Officially a Father!
 

Well, surprise surprise! My son decided to grace us with his presence seven weeks early! My wife gave birth to our beautiful baby boy last Wednesday around 2:34 in the PM. 3 lbs, 14 ounces, 16 inches long. He'll have to stay in the NICU for close to seven more weeks. They like to keep the babies in the NICU for close to their due date.

My wife had a lot of complications though. She was dealing with four fibroids, which are non-cancerous tumors of the uterus. Two were the size of grapefruits, and the thinking is that one had moved which caused the baby to move further down. Anyways, she wound up rupturing herself which caused her water to break -and about 7 hours later, for little Tony to greet us! My wife is having minor surgery right now to help lessen some of the pain she's been dealing with, and will probably have to go back for more surgery in about six weeks to remove the fibroids. Needless to say, she's probably not going to want to go through all of this again, but we're just thankful that our son appears to be happy and healthy considering he's premature.

I am a proud papa right now! Love my son! And I have not been able to keep my mind on work today because all's I want to do is to be at the side of my little baby boy. Don't worry, I was already telling Tony yesterday that we are Redskins fans, and that we absolutely hate the Dallas Cowboys! I'm making sure he knows from the get go that the burgundy and gold is our team!

Re: Officially a Father!
 

whoa congrats!

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Congrats!

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Congrats

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Congratulations!! Prepare for about 2-3 years of serious attitude change. Followed by about 8 years of really interesting fun (You get to play with all sorts of toys you thought you had put away for life. Nerf guns, man, you get nerf guns again!!).

While the complications sound difficult, I am really happy for you that mother and son seem to have made it through in good health. Always the best result!

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Congratulations ,may God be with you and your new family ! As long as you put the diaper on the right end, you're good!:)

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Congratulations!

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Congrats, Skinsguy! Kids are the best. Prayers for your wife's quick recovery and your son's fast return home.

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Congratulations man!

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Congrats dude! Hope your wife and kid have a safe return to good health.

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officially a father?
You still not claiming those other kids yet?


Just kidding, one of those happy days for me.

Congratulations!

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Congrats. Best thing in my life I hope it is in yours too.

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Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Thanks guys! To say I'm thrilled he's here is an understatement! Can't wait for him to go home with us! He still has to gain some more weight and exhibit the ability to be bottle/breast fed, which I'm sure will come soon. He's so little right now! Probably makes me more protective over him than anything else.

The wife is slowly improving, but she still has a long haul.

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Congrats man! My daughter was in the NICU for several weeks. Those people know what they're doing!! Its hard on the parents but good for the little one. Soon when you take him home will be a momentous day indeed......

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congrats good man.

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Thank you again guys!

My wife told me that the doctor had informed us that he has a heart murmur, but wasn't displaying any concerning symptoms. Naturally, that makes me feel very uneasy. They're running some tests on him today. I know people live with heart murmurs all the time and are perfectly healthy, but it's hard enough having to leaving him in the NICU and now learning that he has a heart murmur.

It was hard enough concentrating on my work - now it's really hard to concentrate!

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my newest niece is in NICU right now as well.

it is very rare that a pregnancy goes perfect.

when my daughter was born, we were right around the due date and was at a hospital radiology dept for an ultrasound to monitor the babies progress and whether she had passed the fibroids. we were told to immediately rush over to another hospital's maternity ward, something about low embiotic fluid etc .. after some very tense moments and emergency c section, my daughter was born and is a happy healthy 2 1/2 year old.

hang in there skinsguy. my advice is to stay positive and try to maintain a consistent level of calm. NICU has amazing doctors and these lil itty bitty babies are resilient.

Re: Officially a Father!
 

[quote=over the mountain;1092042]my newest niece is in NICU right now as well.

it is very rare that a pregnancy goes perfect.

when my daughter was born, we were right around the due date and was at a hospital radiology dept for an ultrasound to monitor the babies progress and whether she had passed the fibroids. we were told to immediately rush over to another hospital's maternity ward, something about low embiotic fluid etc .. after some very tense moments and emergency c section, my daughter was born and is a happy healthy 2 1/2 year old.

hang in there skinsguy. my advice is to stay positive and try to maintain a consistent level of calm. NICU has amazing doctors and these lil itty bitty babies are resilient.[/quote]

Over the mountain: Thanks so much for your words of encouragement. I'm trying to remain as positive as I can be. For the most part, I have, but hearing things like "heart murmur" scares me to death! I read up on it and it sounds like it's really common in preemies, but it's also much more serious in preemies than full term newborns. Which, of course, scares me to death. Medicine is usually the treatment with worst case scenario being surgery. It's a condition called PDA. Then again, he hasn't displayed any symptoms of labored breathing (except when he first came out which is almost always the case with preemies) nor elevated blood pressure or heart rate, so I'm hoping it's simply just an innocent murmur, which goes away as the kid ages.

But you're absolutely right...it's almost a rarity for any pregnancy to ever go completely smooth.

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congrats!

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[quote=skinsguy;1092038]Thank you again guys!

My wife told me that the doctor had informed us that he has a heart murmur, but wasn't displaying any concerning symptoms. Naturally, that makes me feel very uneasy. They're running some tests on him today. I know people live with heart murmurs all the time and are perfectly healthy, but it's hard enough having to leaving him in the NICU and now learning that he has a heart murmur.

It was hard enough concentrating on my work - now it's really hard to concentrate![/quote]


My middle grandson was born with a bad valve in his hart and at the age of 2 days had angioplasty to open the valve ,what they can do today is amazing they are in good hands .My grandson today is 7 and plays ,football , soccer and basketball................and is a skins fan ,I've ask my daughter if the Doctor can change that ,I said I would pay for it ,she said no .:mad:

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[quote=Giantone;1092170]My middle grandson was born with a bad valve in his hart and at the age of 2 days had angioplasty to open the valve ,what they can do today is amazing they are in good hands .My grandson today is 7 and plays ,football , soccer and basketball................and is a skins fan ,I've ask my daughter if the Doctor can change that ,I said I would pay for it ,she said no .:mad:[/quote]

LOL! Well, he sounds like a very smart young man! Yeah, the medical world is so advanced nowadays that people don't even blink at the thoughts of open-heart surgery anymore.

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I'm an uncle for the second time, Halloween baby too!

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[quote=Chico23231;1092363]I'm an uncle for the second time, Halloween baby too![/quote]


Congrats , hope all are well .:)

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[quote=Giantone;1092369]Congrats , hope all are well .:)[/quote]

Thanx, she is a month early so she is
in nicu.

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[quote=Chico23231;1092376]Thanx, she is a month early so she is
in nicu.[/quote]

Congrats chico! The NICU has an amazing group of nurses - at least the one my boy is currently in. It takes a very special person to work with these babies. She will probably get to go home pretty soon! What's taking my son awhile is that he is still being fed with a feeding tube, plus they discovered a couple of heart defects. So, he's probably going to be in there at least past Thanksgiving.

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[quote=skinsguy;1093091]Congrats chico! The NICU has an amazing group of nurses - at least the one my boy is currently in. It takes a very special person to work with these babies. She will probably get to go home pretty soon! What's taking my son awhile is that he is still being fed with a feeding tube, plus they discovered a couple of heart defects. So, he's probably going to be in there at least past Thanksgiving.[/quote]
Dude wow! Stay strong your in my thoughts.

For those that are not parents, here is something that changed for me when I had kids. Ever get that feel when you are about to fall, it is like tingle at least for guys your nuts kind of go up. Well you get the same feeling when you sense your kid might be about ready to get hurt.

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[quote=mredskins;1093161]Dude wow! Stay strong your in my thoughts.

For those that are not parents, here is something that changed for me when I had kids. Ever get that feel when you are about to fall, it is like tingle at least for guys your nuts kind of go up. Well you get the same feeling when you sense your kid might be about ready to get hurt.[/quote]

Pretty much! We have still yet to sit down with a cardiologist, but the pediatric physicians that have came to see us in the NICU all seem to give a different variation of what our little boy's heart issues are. But all seem to point to him doing well, otherwise, and at worst, requiring the surgery to correct the defects. But, they leave open the possibility of his heart defects correcting themselves, thus nixing the requirement of surgery. Ultimately, that's what I'd want, because the thoughts of my little man going under the knife is scary as all get out. At the same time, knowing that they could correct his issues with one surgery and us never having to worry about these heart issues again is something to really consider as well. So, as a new parent with a preemie, having to face that possibility is very unnerving. But, it's a real possibility and it's scares me to death!