Campbell's First Beach Trip

Sunday the three of us went to Panama City Beach to a friends beach house for a couple days. The pictures of Campbell are real cute, but unfortunately I won't have the camera to post pictures until Saturday. Stay tuned.

Home Sweet New Home

Since finding out Katie, Campbell, and I will be in Birmingham for at least the next three years we were anxious to get a place to live nailed down. So this past Wednesday we all went up to Auburn, then Thursday Katie and I left Campbell with Katie's mom Pam and went to look at houses in Birmingham with a realtor. We saw a lot of good stuff, some bad, but went back up on Friday to look more specifically at a starter home-type neighborhood. We wanted something newer, in our price range, and not too far from the hospitals at which I'll be working . . . which is a lot to ask in Birmingham.

But on Friday we loved a lot of the houses in that neighborhood and the Lord was gracious to us and drew us to one in particular. We made an offer on Saturday and after multiple counteroffers came to an agreement Sunday afternoon for what we feel is a very fair price. Katie and I are very excited about this house. It not too far from the hospitals and has all the things we've (Katie) always wanted: hardwood floors, double vanity and seperate tub and shower in the master bath, a good backyard for Bailey (which I will need to fence in), great kitchen, and three bedrooms so we will have an extra room for ALL of our friends from Mobile to come and visit!! And they better . . .

New Pictures of Campbell

Okay, here are a bunch of pictures without the usual boring text. Enjoy!

The Envelope Please . . .

...and the winner is, Baptist Health System, Birmingham, Alabama! That was my first choice so I am pretty happy. For the first time in my life I have a real job. Or at least a job that you have to have more than a high school education to get. Now comes the task of looking for a house in Birmingham. And not just a house, but a house in our price range, which is pretty low. Thanks for everyones prayers and encouragement about Match Day, and especially to our friends in Mobile who were torn between rooting for me to get my first choice and not wanting us to leave Mobile. I appreciate your objectivity.

Here are some photos from Match Day including my beautiful wife and daughter! Campbell looks really cute in her dress. I promise from now on more posts will be about Campbell and with more pictures too. Thats all anybody really wants to see anyway.

Beware The Ides of March . . .

William Shakespeare must have, at some point, been a fourth year medical student. As you may not be aware, March 15th is what, for me and tens of thousands of other fourth year medical students across the country, is known as Match Day. This is the day that the National Residency Match Program releases the results of where everyone will be doing their residency training. To sum up how it works, we as applicants apply and interview at various programs from about November to January. At the end of February we the applicants rank the programs we applied to from 1 down to however many you applied. The programs also rank all the kids that applied from whom they want the most on down. These rank lists go into a computer and through some algorithm and/or gorrilla math it spits out matches of students and programs. Obviously if you are a more competitive applicant, the likelihood of you getting your first choice is higher. If you're a big slacker, you might get your last choice or even not rank at all. If you do rank, you are contractually bound to fulfill that committment to wherever you matched.

Anyway, for me this is all revealed one week from tomorrow at a mini-ceremony for our class. Pray that I will readily accept wherever God has placed me. Hopefully my first choice, but God seems to like to do his own thing, so I kind of won't be surprised if its not. Either way, for fourth years, beware the Ides of March.

Falling Asleep On The Job

Yes, we're tired. Last night at some point (don't ask me the time) Katie and I got up to feed Campbell. I went to pick her up to stop her from crying and came back to our room while Katie was getting the rest of her things together to feed her. Well, as Proverbs 6:10 goes ,"A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest...", one thing leads to another, and its snoozeville. Katie amazingly had her wits about her at this wee hour and grabbed the camera and was able to snap this photo. These are the kind we'll enjoy many many years from now, say perhaps at Campbell's rehearsal dinner or something. A little Daddy/Daughter moment. I like it. No, I love it.

Uncle Gavin & Aunt Alissa Visited Me!

Sorry my mommy and daddy haven't updated this blog in a while, I'm keeping them kinda busy. I got a little sick and mommy is still getting better too. But guess what! My Uncle Gavin and Aunt Alissa came and visited me and we had lots of fun. They held me and played with me and tried to keep me awake after I ate. I think they mostly hung out with mommy and daddy, but I can't say for sure, I was sleeping most of the time they were here.

But I sure am glad they came! They love me a whole bunch and took some pictures of me. I think my daddy is sposed to be putting them on here for everybody to see. I get kinda embarrassed but you gotta give the people what they want I guess. Well, its time for me to go back to sleep, but I'll tell daddy to post more often, so don't get too mad at him, k? I love you guys and be sure to comment on how cute you think I am. Just kidding . . . okay, I'm not. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I put on my best Valentine's outfit and wanted to show everyone my best side! I love you guys and hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day! I'm pretty tired now, so I'm gonna go take a little nap...
Love, Campbell
P.S. XOXOXOX

Campbell Unplugged: Live from Mobile

Praise God!! Campbell's bilirubin yesterday was around 12 so the pediatrician said to keep her on the light until this afternoon and then we could stop. Katie and I are so thankful. It might not seem like that big of a deal, but now Campbell can finally sleep in her own crib in her own room. Up until now she has been sleeping in the Pack 'n Play downstairs so she can be close to the light. Its also so nice to not have to aggravate her by putting that light up her shirt every time you change her, which was every 2 hours; thats how often we were having to feed her around the clock. Its just one more step toward resuming a quasi-normal existance and we are very thankful.

Bath Time, plus

We gave Campbell a bath today. Thought I'd share some cute pictures with everybody. A couple aren't of bath time, but I thought they were good too. I love to see her yawn! On the bilirubin front, we are waiting to hear what it is today, but from Friday to Saturday it went from 19 to 17, so hopefully today it will be around 13-14 and maybe she can come off the light by tomorrow or Wednesday. We are all doing pretty well otherwise, just trying to get the hang of this, but I think things are going pretty well... enjoy the pics.

Home and adjusting...

Well, we are all home now. Campbell's bilirubin* was a little high when we got discharged from the hospital, which is not uncommon. So, she has to have this UV light thing that slips under her back to help breakdown that bilirubin. She has to have it on as much as possible, which is kind of unwieldy but not too bad.

Katie is doing much better and is up and around wonderfully. Last night was pretty sleepless, which I'm sure will be the norm, not the exception. Campbell is starting to do really well feeding, and I am so proud of Katie's patience. Bailey (our dog) is doing great with Campbell as well, being really gentle and sniffing her to figure things out. Here's a new slide show with some more pictures. Keep checking back for new ones! For now . . . its nap time.

*a bile pigment from breakdown of red blood cells, causes the yellow color of jaundice

Finally OUTTA Compton!!

Our precious baby girl Campbell Grace was born unexpectedly yesterday at 2:12pm and weighed in at 7lbs. 12.5oz. and measured 20 inches. Both mom and baby are doing great! Katie did so well! Here is a smattering of pictures for those of you chomping at the bit...

No Joke

Oops! Katies in labor. Stay tuned . . .

Twelve Days and Counting . . .

Katie's apponitment today with the OB went very well. Per ultrasound, baby Campbell is 7 lbs. 11 ounces. We were very happy about only a 1/2 pound gain! Katie is now 36 weeks and 2 days, and this visit was the first time that the OB wanted to check her cervix. We were praying for her to have progressed, and she had just a bit. He said her cervix is softening, and almost 1 cm. Thats by no means a disappointment, considering she is still 4 weeks from her original due date. He was happy about her not getting too big and does think we can try for a regular deliver instead of a C-section. We were thankful for that as well. We are scheduled for induction on Feb 12, but will go in the hospital the night before.

As an aside, I confirmed with Dr. Plessala about me getting to deliver Campbell, barring any adverse events. I am pumped to get to be the first one to hold our child and get to hand her to my wife who will have worked and has worked so hard to get her here. Nothing like keeping it in the family, huh? I guess there are some perks to being in medical school and having delivered babies before. I figured if I've delivered other peoples babies, why not my own. I'm glad her OB agreed.

Got Milk?

This post is to officially announce that Katie and I have decided that Campbell will be exclusively breastfed until she begins junior highschool. Breast milk really is best, so why not forever. Okay, okay, maybe we won't do it that long, but after going to the breast feeding class at the hospital on Monday, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some odd folks out there who come close. The class was actually pretty good and not that hard-core about it. We were glad. But, they did show this video that was somewhat odd in its praise of breastfeeding, and almost made Katie want to exclusively formula feed just to spite those weird people on the video. She was like, "Why do those people have to be such freaks about it! Why can't you just breastfeed your child and thats it?" In her defense, those people were definately weird. Despite that, we will still breastfeed Campbell, but not for an inordinate amount of time. I say we, but I think I might have to let Katie do most of that. I guess I'll burp her or something. . .