Made it through another night and day pretty smoothly with one hiccup: Belle’s bilirubin was up to 11.5 unknown units in the morning and 13 of those same units in the evening.  They say the normal limit for a 2 day old is 12 of these, so they moved her to sleep on a UV table that she hates because she can’t be swaddled in it.   She essentially missed a nap fussing until we opened up our package of pacifiers and popped one in.   Tonight may still end up a bit longer night, but we hope it’s worth it so when we go home tomorrow we won’t need a lot of follow up.

I got the bill today as Dad’s are wont to do I suppose – having a baby in Taiwan and staying for three days costs $557.22.   The service has been top notch. Nationalized health care isn’t so bad I guess.

Everyone we talked to today has been asking for more pictures so I did my best to oblige.  I also added a short movie of Belle having her first swim, Taiwan style, that you can download through the gallery (if it doesn’t play download VLC).

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I’ve nicknamed our Baby Belle “The Cheesewheel”.  We’ll see if it sticks.

Cynthia and Belle are both quietly napping.  Things have calmed down a bit from yesterdays surreal intensity, and we got our first taste of real parenting (i.e. sleeping in bursts) overnight.    Belle is feeding well, has gone through a few diapers, and fallen asleep in my arms a few times.  She likes to be held and swayed while walking, which has become my department since I’m a bit more mobile than Cynthia currently (Cynthia’s department at this point would be best titled “boobs”).  Compared to the screaming babies we hear in the halls around us Belle seems pretty mellow – once we take care of the problem at hand and keep her swaddled she calms down almost immediately.   Hopefully this will stick. 

I left for a while to pick up some things at home, shower and go to Easter Sunday mass.   With due respect to the Easter basket’s of my youth which were packed with homemade chocolate, this is certainly the most joyful Easter I’ve ever had and probably ever will.   He gives us new life indeed.  Cynthia and I agree that this birth experience has gone as close to our wishes as we could have asked, and I give thanks for that.

Enough sentimentality, I know what you are really here for: more pictures of the baby.  Click on the pic below to go to the gallery with some more pics from yesterday and today.

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Belle Marie Cassleman was born at 7:02pm weighing 8lbs 1.5oz and measuring 19.9″.   Cynthia did an amazing job . . . both Belle and her mom are beautiful and doing fine.

Like her father she’ll be the biggest baby in the nursery, though the bar is pretty low with these tiny Asian babies.  The fates dictated that Belle Marie be named after two great grandmothers – Mary Belle Cassleman, Pat’s grandma, and Mary Belle Meadows, Cynthia’s grandma.  Marie was also her grandmother Angela Marie Cassleman’s middle name.

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Cynthia’s been pushing the last hour and a half, making guttural sounds I’ve never heard before but I do remember from the videos in birthing class.   She wants to be done.  The intensity has fallen off a bit the last half hour or so.  Baby’s heartbeat is still good.  Almost there.   The nurse just said she needs to move to the bed because she’s almost crowning.

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Cynthia is a rock star Contractions at 3 mins, 7cm dialated.   Contraction strength is off the charts on the fetal monitor.  The baby is coming today.

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