They tested Cameron this morning at about 10am and his billirubin level was down to 14.5, which means he no longer needed any special treatment.  We took him out of The Box (yay!) and also he was back to the boob - no more need for supplemental bottle feeding.  Cameron was showered with kisses and hugs when he got unplugged from the IV and he got to sleep on Mommy after feeding.  Reunions are a beautiful thing.

The doctors wanted to check him one last time at 5pm so we basically hung out in the room for another few hours.  We just now got the report and his billirubin is now at 12.5 - it dropped even after we stopped treatment!  Cameron's a tough kid.

Now we're just waiting for someone to come get the IV out of Cameron and we're heading back home.

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and well-wishes!

Cameron's jaundice got bad enough that he had to undergo treatment in the hospital.    more »

When Cameron first got hiccups, I was worried that they may make him cry, but at first he was just surprised by them, then intrigued as he simply sat there experiencing hiccups for the first time.  I thought it was the cutest thing in the world.  I did some quick research and it turns out the hiccups do not bother babies at all.  Anything that doesn't cause baby to cry can't be a bad thing, in my books.

Then, I was in the middle of soothing him to sleep and he was getting very drowsy (and smiled at me!) when the hiccups hit all of a sudden.  Those dastardly hiccups woke him up and kept him up - he was wide awake throughout the 15 minutes that the hiccups took to run their course.  What's the big deal about 15 minutes, you ask?  Well, it takes at least 10 minutes to get him drowsy, then you gotta keep soothing him til he fully falls asleep before putting him down.  I had been soothing him for 15 minutes already, then had to wait on the hiccups for 15 minutes, then had to start all over again.  Went from a 20 minute soothe-to-sleep session to 50 minutes of frustration.  At 2 in the morning, those extra 30 minutes is killer.  Hiccups are evil.

Some random notes and thoughts from the first few days of parenthood.    more »

Cameron's been with us for 6 days now. Lots of things have happened, I'll try to catch up with notable events. Let's start with the labour story.    more »

Baby boy has finally entered our lives...

Cameron Hector Tay, born on September 19, 2007 at 11:05am, weighing 7lbs 8oz and measuring 20.5 inches long (he was born with a cone head so the nurses say the 20.5 inches is a cheating measurement).

Cameron Hector Tay

Sara and I are exhausted so I'm not going to write a big article here - I had just enough energy to post a bunch of pictures.  Will write more of the entire experience later...

Next stop on our European vacation was Bruges, which is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The town has many grand old buildings that are all in great shape so there's a lot to gawk at.  There are also working windmills which are attended by workers who are actually working on grinding grain into flour while you visit.

Not quite Dutch windmills, but close enough

We walked all over the city and Sara was a trooper - no complaints and minimal rest stops needed.  We stopped for waffles all over the place so they helped to keep us going...

Anyways, the baby's coming soon so I've no time for a big article here... check out the pics.

Baby is soooooo coming anytime now.

Last Thursday morning, we woke up and Sara began experiencing contractions right away.  She'd been having them off and on the past few days so I didn't think anything of it and continued my morning routine.  A few minutes later "I'm having another one".  And a few minutes after that "Here comes another one!"  Getting serious now, I pulled out my watch and we started timing the contractions.  According to the books, if you are hitting the 5-1-1 rule, you need to get to the hospital.  Well, Sara was definitely getting them every 5 minutes and each contraction was lasting over 1 minute.  Only thing left to see was if this would keep up for 1 hour.  It actually did last for an hour, but the contractions were no longer hurting towards the end of the hour.  Also, the contractions themselves had not been that painful - we'd been told by pretty much everyone that the contractions will be so painful as to take your breath away.  Sara's contractions were painful, but not to the point where she couldn't breathe.  So we debated it for awhile, and finally decided to not to head for the hospital; probably the best sign that we didn't need to go was the fact that we were able to talk about it calmly.

I've posted some more pics of Sara; who knows how many more I'll get before the baby arrives!

Only 5 more days...

44 inches now... surely she can't get bigger?!

Baby's getting bigger and bigger - Sara's up to 44 inches now!!  (Take a look at the latest pics of Preggo Sara)  Baby's also getting stronger - his kicks and/or punches actually pack a bit of a punch, and he also seems to be getting more active with each passing day.  Seems like baby's going to arrive any day now.

We're pretty much ready for baby's arrival: Sara's washed all the baby clothes, prepped the crib, and packed her hospital bag, and I've installed the baby seat in the car and the infant seat attachment on the stroller.  I've also ordered a Baby Bjorn carrier and Medela breast pump from Ebay.  I've always been too nervous to buy stuff from ebay before, but the breast pumps were such a good price - we got them for $220 when retail is $320.  I really really really really hope we don't get screwed on these purchases.

Sara's already stopped working, which is a good thing since she's too uncomfortable to do any real work.  She also gets tired very easily, needing a nap or two to get through the day.  Today we went for lunch and some shopping downtown.  We normally take a 20 minute walk to the stores, but we took the MUNI street car for the first time today.  The main reason for our shopping trip was to get a Push Present for Sara.  I would have normally held off to give it to her after the baby comes, but she's been so uncomfortable I wanted her to have it now to try to take her mind off her discomfort.  It's worked so far, but it's only been a few hours.  Let's see if she remembers it tomorrow or the day after...

I love being out and about with Sara now, as she draws lots of stares from people.  Today, we passed by a young girl who was in the early stage of her pregnancy.  She was rubbing her barely noticeable belly and she was making a face as though she was in agonizing discomfort.  As soon as she saw Sara, she self-conciously dropped her hand away from her tummy and looked down as though ashamed of feeling uncomfortable with such a small belly compared to Sara.  Many other women have stared at Sara with surprised looks, as though they can't believe Sara is on her feet in such condition.  :)

Only 1 week and 5 days away... could be any day now....