Visit with "Aunt" Casey

BFF Casey came to visit for the weekend! So much fun to see you, Case, and Miles was THRILLED to have his Aunt Casey here. Case got to snuggle sweet Miles while Rob and I got some pre-move stuff done around the house. We took the baby to Proof for dinner, one of the MANY restaurants this budding foodie will have visited in his first months of lifeJ He seems to do well in loud restaurants which is great because we plan on following the advice of friends and taking him to many more restaurants while he’s still sleeping quite a bit and not yet mobile enough to cause too much trouble. Casey and I even managed to get in a heated game of scrabble for old time’s sake – we don’t need to talk about who won, especially since the game was cut short by our early 9pm, 30 something bedtimes.

Lunch with Zoo Friends

We had lunch with the Zoo’s leadership team today (“ADCOM”), so that my non-furry and non-feathered friends could meet little Miles.  These folks are some of my closest colleagues and buddies from the office. We meet every Monday afternoon and they had been watching my belly grow from week to week. Each person around the table took a turn cuddling and ogling over him, including Dr. Burns and Debbie, pictured here.  Dr. Burns was cute – he took the baby into the corner and had a private moment adoring him. Pretty adorable. There was lots of love around the lunch table at the Bristol; Miles is really going to miss his Zoo family, and so am I!

Our First Walk

Today Miles and Mommy took our first walk in our Louisville neighborhood, Crescent Hill.  Walk wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Heine Brothers, where our beautiful baby boy now serves to explain my shift over the last 9 months from black iced coffee to half decafJ  It was great to get out and about and Miles loved the stroller and the walk.

The Bris

Miles’ bris was today. For our non-Jewish friends, this is the ceremony where Jewish babies are circumcised and also where the origin of the baby’s Jewish and English names are explained. It was a very nice service and we were lucky to have Dr. Cohen—Miles’ doc from the NICU—to actually perform the circumcision procedure. (Dr. Cohen assured us he doesn’t drink on Wednesdays which was a reliefJ) We were surrounded by family and friends and of course ended the ceremony with a feast of lots and lots of yummy food thanks to Tina and DavidJ 

We’d like to share the sentiments we gave to the Cantor who performed the service about where Miles’ middle name and Hebrew name, respectively, come from:

English Middle Name: Samuel, after Miles’ Great Grandpa Sam

Rob's Grandpa Sam was a kind and gentle man with a big heart who always prioritized caring for his family as well as serving others and the community.  Sam was a teacher for decades and spent his free time mentoring his students and offering volunteer accounting services to those in need.  Rob attributes his own desire to make the world a better place to the values Grandpa Sam passed down to his Dad and Uncle Lenny and then to Rob and his brother Adam.   Anyone who knew Sam would say he lived life with integrity and honesty.  Another characteristic passed down through the generations - Sam's intensive planning and attention to detail as marked by the dozens of grading notebooks and plans we found after his passing.  Rob and Jill have no doubt these are values and traits that will be passed down to little Miles. Rob recalls fun days in the garden and trips to East Quogue to visit, as well as a most recent and very memorable visit with Jill to see Sam before he passed away.

Hebrew Name: Asher, after Miles’ Great Grandpa Charlie

While Jill's grandpa Charlie passed away when Jill was just 7 years old, he had a profound impact on her. Jill spent many weekends with her grandparents, marked by frequent trips to the candy store and hours and hours of swimming in the pool...Charlie never seemed to tire of "watch me swim like a fish" Grandpa! Jill also has fond memories of looking for change on the ground during long walks together. And bouncing up and down on Grandpa’s big belly when she was really little.  Grandpa Charlie was a kind, hardworking man who taught Jill the importance of family, caring for others, and smiling despite adversity.

Cantor calming baby Miles down after the circumcision, with proud grandfathers  in background.

Cantor making a penis joke that got everyone laughing.

Family photo.

Rob excited about the nashing that's about to happen.

Dear friends Whitney and Michael.

Dear friends Sean and Aaron, and KY playmates Hayley and Ryan.

Dear friends Kacy and Melanie...we miss you all!!

Home Sweet Home

We arrived home on Sunday and we’re all so happy to be sleeping in our own beds!  We came home to an entourage of grandparents and paparazzi style cameras and fanfare fit for such an important occasion. Miles hasn’t been put down to sleep much as grandparents are enjoying his every waking (and sleeping!) moment. He is just precious and doing really well.  Eating well, sleeping 3-4 hours at a stretch. We went for our first pediatrician visit this morning and it went great! Dr. Belza says we’re doing really well. Miles gained 2 ounces in the last two days since coming home, and he checked out just fine from his exam. Next well peds visit is when he’s one month. Tomorrow is the Bris, we’ll let you know how it goes…

Unplanned Visit to the NICU

You expect your delivery, especially the first one, to be textbook.  The baby’s born, dad cuts the cord, baby’s nose is suctioned and he cries, and he’s then placed on mom’s chest and everything is perfect.  We didn’t quite have that experience with Mr. Miles.  He did cry immediately and the doctor quelled our suspense by shouting “it’s a boy”. But then the nurses brought the baby over to a side neonatal area and started working on him. While it was all a bit surreal, we knew immediately that something was wrong. We soon learned that while his Apgar Score was 9 and then 8 (10 is the best), he was having trouble keeping his oxygen levels up and would need to be transported to the NICU. Rob and I each got to hold him for a couple of minutes before he was whisked away.

It was eerily quiet and uncertainty and fear were starting to set in. Somehow I was calmer that Rob (probably the drugs), but also we knew that he was in good hands…and we only came to realize this more and more as the week unfolded. The nurses and doctors in the NICU were absolutely amazing, keeping us informed and him improving at every turn.  While the doctors prepared us for the worst case scenario, after a couple of days it became clear that worst case scenario was thankfully out of the picture. Miles aspirated on some amniotic fluid and that led to an infection. He was on antibiotics until his CRP levels (which indicate inflammation, a sign of infection) were reading below 5.  It was one of the longest weeks of our lives but again, the amazing care Miles received – along with our love and support and the good thoughts and prayers of our family and friends – helped him to quickly recover and thrive.    

During our morning 6am feeding today, I heard the good news that our score was below 5 and we were going home! I couldn’t wait to get back to our Ronald McDonald house room (where we are so grateful to have stayed while Miles was in the NICU) to tell Rob the good news. And this afternoon, we brought home our healthy baby boy!

A Labor of Love...Miles Samuel is Born!

At 11pm last night, I felt my first contraction. For the next 9 hours, contractions were quite erratic (anywhere from 30 minutes to 8 minutes apart). By 6:00am, while we hadn't reached the textbook 5-7 minute, head-to-the-hospital intervals, my pain level had increased significantly and by 7:45am, we were on our way to Norton Suburban.  I barely made it through the admissions check in, and by the time we got checked out, I was already 7cm...and by the time the epidural kicked in, I was at 10 cm! So much for my theory that red heads have low tolerance for pain. The epidural was amazing, and within 10 minutes we were chilling out listening to Jack Johnson and patiently waiting for baby boy Kaplan to arrive. After just over an hour of pushing, Miles Samuel Kaplan was born at 3:25pm weighing 8 lbs 2 oz and measuring 20 inches long. Both mom and dad cried tears of joy as our son made his way into the world...