Blessed from Above...

Our precious little Will made his grand entrance to the world on Tuesday, Aug. 25th at 6:11 AM. Both mom and dad are thrilled that he is here and that the very strenuous and long delivery is behind us. William Zachary Elder weighed in at 6lbs. 3oz. and is 19 and 3/4 in. long. He has been spending his time with the wonderful Riley North NICU team here at Clarian North due to the magnesium sulfate that mom had to be on for high blood pressure during delivery. The mag made mom very sick with double vision, hot flashes, and a feeling of overall drunkenness for the day of the delivery and the entire next 24 hours. The magnesium causes babies to be more lethargic than normal. Will seems to be handling it fine in the NICU because he is breathing very well on his own, his heart rate is wonderful, and he opens his eyes a couple times a day! Will has many bumps and bruises from the forceps delivery, and this is another reason for the NICU to watch over him. He's just a little soar!! His busted lower lip, bruised nose, and marks on his face/head are all healing very quickly, but they definitely caused little Will to not want to eat much at first! Thanks to the fab NICU team, Will has been getting great care & nourishment through a feeding tube and today he started to do some feedings on his own without the tube. This means the tylenol they provide Will with is helping his lower lip not ache so bad! =) The saddest part is that momma can't even be with her baby during the first day of his life. Due to the magnesium I had to be on for 24 hours after delivery, I could only be wheeled down to the NICU to see my baby for 30 minutes total during the first day of his life. Talk about difficult for mom to handle!

We think he's just precious and perfect. We also feel blessed to have him in our life. We're so thankful for all of the loving support our family & friends have showered us with. Can't wait for everyone to meet him!
Thank you for following our updates! Your prayers are appreciated beyond words.
Love,
Alyson & Jeff

P.S. It's taken me a long time (8 weeks to be exact) to emotionally heal from our traumatic delivery in order to be able to post a picture of how our sweet boy looked when he was first born. But I feel it's an important part of the process of appreciating just how far he's come and a part of the miracle that he is today! This is one picture that shows how little Will was hurt from the long strenuous delivery. The magnesium in his system made him a limp noodle and the physical marks are all from the forceps. CLEARLY, my ex-OB did not have the necessary skills with forceps...rrrr. And why didn't she just do a c-section?! Jeff and I decided to fire her from delivering any more of our babies! So here it goes....