Dillon has three surviving great-grandmothers at the moment. On Christmas Eve, Great-Grandma Burke got see her newest great-grandchild, pictured here. It was a great party, but Dillon slept through most of it, noisy adults and children alike.

From his great-grandma, he received a cute, christmas teddy bear.

Of interest was his cousin Nathan stopping into a room where Dillon and my wife were for a moments feeding. Although Dillon was hidden from view by a blanket, he pointed over there and told the other boy with him that it was his cousin Dillon. They then promptly left. This was significant to my wife. It was cool to see the four-year-old boy proudly declare his relation to the baby.

We are hoping to visit another of his great-grandmothers for New Year's Eve. With a wedding or two planned for Annette's family this next year, hopefully Dillon will get a picture or two snapped of him with his surviving great-grandmother on his mom's side. So, the Lord willing, he will get at least one picture snapped with each of his three surviving great-grandmothers. 

From left to right on this picture, we have Annette, myself, Grandpa Jack, Dillon (in grandpa's arm), and Grandma. Jack Dillon is a professional scouter, so it's a little interesting that he had only daughters. Where things a good twist is his married daughters. So far, every one of the three daughters he has married thus far has had a boy as their first child.

In quite a contrast to my own father, I am told that Jack went straight to the baby at the airport when my wife and sister picked them up. He really enjoyed holding his grandson.

Annette told me early on that she wanted a boy as her first child. Apparently, she had thought it would've been nice to have an older brother. With this thought, she wanted her own children to have just that. Dillon fulfills that wish, although we would've been happy no matter what.

The people who participated in the circle for Dillon's blessing were Jack Dillon, John Burke, Brian Burke (my brother), Bishop Squire, and myself. The blessing was a rather simple one.

I can only wonder if what my wife saw as she sat in the congregation was the same as she had envisioned when we still just dating. It was something she had told me about back then. When someone was blessing their child in church, she had a vision of me up there holding our child. That was several months before I proposed to her, so the comment obviously didn't scare me off. So, over a year later, perhaps not quite as envisioned, she got to see that come true. 

While our faith doesn't do christenings, we do give priesthood blessings to our precious little children. As the father, I had the privilege and opportunity to do this for little Dillon the second weekend of December. So, a couple weeks later, I finally post some pics taken while his grandparents had all gathered around to adore their new grandchild.

Dillon is the third grandson, and fourth grandchild on both sides. This picture is his Grandma and Grandpa Burke. My dad was letting everyone else hold the baby most of the time.

Because Dillon was born with very little hair on the top of his but plenty of hair around the sides, we got to hear a little bit about my own early hair. It seems that I was born the same way. My dad was in the air force at the time, and my hair on the sides was the source of some teasing about his hippy son. So, my dad gave me my first haircut at three weeks old.

It is barely over a month, and Dillon hasn't had his hair cut yet. I couldn't help think though, that Dillon is starting life with a bald look similar to what his dad may be slowly developing. The difference is that he's filling in his bald spot with fresh hair growth.

Well, it has been awhile since I have posted a blog. I am sitting here watching my little one sleep. He is doing much better, which has mommy very excited. He has decided to eat every two hours at night and go between two and four hours duing the day, but we are getting adjusted to that. I am stating to get some of my energy back to start getting my new home put in order. I am still walking around in a maze of boxes everywhere. Dan has been great in trying to do some while he is home. But, today it was back to work, out of town, for him so we won't be seeing him much this week at all, but we knew that was going to be the case.

We had a quite Thanksgiving Dinner here at our home. Dan did a great job cooking the ham, potatos, exct.
The picture is the day we got to come home from the hospital with Dillon, our first family picture.
Well until later.
Netty

That first night, it wasn’t Dillon that I stared at. It was my wife, Annette. She looked quite radiant to me holding our little boy. We didn’t have any other pics that I thought showed the IVs too well, so here’s one of her holding Dillon that Friday night. We were very excited, hungry, and tired.

Brian ended up bringing us dinner from McDonalds. I may have had breakfast and lunch, but I had eaten light and was so focused on Annette that I didn’t realize just how hungry I was until it was over. As for Annette, she had been having trouble keeping down even water much of the day. And since Sarah had hung out with us during those last couple, exciting hours, she was rightfully hungry too.

Later that evening, Annette almost fainted. We would end up staying in the hospital until Sunday for them to observe her. Once the magnesium sulfate dripped was removed, not only did Annette rejoice, her heart rate went down gradually after that point. As for her blood pressure, well that had gone down as soon as labor was over. She had lost quite a bit of blood during birth, so they had rightfully been a bit concerned.

We were getting tired of the hospital scenery, but Dillon was diagnosed with jaundice and low blood sugar when they examined him Sunday. They did some blood work and required that he stay until Tuesday morning. When they started to talk about sending him to a children’s hospital in St. Paul, Annette’s anxiety went up once again. Fortunately, the initial blood work came back fine.

Annette ended up staying there to feed him, although she had been discharged. I supported this because I wanted to her to have Dillon take to breast feeding like she wanted. It meant frequent feedings, but once her milk started to come in things also began to go more smoothly with the feedings and his blood sugar. I slept the nights there as well to be near her and support her as I felt I ought to.

We ended up taking the special jaundice blanket home with us to radiate him with special light during his sleep to help his skin. However, he chose to eat every hour that night. While this meant a sleep deprivation headache for Annette in the morning, his levels had come down quite substantially when they did another blood test Wednesday.

It is nice to be home with our little boy. I have an apartment to get unpacked, a car to fix, and yet I am at peace and feel great about it all since we have our little boy here. He does seem to like sleeping next to his mom and being held. Mom and dad make great beds it seems, his mom especially.

For what seemed like such a long time, Annette stayed at eight centimeters dilation. Even once she was given the okay to push, it would take over an hour before Dillon would be born. The doctor had returned and waited outside doing some paperwork or other stuff so he would not get in the way of labor until it was time for him to do his part of things.

Thinking of keeping unnecessary disturbances down, I actually rejected a call from my parents during this part of labor. I just looked over at the cell phone, read who it was, and hit reject. It was nothing personal, but my wife’s needs were my overriding concern at this point. I figured that they could forgive me afterwards. This actually brought some comfort to Annette when I told her that I wasn’t answering my phone because she was more important. I had actually left our hospital room telephone number with some people earlier at Annette’s request but had personally added that I would appreciate it if they limited the calling a bit.

Annette’s own mom would call shortly after Dillon was born. Talk about great timing. It also meant one less phone call for me to make once he was here. I did get a lot of answering machines that night.

Dillon was born at 7:28 PM Central Time (United States), Friday, November 18, 2005. He weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long.

It was nice to be able to hold him. As I would tell my father later, I really didn’t feel any different at that moment. I knew he was my son. He actually settled down in my arms and my voice seemed to soothe him. I knew then that it would be a lot like marriage for me. It would take time for any change to settle in. I think that I am feeling more like a real dad as I write this, but I must be honest that at first it didn’t quite feel real even though I knew it was.

I can’t help but that think that the magnesium sulfate may have been stopping labor for Annette. Sarah ended up telling us that evening that she had learned it was also used to stop labor when a baby was premature. It actually makes sense. A medication to stop seizures could be used that effects the muscles. This would have a similar effect on the uterus. We may think of it as a special organ for babies, which it is, but it is also a muscle when it comes to actually pushing the baby out. Such a drug would not necessarily distinguish the difference between contractions and seizures. If it is indeed used to stop labor, then it becomes rapidly apparent that the drug cannot distinguish the difference. Hindsight is always 20-20.... Oh, well. Could we have been holding Dillon way early Friday morning if the drip had been reduced from the beginning? It is a mute point now. The only value it holds anymore is for future pregnancies.

Besides, Dillon is healthy baby boy. His dad has already had the pleasure of just sitting and watching him sleep a couple times. This is very enjoyable. I think I really like being a dad.

After eighteen hours from the time the water broke, they put Annette on anti-biotics. In the morning they would add a pitocin drip on another IV in her other hand. This was now two needles more than Annette had wanted. The pain was getting to her.

By noon, she was very receptive to a caesarean section. Her contractions weren’t progressing at all. The needles were dragging on her. She had a nasal headache most of the morning. It was miserable for her. They had waited for doctor approval before she could take the allergy medicine that she usually takes every day to prevent just such a headache, although it was certainly made worse by her miserable state that day.

When Annette was showing signs of excessive exposure to the magnesium sulfate, they finally agreed to reduce the drip. While this didn’t entirely reduce the pain in her hand, it did help. More than this, Annette’s contractions began to escalate. This was encouraging.

With a long and dreadful day all dragging on her, Annette was still discouraged. The needles still hurt. And although it was nice that contractions were resuming, this still put labor several hours in the works.

Another vaginal exam was done, this time by Dr. Hallman. Annette had progressed to four centimeters, which put labor still a long time to go according to the books. He presented us with two options. One was to wait the several hours it would take for labor to progress which still held risks and could end in a caesarean section anyways, or we could do a caesarean section. After much personal struggling with these rather limited options, mostly on my part, we chose option number three. We called for a priesthood leader from our church to come give Annette a blessing.

Brother Langford answered our call. When he arrived, I explained the situation in brief and then we went in to Annette. I anointed her head with oil, and he offered the blessing. It would be shortly after he left that Annette’s contractions finally became strong enough that we focused on getting her through them instead of dealing with the pain of the needles in her hands. This was very promising indeed.

Sarah, my sister-in-law, showed up at just the right time. Right about that time, Annette had the first real urge to push. The nurse did a vaginal exam and told us the dilation was changing even as she did the exam from five to six centimeters. She didn’t want Annette to push with the contractions yet. It would a little bit later, as Annette continued to progress rapidly that she would call the doctor who had left not that long ago.

Sarah would end up staying with us from this point until after Dillon arrived. The nurse snapped this picture because she said the three of us were making an impressive team as Annette labored to give birth. This would make one of two pictures that actually prove I was there. Most of the time, I think I was the one holding the digital camera.

Dillon Archibald Burke is now over a week old. After getting tired of the Hospital scene, we were finally able to bring him home this Tuesday. So, now we have pictures of the little boy. Pictures taken without ultrasound.

It looks like I will have to Blog this one picture at a time. Hmm.... This presents problems and opportunities. So, we will start off with a picture of Annette as we waited at the hospital for an ultrasound.

I had been on the way to Rochester, Minnesota for work when Annette called my about 7:30 AM to tell me that her water had broken. After a couple phone calls, I was turned around and headed to my brother’s place in River Falls, Wisconsin. Sarah was going over to my place to pick up my wife and bring her over to her place, and so we met up there.

It would be about two-thirty that Annette and I would go over to the hospital. Although she had no contractions or additional leakage, it was a good idea. The first two tests they conducted showed no sign of her water having broke. They were almost going to send us home when the doctor asked us to stay around for an ultrasound just to be sure. This picture was taken while we waited those couple hours.

When the doc did get around to us and the ultrasound, there wasn’t much water to be found. It wasn’t completely gone, just not as much as should be there. It seems little Dillon had plugged the hole very nicely when the water broke and gushed out a bit.

Dr. Hallman suggested a gel applied to the cervix to help stimulate labor. This seemed to work, and Annette had some escalation in her contractions as the night went on. However, as her blood pressure went up, the staff became nervous about possible seizures. They put her on magnesium sulfate to help prevent this. This would be the first IV, and one more needle than Annette wanted. This first day, that needle was causing more discomfort than any of the contractions. As for the contractions, they disappeared completely despite the steady escalation thus far when a vaginal exam caused my wife some additional pain. Getting the report that there had been no additional dilation, the pain of the exam, and the magnesium sulfate drip probably all added up to end the labor thus far.

We learned in our birthing class that the mind is a powerful thing. It can stop labor with fear, and this isn’t usually a good thing. Resolving the fear can often restart labor. It was late at night, and we were both tired, although neither of us got good sleep. That was probably the lightest I have slept. Worried about my wife, I was listening to her breathe and the beeps of the monitors they had her on much of the night.

Well, it is late at night, and I cannot sleep, so I thought I would write something. I am becoming more uncomfortable by the day and ready to have the baby come, but Dan keeps telling me to be patient. My contractions are getting worse, so I am inclined to believe it will happen soon. We will be moving into our new place on Saturday. I am excited about that. I really want to get a place set up to bring the baby home to. Dan has been gone out of town this week, but it is nice to have him home again, but he leaves again on Monday, but he will only be going to the Mayo Clinic, which is just about 2 hrs away, so he will be a lot closer to home then the 5 hrs he was this week.

Well, I know this is short, but I have ran out of things to say.

Until next time.

Netty

Annette and I started this blog over a week ago. I wish I had a picture of her/us to put in here with this blog. Right now, we are still waiting to move into our own place. The lease has been signed and we should hopefully be getting some help from the ward to move our stuff out of storage this Saturday. In the meantime, I am still using a loaner computer at Brian and Sarah's place. It does not have the convenient little slot to insert our camera's memory card. We'll have to transfer the pictures we've taken so far at a later date.

We don't have any pictures yet of a little child, just of a pregnant mother-to-be. This reminds me that I need to swap the batteries in the camera so that we keep a charged pair in there at all times. We don't know when that run to the hospital may yet come.

Annette has reached the first due date she was given, and it has passed without a trip to the hospital. She told me that this is a first for her family. We don't intend to worry at this point. Maybe at two weeks "overdue." Not now. Just because she's reached her due date doesn't mean anything is wrong. Due dates are estimated dates based on most probable conception dates. There is really nothing rock solid about them. Annette made a comment last night that she wondered how her family would react if they knew that most of my brothers and sisters were born naturally well past their "due dates," usually in the order of weeks.

On a definitely positive note, the doctor told Annette that the child's head has entered the birth canal. I suspected something like that had happened earlier when Annette told me of some changes she had felt recently.

Last night, she told me that it felt like her uterus was moving position. If I have any fears at the moment, it is that her body might be doing a bunch of positioning work now so that near the end all it needs to do is take care of dilation and efacing. This might mean that I may not have much response time from when labor kicks things into gear since some of the prep work that is normally part of first stage labor may already have happened. Still, I am going to wait for now. I won't ask Annette to start sucking her thumb until over a week from now, if our child has still not come.

- Dan

Note: We were taught in our birthing class that sucking the thumb pushes on a pressure point in the roof of the mouth and can stimulate child labor. However, the expecting mother is not supposed to do this during any sort of contractions, unlike another "trick" we were taught. While pushing on the roof of the mouth in the right place can do the same thing, sucking the thumb is simply easier to do.

Well, Dan and I have just set this up so that we can post pitcures and stuff on here to easily share with our family.

Yesturday, I had a lot of contractions and thought I might end up at the hospital by this morning, but then things died down as I went to bed.

Today, I am felling pretty good, rested and not to much pain when I roll from one side to the other. But, I am ready for Dillon to come, but I don't think it will be too much longer.

Dan and I found out today that we got the apartment that we wanted and we will be signing our lease on Nov 3rd and hopefully starting to move in over the weekend. So things are starting to fall into place for us.

Until later.