The Paladinos

Our pediatrician has asked us to do tummy time with Gabby to strengthen her neck muscles and to help prevent SIDS.  She's not real happy about doing it, but she is already trying to turn herself over.  Enjoy!

Gabby had her first Dr.'s appt. today.  The jaundice is almost gone and she is starting to gain back weight.  She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz in the hospital, and after losing almost a pound in the first few days, she is now at 6 lbs 12 oz.  Feeding has been going much better and we're finally starting to get a feel for what works and doesn't work. 

Gabby had a visit from her first suitor, Hudson.  He's quite the ladies man.  We'll have to keep a close eye on him. 

 

We were released from the hospital about 3:30 PM yesterday (Monday) afternoon.  We are home and all adapting to our new lives.  Seems like we do a lot of swaddling, cuddling, and feeding (mostly feeding for Leslie), but we're getting the hang of it.  Gabby is a little jaundiced and so we're having to supplement with formula for a few days until that gets worked out.  Other than that, everything is great.

Ellie has unexpectedly been wonderful and seems to be adapting well.

Gabby with GranDeb (Michael's mom)

 

Gabby with Gamma (Leslie's mom)

Gabby has arrived!  She was born yesterday, February 17, 2007 at 3:07 PM.  She weighs 7 lbs 6 oz and is 20 3/4 inches long.  She has a head full of long light to dark brown hair and most importantly is healthy.  Leslie is doing great as well and had about as easy a delivery as could be expected.  We thank God for Gabby and her safe arrival.

Leslie's water broke about 11:40 PM Friday night.  We went into the hospital shortly thereafter, and she started having mild contractions about 3:30 AM Saturday morning.  The nurses administered Pitocin around 9:30ish Saturday morning and the heavy contractions began.  Later after about an hour of pushing, Gabby was delivered at 3:07 PM.

We thank everyone for the prayers and support and look forward to you all meeting our new little one.

We officially have one week left until our due date.  I'm still dilated to one centimeter and haven't had any contractions or other labor indicators yet.  For being 9 months pregnant I feel pretty good so what's one more week.  We're just ready to meet our little Gabby girl.

The nursery is finally ready!  Now all we need is a little girl to go in it.  I hope she likes pink.  Thank you to Pa Pa Mike for the beautiful furniture he made, to GranDeb and Poppa Dino for the comfy rocker and to Grandma and Grandpa Duffey for the adorable bedding.

We're now down to 2 weeks until Gabby's due date.  At my doctor's appointment yesterday I was dilated to 1 cm so we're having a little bit of action.  No contractions, etc yet and I feel about as well as can be expected at this stage.  It's getting a little uncomfortable with this active baby running out of room.  We're very anxious to meet her.

Well, February 23 is 3 weeks away.  We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Gabby.  Leslie is now seeing the doctor once a week and had a good checkup today.  He says Gabby should be between 7 and 7 and a half pounds at delivery.  Below is one of the ultrasound pictures from December 18.  We're excited to see how much she does or doesn't look like the picture!