The "Littlin," as Lori and I call him, arrived at 9:07 pm CDT on Saturday, August 21st, 2004. He weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces at birth. He was delivered at the Womens Hospital of Texas here in Houston.
Kirby's actual due date was September 4th, but he arrived a couple of weeks early thanks to pregnancy-induced hypertension. When Lori went for her weekly appointment on Friday the 20th, her doctor expressed deep concern over Lori's high blood pressure and admitted her to the hospital for observation. That afternoon, her doctor gave Lori a choice: she could either go home, get a good night's rest, and be back at the hospital bright and early the following day for inducement, or she could go home and be confined to bed rest for the next two weeks or so until labor actually began. Lori, obviously, chose the first option.
Saturday morning we returned to the hospital, and Lori was hooked up to a pitocin drip at about 8. We had heard horror stories about pitocin-induced labor and so we were a bit apprehensive about what might occur, but for the most part everything went well even though at one point the baby wasn't making much progress and the nurses began talking about a C-section. In the end the delivery had to be forceps-assisted because the baby's head kept getting stuck on Lori's pelvic bone. Lori was in labor for a total of 13 hours and, when it was all over, didn't think the ordeal was as bad as she originally feared it would be. Yes, she took the epidural. This was not the time for Lori to show everyone how much pain she can tolerate!
Kirby was running a slight fever at birth, so he was taken to the Level II NICU for 48 hours for observation. However, Kirby's fever disappeared quickly and in retrospect he probably didn't need to be there at all. The hospital just wanted to play it safe and make sure that Kirby was completely healthy.
Shortly after midnight on the morning of Tuesday August 23, Lori and I got to take Kirby home.
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Lori in her 38th week of pregnancy |
Lori in what would have been her 39th week of pregnancy |
Here are some pictures we took of Kirby during and right after his birth on August 21, 2004:
Some people might find this picture graphic or disturbing. But it's also important: it's a picture of Kirby taking his very first breath. You can see the marks left by the forceps on the right side of his forehead. Those marks disappeared within a matter of days.
The nurses check Kirby over and clean him up. He had a good APGAR score, but a slight fever prompted the hospital to take him to the NICU as a precaution.
Kirby's parents come to the NICU to pay him a visit.
I'll get the hang of this, sooner or later...
Kirby and his mommy. I'm very flattered when people ask me if a professional took this picture!
Only a few days old and he already knows to look into the camera.
Lori and I have a new boss!
Kirby's first days of life left him quite exhausted.