Arrival
Taylor George Riddle arrived safely via cesarean section on Tuesday, November 22, 2016 at 11:09 am making us a family of four. He weighed 6 lbs, 2 oz and was 18 inches long.

First photo with mommy and daddy

Hospital Stay
I knew he was going to have to go to the NICU once he was born but it was still hard. The photo above was a snapshot of the 10-15 minutes I got to spend with him before he was whisked away for evaluation. I wouldn’t see him again until almost 12 hours later when Ryan helped get me out of bed and rolled me to the NICU.

Everyday the doctors and NICU team were impressed with how well Taylor was doing. He was eating, sleeping, and breathing okay. Aside from one instance of a drop in temperature, he seemed like a healthy baby with no signs of intracranial pressure affecting him.

Warming up in his pod

I did have to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital. From a food perspective, I don’t recommend it. Ryan had Jack in the Box because it was the only place open. I had this gross meal. Twice (lunch and dinner).

My thanksgiving meal…jealous???

Discharged
After a good MRI and ultrasound of his head, they discharged us on Friday and sent us home. Seriously – I cannot tell you how blessed we are that Taylor is strong and right now, just a regular newborn. Like most babies, he dropped some weight after we took him home. His body is so tiny that he is full on swimming in newborn clothes; we had to go buy a few sets of preemie outfits. Since Sunday, we have been on a feeding plan to get him back up to birth weight. We want him to be as strong and hearty as possible.

Heading home

Next Steps
We met with the pediatric neurosurgery team yesterday to talk about a timeline for surgery to address Taylor’s hydrocephalus. They will be putting a shunt in. The MRI also revealed that despite what they saw during the fetal MRI during my pregnancy, he has no cavum septum pellucidum in his brain. This would normally be concerning but they ruled out all of the bad scenarios so the absence of it is really not an issue.

Given how well he is doing and that right now he is not exhibiting any symptoms to be concerned about, surgery is scheduled for December 27th. If for any reason things look different at his December 15 appointment (or prior to that) they can move surgery up. The risks of anesthesia significantly decrease after a month of age, so since his condition is not urgent, they want to push it out.

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and warm wishes. We are grateful to have a supportive network of friends and family. Please continue praying for Taylor. We are feeling incredibly hopeful and positive going into this next month.

Watching his first San Jose Sharks game with daddy and big brother Nolan

We’re totally in love with this little cutie (who looks a lot like his brother did as a baby)