Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year's Eve!




Thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family who have called, emailed, and come to visit! It has been busy but we have been rewarded with lots of good vibes (and food!). We have been delighted to be able to introduce Reed (and Rachel and Bill) with lots of the important people in our lives.

Here are some more pictures:








Monday, December 21, 2009

Solstice Update


Reed is nine days old today and we've had a wonderful week getting to know him - he is a great communicator. Which has made caring for him delightfully and surprisingly uncomplicated.

He has gotten to know many friends and family this week and it has been really nice to have so much help from Gigi and Maura's mother. He has already been out on a couple of walks enjoying our forest and will make an appearance at his first Solstice party tonight at Jeff's house. He also got to spend some special time with Rachel and Bill yesterday.

Thanks for all the well wishes and here are some more pictures from this past week.





Friday, December 18, 2009

Home at last!


We got home at about 6pm on Tuesday December 15th. Gigi brought home Indian take-out and Jeff, Patti, and Marli (Doug's brother's family) came over right away.

Marli (who is 13 months old) was fascinated by her new cousin! I picked her up and she seemed huge after having been holding Reed.

This picture is from the next day - could this really be a 3 day old baby?

UNC Hospital

Reed was a picture perfect healthy baby with one small exception - his breathing was a little fast. The nurses at the Birthing Center kept checking him all day and he was just barely out of the range that they could release him. Since they are not a hospital they can only watch him for up to 12 hours and when the time came close they had to transfer him to the hospital - fast respiration is an indication of a variety of lung problems. The nurse said she had been procrastinating calling the hospital since he was doing so exceptionally well.

He had to be transferred in an ambulance and it was all pretty horrifying after our nice day at the Birthing Center. Reed, Maura and I spent almost two days at the hospital where they determined that the fast breathing was caused by normal fluid in the lungs. Maura and I stayed at his bed most of the time and were able to feed him every 3 hours. He charmed everyone who came near.

As much as we didn't want to be at the hospital, there were quite a few silver linings. We had many nice surprise connections: the parents of the baby next to us were in our birth class, we ran into another birth class parent who was in labor, we knew a nurse in our ward who was in our adoption orientation class, and the Doctor was friends with our pediatrician (which probably helped us get out of the hospital a little earlier than otherwise). We also learned alot from the lactation consultants.

After we were discharged, we gathered in the Children's Chapel in the hospital for our adoption Entrustment Ceremony - Rachel, Bill, Shelley, Kathryn, Big Meredith, Gigi, Little Meredith, Maura and I were there. Rachel and Bill and then Maura and I read some words we had written to each other and then we had a toast with Champagne and chocolate peanut butter balls.

The Birthing Center.

Reed was born at the Women's Birth and Wellness Center in Chapel Hill, NC. They have large rooms for delivery and a great family room with kitchen. The birth was everything we had hoped for all of us - lots of time together and lots of control for Rachel. Rachel (Birth Mother), Bill (Birth Father), Shelly (our Friend), Kathryn (Rachel's Sister), Maura (Adoptive Mother), and Doug (Adoptive Father) all got to the Birthing Center at about 4:30am and started to use skills we had learned together at our birth class.

After Reed William Max was born we spent the day together at the birth center holding the baby, eating, napping, and having a good recovery day. Maura's mother Meredith, Gigi, and little Meredith showed up a couple of hours after the birth with food for everyone.

Here are some more pictures.



Welcome Reed William Max Dotson!


We are so pleased to announce that Reed William Max Dotson was born Sunday December 13th at 8:54 am! He weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 23 inches long - a beautiful sweet healthy boy.

Most of you know that Maura and I have been collaborating with our wonderful friends Bill and Rachel to adopt their baby. He is finally here and we couldn't be happier!