For those of you who still want to see the announcement page, it is located here.
Well,
Not sure where to start. Ellie has certainly kept us busy these past few days. It’s amazing how much you forget about how little sleep you get with a newborn! Our first few days were made a little more exciting by Ellie’s ABO incompatibility. The long and short of it is this: Tricia has Type O blood and I have Type A blood. Ellie inherited the Type A blood from me. Tricia has antibodies against Type A as part of her natural immunity. During birth, some of Tricia’s antibodies made it into Ellie’s system and those antibodies started attacking Ellie’s red blood cells. This led to jaundice. SO, we got to do the phototherapy/bili light excitement. I must admit, it’s SUPER EASY to order phototherapy for OTHER PEOPLE’s babies (I did this numerous times as a resident). BUT, it’s a completely different story when it’s you in the room trying to keep this screaming thing happy AND under the lights for 12 hours! What a journey.
Regardless, things are going well and both Tricia and Ellie are great. I’m thrilled because I now have laboratory evidence of Tricia’s rejection of me!! (that’s, like, the 30th time I’ve told that joke…it just gets funnier and funnier)
We came home yesterday and have been settling in. Abigail is THRIVING as a big sister. She has learned how to “shush” Ellie to soothe her. Any time Ellie starts crying, Abby is the first one over there “ssssshhhhh”-ing her. She’s been a great big sister.
I was able to sit down and go through the photos from the first few days and wanted to share them with you. As you can imagine, there will be PLENTY more in the coming weeks.
For now, enjoy the following.
J
Barely 2 hours old. Getting her first bath by the corpsman. He was very thorough!
Getting her hair washed. She wasn’t too happy during this whole ordeal, but she survived.
Taking her mandatory 30 minute rest after bath time. They have to make sure that she can regulate her temperature after the bath so she stays under the warmer. She has the erythromycin cream in her eyes which is why they look so goopy.
Our Obstetrician. What an awesome physician. She was so nice and supportive during the whole pregnancy. She ended up in surgery during the delivery and wasn’t able to be there but we were in the VERY capable hands of Dr. Austin who did an AMAZING job with Tricia.
Our nurse for the day. Genie was so great. She had the perfect mix of comfort and drill sergeant. There were times when she would help out with a little massage and other times when she would inform us that we were going to do this NOW and not ask questions.
This is Abby meeting Ellie for the first time. Abby was a little timid at first and didn’t even want to kiss her sister. She got over that over the next two days and now is all kisses.
Sitting with her little sister for the first time.
Here we are – the 4 of us. Our new, slightly larger family.
Day 1 – me with my girls. Weird to see me IN the photo instead of taking it! (thanks Mom!)
First photo at the house. We have a similar one of me with Abby when we got home with her back in 2007. Now, she’s almost too big to hold and I have a second one to keep track of.
Welcome to our world. I’m sure you can “hear” what that sounds like from your side of the interwebs.
So sweet and beautiful. I gotta be the luckiest guy in the world.
A rare moment of quiet captured on film. This will break some hearts when Ellie gets married in about 40 or 50 years.
Enough said.
Another shot of Ellie not participating in her first photo shoot. We’ll show this one to the first boyfriend and tell horrible, embarrassing stories.
Sitting in her swing enjoying the afternoon. At least she is sleeping. But, like all babies, she sleeps during the day and is up at night. WHY DO THEY DO THIS!?!
A scaled-down version of the announcement web page. Will print nicely at 4x6inches.
Thank you soo much Jacob, the pictures are soo beautiful, and of couse that pesty ol’ tear (of joy) always rolls down the cheek. How truly blessed you and Tricia are and how truly blessed we all are. Thank you again!
I am sooooo glad Jacob likes to take pictures!…….thank-you for sharing your joys, blessings and smiles! What a beautiful family……
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! She’s beautiful and already looks like Miss Abigail! Go Wesslers!!
She is wonderful, and seeing the pic of Abby kissing her is priceless. Abby is a champ of a Sister! Hugs and kisses to all until we can be there to do it in person ourselves!! We love you!
We are so happy we were able to spend some time with the four of you yesterday. You couldn’t be more right when you say Abby is a wonderful big sister, from kisses to checking on Ellie when she cries, she is the best of the best! Ellie is sweet perfection and we couldn’t get enough of her being such a cuddle bug! Congratulations to all of you on your new addition! We are so happy for all of you!
Love,
Uncle Matt and Aunt Carley
Oh my gracious this was a fabulous narrative and photos!!! My heart is about to burst!!
We can’t wait to meet her in person!
Congrat’s Wessler’s!
I had no idea, I just randomly checked on the website and got to see the new family.
I’m happy that Elizabeth Jane is healthy. She is absolutely beautiful.
I look forward to see if you can keep up with all the pictures!
-Sean Hipp