Rockwell

So this is Rockwell Perry Myers. He was born September 28 at 6:30 pm. 6.1 lbs and 18 1/2 inches long. Totally perfect and sweet. I'm almost certain he will look much like his father which makes him the second handsomest man on the planet.
He had kinda a rough start coming into the world. Labor and delivery was great it was about 6 hours long and go me I did it all natural. But for some reason Rockwell had to be in the tiny percentage of term babies that don't develop surfactant in their lungs on time. Surfactant is the lubricant that keeps them from sticking together when we exhale. I was lucky enough to hold him for about thirty seconds while they cut the cord etc. then they took him away to wash him and thats when they discovered he wasn't breathing well and he was off to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). Which ended up being his home for the first 8 days of his life and the longest most emotionally straining of mine.

This is the CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) thing. When they figured the surfactant thing was the problem this is what he had to wear for a day, they explained that is was like driving down the road with your head out the window it just keeps air flowing into the lungs so they never colapse and in his case stick together.

Finally off the CPAP and just a regular nasal canula that did the same thing just not as intensive as the CPAP and made it wasy easier to hold him and see him.

Just chillin with mom and dad. He loved being held and his stats would be great when we were holding him.

Getting to know daddy, you can see how painfully bad we needed sleep.

Just hanging out and getting precious skin to skin time.

About day 4 his bilirubin was high (but what to you expect being in a dark room 24/7 so he was under the bili-lights for jaundice, it was so funny he looked like he was at the tanning salon with his eye protection and everything.

Just so you get an idea of what I had to stare at for 8 days, I'm amazed I'm still sane. I can't imagine how hard it would be for those who have had their babies in the NICU for weeks.

Finally home and meeting his sisters for the first time.

I'm so grateful that he is here and well. We are all learning how to work together. Eyla can't get enough of him and wants to hold him every chance she can. Raya is still trying to figure him out. It was really hard for them for me to be gone so much for 8 days and even harder for me to have to leave them. We are still trying to make up mommy time now that I am back and work little Rockwell into our daily routine. But it's way easier than I expected it would be.