Keim-web.com

Ava Rose Keim arrived on January 20th, 2005 at 7:47 am. It’s been five days and I am only now getting pictures put up on the web. My brother reminded me that it was just a few hours after Mason’s birth before I got pictures up. It’s been a little crazy this time.

NOTE: The photo galleries are now fixed and some new pictures have been put up. Check them out by clicking the “galleries” navigation link at the top of the page or by clicking on the picture below.

Ava and Christi came home yesterday (Monday). Ava has been doing great.

Christi, on the other hand, has had a bit of a rough time with this delivery. The epidural was again a problem for Christi. They ended up giving Christi twice the dosage they would have given someone almost twice her size. Turns out she has a somewhat rare physical characteristic to her spine that causes most of the medicine to basically dump down one side. So, she had one very numb leg. They decided to remove the epidural and just use oral pain medication. However, by Friday evening she was getting a little behind on her pain medication—I guess she wanted to try and tough it out—how unlike her. Fortunately, her nurse took charge and started getting her pain under control. On Saturday, her pain was better but she seemed to have a migraine that the pain medication couldn’t touch. Turns out she had a spinal headache—a condition that was the result of her combination spinal tap-epidural—a small leak of spinal fluid. The thing about spinal headaches is that they can go on for two to four weeks and since it was already puttig Christi flat on her back, Christi’s maternity leave wasn’t looking too enjoyable. Fortunately, she had a blood patch on Sunday that took and gave her immediate relief. Yesterday she realized that she was coming down with a cold. She just can’t catch a break. She got some good sleep last night and I think she is feeling a little better today.

Mason loves his little sister. In fact, he told my mother they other day “I love Ava’s whole body.” Yesterday morning he told me that he loves Ava “because she looks like a normal baby.” I’m not sure just what he was expecting. Today, as I took him to school, he said, “I love our whole family.”

I guess I’d have to agree most of Mason’s sentiments. However, the only way in which she is a “normal” baby is that she is so special. In spite of the lack of sleep and Christi’s problems with the delivery and recovery, we couldn’t be more happy with our little family.