Happy Birth Day Jared!

Jared arrived a few days ago, on time, as scheduled, with just a little bit of a rollercoaster ride. After our newest nephew was born he needed to go to the NICU for an hour or two for oxygen. Turns out he just had a little fluid in his lungs and he's perfectly OK! He scored a 9 out of 10 on the APGAR test shortly after being taken to NICU. The APGAR tests appearance (color), pulse, grimace (reflex), activity, and respiration in newborns. He is sooooo darling and cute!

Jared weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces and he was 20 1/2 inches long. His mother, Kat, is doing well, but has a recovery to go through herself. The new dad, my brother Mike, did well during it all, but looked a lot better after Jared, his first, was out of the NICU. Although he quickly got to hold Jared after he was born, Mom and I were there in the NICU when Mike was able to hold him and the realization of it all sunk in. He looked sooooo happy, proud, relieved, elated, and all the other emotions that describe being a parent for the first time.

I think his maternal grandmother, who's been a NICU nurse at this same hospital for the past 17 years, was taking extra special care of her newest grandson and one of her co-workers joked that she just wanted Jared to spend a little time in her unit, intensive care. She made sure that all was well and it was a relief to have her overseeing all the activities. It was really nice that she was able to give Jared his first bath. And she's a photographer so there's already hundreds of photos taken by her and another photographer she knows. In addition to all the other shots family and friends have taken. Wow! Here are a few taken by Rick and me.

It'll be a few weeks before we visit with them again and I'm sure Jared will have changed quite a bit. It puts a smile on my face to think that a year from now Jared will be running around playing with his cousin Leo and all the other cousins.