Monday, January 14, 2008

Just in case you didn't get the original email...

Some of you may know part of this story already, but I wanted to let you all know that Joe and I are the proud parents of Graham. He was born on January 4, 2008 at 6:03 pm, coming in at 4 lbs 10 oz, 18 inches, and about 8 and a half weeks premature. I was actually at my parents' house in Massachusetts last Sunday night (a week ago today, which is difficult to believe) when my water broke. Joe had just driven back to Rochester that morning and got a late night phone call that he had to do it all over again (through an actual blizzard, mind you). I went to the local hospital near my house and they kept me out of labor and gave me steroids to help Graham's lungs mature, which was great. Graham held on until Friday morning when I started going into active labor - but even that was easier than expected. Graham was breathing on his own right from the start - no ventilator or oxygen needed - and he's doing unbelievably well. The nurses in the NICU all think my dates were wrong - I just tell them I ate lots of fatty foods and kept exercise to a minimum. =) He'll be in the hospital in Massachusetts for likely the next 6-8 weeks, but he really just needs time to grow and mature. Thus, we're Massachusetts residents for now! We're very lucky to have both my parents and Joe's parents here putting us up, and the hospital is fabulous. They do have a full level 3 NICU for those in the know, and actually Graham is doing so well he'll probably move to their level 2 special care nursery before too long.

Thank you so much to all of you we've already heard from with all your support and caring - it has meant the world over this insane week. For the next few weeks, Joe and I will be trying to get accustomed to the routine of being NICU parents and working out of the hospital, but I know we'll want to see as many of you as possible and introduce you to our son after that. In the meantime, we'd love to hear from any of you by email or phone or whatever!

I'm sure we'll have photos to send along soon as we are taking millions. We hope all of you are well - I know it sounds trite, but we could *feel* you all loving us and thinking about us this week. We are a very very lucky little family.

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