for the second time (just in case I missed something), and Susan has given me marching orders. 'Go get some sleep for a bit...' So I tried, and took the baby monitor upstairs with me. Wasn't long that the I could hear the baby fussy crying incessantly. Feeding? Changing? What?

3:30am - Changing again and feeding, but still fussy crying.

4:00am-5am - Some more crying, I mosey back downstairs and Susan is at her wits end, and we are franticly discussing all the book examples of what might be wrong. Is she colic, too hot, too cold, wet, diaper rash, what?? Well, I decided to check diaper again after checking temp. She farted. then farted again as I rubbed her tummy. Oh, we get it. We need to do a better job of burping, as she must have had a sore tummy from gas.

The rest of the day - She has been an angel.

-- Al

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August 12, 2007 - Uncle Ray and Cousin Jacqui visited Aliyah and Mom this morning, bringing with them coffee (decaf) and blueberry muffins. Yum.

Baby was below 5 lbs yesterday, but the tests today show Aliyah is at 5 lbs 4ozs and moving up. We are on an aggresive feeding schedule, mom BF's every 2-3 hours and dad supplements with bottle feed of EBM.

Aliyah and Mom were discharged around 2:30pm after their final vitals check and receiving our marching orders from the hospital staff. After four days in the hospital, the Viall family is finally home. I would take this time to thank the Fairview Ridges hospital staff for all their hard work and attentiveness. Especially Diane, Toby, Anne, Julie, Colleen, Deb. Of course, a very special 'thank you' to the man that helped make all this happen, Dr. Beer. Without his consult and surgical skills, Aliyah may never have been born. I would also like to thank all our family and friends for helping to make this experience 'sort of' unsurprising through your tutelage and sage advice along the way.

4:00pm - How cool is this. We have already had a phone call from the Allina Fairview nursing staff to schedule a house visit for tomorrow to check on mom and baby.

9:50pm - Wow, every 2-3 hours of this. Holy cow. But I love it, time for dad to change another diaper.

-- Al

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August 11, 2007 - Where did my name come from? Daddy says really simple. "It's cool, it's cute, and it's how I roll...." The name Aliyah has its origins in Hebrew (no, we are not Jewish), and means "to ascend" and the spiritual meaning is "growing in the knowledge and understanding of God by climbing a spiritual ladder". If I decide to have a nickname when I get older, I could be 'Ali' or 'Liyah' or something like that. Maybe I'll have my own fashion or cosmetics line called 'Aliyah'. We'll see what the world's like in 12 years.

Both of my Great-Grandmothers names were Irene. My great grandmother Viall used to be Mayor of Hampton, MN. Pretty good for a woman back then. My great grandmother Maloney was a wonderful strong woman who loved family.

-- From Aliyah as told by her dad.

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  August 8, 2007 - Aliyah Irene was born on August 8th, 2007 at 1:21pm. She was delivered through a C-Section about 3 weeks early due to complications from preeclampsia. Her mom had pregnancy induced high blood pressure and adema, so the choice was made to go get her a little early.

We arrived at the hospital at about 10:30am. The delivery was scheduled for noon. With a room already setup for us, we got prepped with gowns and scrubs before the grandparents showed up to take pictures of us. Then, downstairs we go after an initial consult with the birth and recovery nurse, Diane.She let us in on what 'exactly' was going to happen that day.

I got into the OR at about 12:55pm. Dr. Beer got scrubbed, came in and started working on Susan while I sat at the 'other' end consoling her while all this tugging and pulling was going on.  The whole thing got rather surreal for me at that moment, as I did not know what to expect and having all these people in the room working towards birthing our child. While seeming like an eternity, it was probably 20 or so minutes, and Dr. Beer looks over the partition to me asking me 'Are you ready?'. How do you answer a question like that at a time like that, except with a 'Uh, Yes!' Dr. Beer reached in the incision pulled and pulled out a head, unwrapped the cord from her neck, and pulled out the rest. Needless to say, I felt like passing out, but I did not. At that instant, the little alien looking creature exhaled liquid, and inhaled air with another gasp that everyone in the room could hear. Her first cry. Susan and I were puddles of mush. Well, I was, and Susan was flat out on a operating table, wrists tied down. But she started crying, so did I. Dr. Beer turned the baby towards me so I could see what it was, and I was able to tell Susan, 'We have a baby girl.....'

She was born at 1:21 pm and weighed in at 5lbs 6ozs, and 18 1/2 inches long. After birth, our baby had a minor issue with oxygen utilization, so she needed to visit the special delivery unit for about an hour or so, then back to the nursery for some cleaning up. By this time, Susan had been rolled upstairs, and we decided on a name as all the grandparents stood outside of the nursery to view the little bundle of joy (who happened to be waking up all the other babies in the nursery). We chose 'Aliyah Irene'.

We were able to get Aliyah to the room at about 5:30pm. Her mom was so glad to see her, as she had not had alot of time to bond until then. It was daddy time all day.

It all started to sink in then. We get this little miracle of life, with a lifetime warranty, but no owners manual ......

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