Paul and Melanie's Blog

Our Site Has Moved!

paulandmelanie — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:23:42 +0000

If you’re looking at this blog, we’ve moved! Please go to:

http://www.sanpedrosalcedo.com

See you there!

- Melanie, Aiden, and Paul

Aiden is Home!

paulandmelanie — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:02:42 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Wow, Melanie and I are exhausted, but loving every minute with our new boy Aiden. This is the first time in 3 days that I’ve actually had time to update our blog and of course it’s at 12:45 am!

Aiden was discharged from the NICU late Wednesday evening, we thought it would be yesterday, so we were THRILLED, to say the least, that he got to go home a day earlier. As of Wed. morning Aiden’s Jaundice count was at 10.2 and by the evening it was 8.7. We thought he wasn’t going home, since our nurse said after the “blue lights” were removed you tend to see a spike in numbers again, but this wasn’t the case with Aiden and the NICU doc said he was ready to go home.

Since his discharge, Melanie and I have a feeding schedule every 3 hours for him, which tend to last an hour or longer. We are so tired, but SO HAPPY! Aiden is a bundle of joy and Melanie and I are so happy that he’s part of our family. I call Aiden “My little man”, he has some of the best expressions and is such a cute kid, again… YES, we’re biased

Today he had his first doctors appt, post NICU release. His weight went from 6.5 lbs to 6.11 lbs, so I guess all those feedings are working. Doctor said he was looking good, but we’re scheduled for another appt. next Thursday, hopefully the progress keep moving upwards. Aiden also got to make his first trip to Babies R Us on his way home, I’m sure we’ll have a few more of those in the future.

Below is a pic of the new family. Tobi (the grey schnauzer) is still trying to figure him out, but Parker (the black schnauzer) is well adjusted, since we’re his second family and the previous family had 3 kids for him to grow up with. Click on the picture below to see our latest pictures.

Baby Aiden still at the hospital

paulandmelanie — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:53:53 +0000

We were ready to take baby Aiden home yesterday, but his Pediatrician Dr. Lepler had some concerns he was showing above average Jaundice.

Jaundice is yellowing of the skin in newborns. It occurs with high levels of bilirubin, which is in everyone’s blood and filtered out by our livers. As newborn, their livers take time to develop and remove the bilirubin, which was filtered by the mother’s liver before the newborn is born. From reading it sounds like this happens to 50 – 60% of the newborns, so it not that uncommon. If you’re looking for more info, here’s a link to a site that describes it well.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_jaundice_89.bc

When baby Aiden’s results came back he was on the low side of the “high” scale which ranges from 19 – 26, Aiden was 19. Fortunately we have an incredible doctor for him and by ordering the blood test, we were able to catch it before he went home with us, which would’ve could’ve been worse for Aiden. They normally do a skin test for this and it brought back a number of 14, which is still acceptable, which is why there wasn’t much concern during our 4 days at the hospital and we were all planning to go home yesterday.

As a result, yesterday morning baby Aiden was admitted to the NICU and is under blue lights (which help reduce his Jaundice count) and getting fed more, since going to the bathroom is what removes the bilirubin, also make him less grumpy

Yesterday afternoon his counts were at 15, so it’s getting lower, so we’re optimistic about him coming home in the next day or two.

I took some pictures, he’s essentially sunbathing under some blue led lights. Melanie and I joke he’s getting his suntan on and in Hawaii. Both of us are hoping for good numbers today.

Click on the picture below if you’d like to see his most recent picks.

My favorite pics of the day

paulandmelanie — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:23:05 +0000

I took some pretty fun expession shots of Aiden today, he’s becoming very entertaining and has a nice set of lungs. Click either of the pictures below to see more shots taken today.

Update on Aiden

paulandmelanie — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:50:09 +0000

Aiden and mama are doing well, Aiden was circumcised today, so he’s had a few grumpy moments. A BIG THANKS to everyones congrats and calls. As some of you have probably figured out we haven’t been able to answer our e-mails and phone calls as much as we’d like. We’re loving all the messages, so keep them coming.

I’ve added more pictures of Aiden on our Flickr site, he has some really cute pics on “Day 3″, so enjoy them. Of course Melanie and I think he’s the cutest little baby, but then we’re a tad bit biased. Click on the picture below to go to our Flickr site.

Baby Aiden is here!

paulandmelanie — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:54:48 +0000

A long 2 days, but after 18 hours baby Aiden has arrived. Here’s his info:

Name: Aiden San Pedro Salcedo
Born on: Friday, January 29, 2010
Time: 7:10 pm
Weight: 7.1 lbs
Height: 19 3/4 cm

Both mother and baby are doing well! Click on Aiden’s picture below to see his album on flickr.

Doctor Hua checked us in!

paulandmelanie — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:57:23 +0000

We had our weekly doctor appt. today and found out from the ultrasound we had on Tuesday that baby Aiden is 8+ lbs. Doctor Hua gave us the option to try having Aiden Friday, so we’re inducing and checked into the hospital tonight. We’re hoping we’ll be meeting baby Aiden tomorrow!

Below is a picture of Melanie with Nurse Sharon.

Holiday cheers, not steals!

paulandmelanie — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:23:58 +0000

So I’m heading out to work today and low and behold, someone jacked my holiday lawn seal. That really bites! I go and tell Melanie, then get back in the car again and look at my neighbors lawn. Guess what? The same schmos, seem to have taken my neighbor’s holiday inflatable Santa. How lame!

I can’t believe people are actually going around and stealing lawn ornaments! What’s odd is I guess the deers, candy canes, and snowflakes aren’t in demand in the lawn ornament black market, since those weren’t stolen from either of our lawns.

The only good thing about this stealing of lawn ornaments is that Parker (my dog) pissed on the seal multiple times, so at least their getting a seal that smells like urine. Below is the picture of my stolen seal, if you see him, bring him back to us, urine smell and all

Baby Heartbeat on Melanie’s Birthday 10-17-09

paulandmelanie — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:04:20 +0000

Baby Heartbeat 10-17-09

Finally got my tattoo!

paulandmelanie — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:32:55 +0000

So after having to move my appointment twice, I finally got my tattoo today. My cousin Cyrene did the original artwork and I asked my tattoo artist Orly to interpret how it should look on my arm. With such an incredible piece of art from my cousin and Orly’s interpretation of the design, I am totally STOKED with the final result. For those of you who haven’t kept up, the design is the the Filipino star and sun, with my grandmother and mom’s Filipino nicknames in Baybayin (we removed Melanie’s name at that last minute, due to a tattoo taboo associated with tattooing your wife’s name onto your body).

For those of you who haven’t had a tattoo, I’m pretty good with pain, but the first 15 – 20 min is more pain then I expected. After that the area gets a bit numb and it’s tolerable. The sitting was 2 hours and I only had to have 1 session. I may have to go back for some touch-ups, but this is the final design. Below is my tattoo, click on the picture to see all my pics, which shows Orly inking me and pictures of the studio in San Jose, Humble Beginnings. Also there’s a video in my flickr set if you want to see the action of getting a tattoo.