Julia: 3 Weeks

Week 3 in Review

Julia had another great week and experienced several "firsts. Some highlights include:

• Spending time with her grandmother Keig, who was in town visiting from Houston
• Going on her first shopping trips to Babies R Us, Target and Walmart
• Going for walks with Acie and Abbie
  
• Attending her first bridal shower
• Visiting our Sunday School class and attending her first church service
• Meeting Stephanie and Aaron, who made a special trip to Georgetown on Sunday to visit

Here are some pictures from the week...

All snuggled up.

This is one of Kyle's favorite onesies. The front reads, "Does this diaper make my butt look big?"

Katherine's bridal shower, where Julia was loved on by Melanie's TCU friends.

Being held by Stephanie.

Julia loves bath time!

Julia got so relaxed that she slept through the last part of her bath.

Back asleep after being wrapped in the towel.

Sleeping Baby

Since Julia sleeps most of the time, it seems like all of our pictures of her are of her asleep. Here are some from the past week.

After one of Julia's baths, her daddy thought it would be funny to spike her hair. It dried that way and wouldn't go back down until her next bath. I think the expression on her face tells us she wasn't very happy with how she looked.

Julia loves her car seat!

Weekend Visitors

We had a mini family reunion on Saturday, which was fun. Left to right: Elaine (Kyle's mom) was already in town helping with Julia. Kolby, Shane, and Lindsay came for the day to visit and to meet Julia. Madison, Mark, Kimberly, and Nancy (Mark's mom who is not pictured) evacuated from Houston for the hurricane and stayed at our house for the weekend.

On Friday night we took Julia out for the first time. She did great - slept the entire time, despite the fact that there was a live band at the restaurant and we were seated closest to them.

Julia: 1 Week

Our little Julia was born one week ago yesterday. She has adjusted well to life outside the womb and has been such a joy.

Texas A&M Game Day

Today is Julia's first college football game day. Her daddy got her dressed to watch Texas A&M play on tv. She was awake for the beginning, but slept the rest of the time.

She has her eyes on Daddy!

Welcome Home, Julia!

We came home from the hospital on Thursday, Sept. 4th. We didn't have the stork in our yard until the next day, so these pictures are a little out of order. Julia is 4 days old here.

Dressed and ready to head home.

Loaded up in front of the hospital.

Julia's first trip in the car.

Home, at last.

Resting in her bassinet, which is what Melanie slept in as a baby. We didn't know if it would be of use to us because the original cover/bedding got lost over the years. Fortunately, Kyle's Aunt Celia was able to find the bedding she made for the bassinet her children slept in, and it fits perfectly. Julia is 3 days old in this picture.

More from our Hospital Stay

Just wanted to share more pictures and video from our stay at the hospital.

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"Aunt Jenni"

We had many visitors while we were there - mostly family, but also friends, as well as many of Kyle's co-workers dropped in to meet Julia.

Melanie's Parents

Kyle's Parents

Melanie's brother, James

Kyle's sister, Kimberly

Kyle's Uncle Dennis and Aunt Celia

Our Baby Story

What an exciting day it has been. We are the proud parents of a beautiful, healthy little girl -- a true blessing from God. It is amazing to look at her and try to grasp the fact that she is the same little person who was in my belly. She is perfect. She has a full head of long brown hair, pretty dark eyes (that may turn out to be brown), and precious hands and feet. She surprised us all by being a big baby (8 lbs. 11 oz, 22 in. long).

Now that things have settled down some, I wanted to take the opportunity to share the story of our baby's arrival for those readers who want details. Jenni was nice enough to post updates for us earlier so most of you know the basics already, so some of this will be repeated information.

My contractions began around 1am Monday morning (appropriate since it was Labor Day), and gradually became regular and frequent so I decided I should go checked out at the hospital. The monitor showed that the contractions were 2.5-3 minutes apart, but I was only dilated 1cm and was sent home. Meanwhile, my wonderful friend Jenni, headed to town so she could be here for the delivery. Since she is a labor and delivery nurse, she was a great help to me and was able to check my cervix periodically so we would know when to head back in. It was a disappointing day in that I labored for so long with very little progression. Finally, by midnight I was at a 3, so we headed back to the hospital. By this point I was exhausted and the contractions were intense so I got my epidural. What a fabulous medical development!! In about 5 minutes, I went from being in agony to feeling completely normal and comfortable and having no idea the contractions were happening. I was able to get a few hours of much needed sleep while I continued to progress at a slow, steady rate. All was fine until about 10:30am, when I began experiencing discomfort that got worse and worse and became unbearable. After a couple of troubleshooting attempts, the anesthesiologist decided to put in a new epidural for me. What a relief that was. Shortly afterwards, the doctor came to check me and I was completely dilated and ready to push. Now wonder the pain was so intense. My cervix went from a 7 to a 10 in about 2 hrs, which was the worse time for my epidural to malfunction. The good thing is it only took about 25 minutes of pushing before we got to meet our baby.

We are very thankful for a smooth delivery, a healthy baby, and that our family could all be here to share in our joy.

Introducing........ Julia Lynn White

The princess has arrived

"Baby Girl" White was born at 1:55pm weighing in at a hefty 8lbs 11oz and 22 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great!

Name to be announced....

Labor Day

This is Jenni, blogging on behalf on Melanie. She would update you herself, but she is busy birthing a baby.

Melanie started contracting yesterday morning, appropriately of course, on Labor Day. You know Melanie, she has do everything the perfect and right way! ;) She was a real trooper and labored all day at home. They went for a walk, she sat in the tub, and used the birthing ball.

We came to the hospital last night about midnight so that she could get her epidural and get some rest after 24 hours of contractions. Let's just say, she now understands why Kyle is the most popular man on the unit! The epidural has given her a lot of relief and she was able to sleep for several hours.Post epidural smile

We are now just waiting on baby. She is making slow, but very steady progress.
The only minor complication so far is that the amniotic fluid is meconium stained, which means that the baby has had a bowel movement in the amniotic fluid. This is a fairly common occurrence, but there is a small risk of complications for the baby at birth.
Please be praying for Melanie, Kyle, and Baby White as they continue to labor. We should be having a birthday party by this afternoon, so I will keep you posted.