Liam is here!

William Kenneth McDowell V joined our family on December 31, 2010.  He was born at 9:22 pm and weighed 10 lbs 2 oz!! and was 20" long.  He has stolen our hearts and we are all just thrilled that he is ours!

Poor Liam got off to a rough start.  Because of his size, he suffered from a condition called TTN, which basically meant that he had excess mucus in his lungs.  The pediatrician explained that for most babies, that mucus is squeezed out during the birthing process, but because Liam was so large, he had larger lungs and therefore more mucus than other babies.  So shortly after he was born he was hooked up to all sorts of monitors and even an oxygen tube to help dry some of that out. The doctor was concerned because he was breathing too quickly and he wasn't getting sufficient oxygen saturation.  

After nearly 36 hours of treatment, his breathing improved and they started letting him eat.  Liam had to get a feeding tube down his throat :( and they gave him small amounts of formula to see how he would tolerate it.  Finally, he was deemed well enough to leave the nursery and stay in my room with me.  I was thrilled--and so were the girls, who FINALLY got to meet their baby brother!

I started nursing him right away to make up for lost time.  He took to it like a champ but because we'd been apart so long, I didn't have any milk yet.  Overnight he became dehydrated and developed jaundice. He had to return to the nursery and was placed in phototherapy to help eliminate the jaundice.  It was more formula, too, although I was allowed to nurse him first and then they supplemented him with formula. 

On January 3, I was released from the hospital but Liam had to stay.  Leaving without him was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do.  I went back to the hospital that night after the girls were in bed and spent about five hours with him. I held him and nursed him as much as they would allow.  The next morning I went back and I was overjoyed to hear that he had been released, too!  We went to see his pediatrician that day and she gave him a clean bill of health.

We are all adjusting to our new family member but we couldn't be happier.  The girls love him--Emily wants to hold him all of the time and Bailey keeps saying, "That my baby brother!"  If I come out of his room without him, she'll say, "Oh, no! Where's Liam?"  Overall he seems like a very content baby.  He's sleeping and eating well and I couldn't ask for a cuter child! :)  We are so blessed!!