Baby's 1st Trip to Peet's Coffee

David and I love going to Peet's Coffee on a Saturday morning to linger over our coffee, talk about life, and watch the Brookline families go to Shabbat services, walk their dogs or push their strollers down the sidewalk. All throughout my pregnancy, we would talk about what life would look like when our baby arrived.

This morning, it was clear Elijah was wide awake and not interested in sleeping in as David and I might have chosen. We took advantage of the gorgeous weather and walked down Beacon Street to Peet's with Elijah happy in his Baby Bjorn (thank you, small group!) As we sat there, it was such an amazing feeling... our little family. We are so blessed.

Mom suggested that we keep track of Elijah's growth by taking a picture of him each month with a stuffed animal. Right now, his frog is bigger than he is. It will be fun to watch him grow!

1st Successful Walk

We love our new stroller, and we live in a fantastic area for walking, but today was our first successful walk.

1st attempt: One of the tires blew out-- turned out they were over-enthusiastically pumped by Dave and Dad. It sounded like a gunshot and scared us all, but Eli just kept on sleeping! Dave and Dad had to carry it about a mile back to the apartment.


2nd attempt: The other two tires blew out. I guess they forgot that we might want to deflate the other tires before taking the stroller out again!


3rd attempt: We decided to take advantage of a cooler day as the day before had been 92-degrees. We got caught in a thunder and hail storm (hail?!). We all got soaked, but Elijah was just a tiny bit damp. He slept right through it again!


4th attempt: I took the little man to run some errands. We figured out which streets had curb-cuts, and which we need to avoid, and our stroller rolled along over the Boston road bumps with ease. Amazing. On our way back we saw David and his labmates going to lunch, so we had "Baby's First Lunch with the Guys." Elijah did well until he decided he wanted to eat, too.



Elijah is doing so much better! His main goal is that he needs to learn to stay awake when eating so that he'll get enough to eat (see picture taken mid-meal... oh, sleepy comfort!), and he needs to learn to sustain a "strong suck." So much to learn!

From the NICU to the PICU: Our Little Fighter

It's been a busy last couple days here at the Voss house. We had to take little Elijah into the Pediatric ER on Monday night for dehydration. After talking to the on-call pediatrician, a visiting nurse, and most scarily, not being able to wake up the little man for his feeding, we went into the hospital. Although not quite as amazing as the NICU, the nurses and doctors were an encouragement and recognized the signs quickly. They gave him an IV with fluids to help get him back on pace. It turns out that our little sleepy Eli was not taking enough with each of the feedings and it built over a number days to result in his eventual dehydration, and loss of a pound in body weight. Thankfully, both Jamie and I were able to stay at the hospital with him and meet with a number of doctors, lactation consultants, and even an occupational therapist who said that Elijah was a "good sucker" (meaning the mechanics of his mouth were working well).

Thankfully we were able to come home yesterday afternoon to Dad and Mom Otten who were ready to help take care of their first grandbaby. They had spent the day cleaning our apartment for us and had Bertucci's ready for dinner.

Today we took Elijah in for a pediatric check-up and met with another lactation consultant. We have him on a new feeding plan to build up his weight and strength. He is doing so well right now! Our little fighter, once again, surprises everyone how quickly he rallies.

Things we've noticed about Elijah

One of the fun things about a newborn is the discovery of their personality and the "claiming of body parts." Already we are discovering that little Elijah is packed with personality. Below is a list of what we've noticed these past several days!

1. Elijah loves to have his feet tucked up: This was first discovered by one of the nurses in the NICU when she was trying to quiet him. Sure enough if he is crying and you want to calm him just push his little legs back towards his body and he'll typically quiet down.

2. Elijah paces himself when he eats: Taking after his father on this one, Elijah loves to pace himself while he eats. He takes a few sucks, takes a little rest, and then continues to eat some more. Although a good time for him, it can make mom a bit tired.

3. He loves his pacifier: Although not unique to him, Elijah loves to suck on his pacifier as a way to calm himself down. He likes it so much that many times he moves one of his hands up to help keep it in place. Smart baby!

4. He's a pretty good sleeper (so far...): Elijah has what we call the "sleepy baby syndrome." During a meal he will fall to sleep and it's quite a trick to get him to wake up to finish his meal (as can be seen in the picture with Jamie "burping" him below.) During the night he has slept for as long as 4 hours (which I might add was wonderful). We laugh that Jamie spends her time trying to wake him up during feedings, and I spend my time trying to get him to sleep after.

5. He's got his daddy's feet: A number of nurses commented on the size of the little man's feet. They are characteristically long and skinny, identical his daddy's but a couple sizes smaller.

6. He's got his mommy's eyes: A couple days ago I was working on the computer and looked up at Jamie, and all of a sudden realized those were the same eyes that had been looking up at me from the crib.

7. He's got his daddy's chin: You'll just have to see the pictures to believe it.

Settling into a rhythm

Yesterday was Elijah's first doctors appointment at the Boston Medical Center. They scheduled the appointment at 10:30am the day after we brought him home from the hospital. We're thinking this was as much their way of checking on our parenting capability as it was a check up on Elijah! :) Thankfully, the doctors said that he was doing well and his biliruben levels were continuing to reduce. It is interesting how being around lots of other sick kids at a hospital can bring out the parenting instincts. We kept thinking to ourselves, "wash your hands," "stay back."

One of the things that has started to fall into a rhythm is Elijah's eating and sleeping style. Having two doting grandparents here has been great, as we drop him off early in the morning at their door and have them watch him for a couple of hours while Jamie and I get some additional sleep. The picture below is Dad holding Elijah and his monkey.


We have lived in Boston for about six years, and live within earshot of Fenway Park where we can hear the fans roar seconds before we see the action on TV. It only seems natural that we should start little Elijah out early as a part of Red Sox Nation.

One of the things that Jamie and I have been dreaming of since finding out we were expecting was taking our baby for walks along the Charles River. We purchased one of the most amazing strollers called the Phil and Ted's Sport Stroller. Besides looking aerodynamic, the stroller comes with all kinds of useful features and packs up small enough to fit into our Saturn's trunk. The big wheels allow us to roll right over the broken up sidewalks of Boston without shaking the little man too much. Today was a beautifully sunny day, so Dad, Mom, Jamie and I took Elijah for his first walk. It was great until the tire poppped and we had to carry the stroller back, but it was still fun to be out and about. We got the tire fixed-- we'll try again tomorrow!

The day we've been waiting for

Today was the day that Jamie and I have been waiting for these past nine months, we were able to bring Elijah home!! It was fun to leave the NICU and receive all of the good wishes from the nurses and doctors who had been so much a apart of helping Elijah recover. It was extra special because Dad and Mom Otten arrived just hours before and were able to be part of the procession. When we came out of the doors from the NICU mom and dad each had a camera and were claiming to be paparazzi for Elijah.

When we came home Jamie joked that we were completing two major life events by bringing Elijah home: the first bringing our first baby home from the hospital, and the second being moving our child into his dorm.

It's been fun for Dad and Mom to be her and to hold their first grand baby! It didn't take very much effort to convince them that he was a pretty cute baby.

One amazing day

Today was a wonderful day at the NICU. We arrived to find Elijah breathing completely on his own with all of the various oxygen apparatus removed, his feeding tube removed, and an appetite for moma's milk! It seemed like Elijah had listened to all of the things required of him to go home and decided it was time to leave the NICU so did his best. He looked so happy being free of all the wires. He's doing so well that hopefully he will be able to go home tomorrow!

Today was a very encouraging day at the NICU! Both Jamie and I were able to hold Elijah for extended periods of time as well as get to feed him. We were also told that they had decided not to give him the extended treatment of antibiotics which means we may be able to take him home as early as Tuesday. In order to do this he would need to feed properaly and still breath ok, continue to slow down his breathing rate a little, and withstand a car seat endurance test (basically make sure he can stay in a car seat for over half an hour). We also will be required to watch an infant CPR DVD just in case something were to happen. Once again we have been so impressed by the quality of care we have receivd at BMC. Below are a couple pictures from today.

On a side note the below picture is Elijah chilling under a blue LED lamp that provides a phototherapy assisting in the breakdown of bilirubin, an indicator of Jaunidice. Although I don't really understand the physiology the doctor explained that the blue LED wavelength was the ideal wavelength for breaking the bilirubin by polarizing it and causing it to be water soluable and excreted by the boby. So where as in the old days they placed the kid under a sky light or in the window, today babes get to chill under a cool LED light and work on their tan.

It was also a great day as we had some of our friends from Church visit us. It is amazing how encouraging it is to have somebody visit you when in a place that can feel intimidating. We enjoyed a full picnic in the food court complete with a picnic tablecloth and basket brought by one of the couples.

Our baby's name

Elijah David Voss:

Elijah means “My God is Yahweh.” It is our hope that our child will claim God to be his God, and will proclaim that with his life. David means “Beloved of the Lord.” We want our child to know that he is loved by God, just as he loves God. We wanted a mutual response and relationship between his names: Elijah loving God as God first loved Elijah (1 John 4:19.) The hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” contains a line that sums our hope: "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul my all." Elijah is also the middle name of his great-grandpa. David is his Daddy’s name, and Grandpa Voss and Uncle Jeremy’s middle name, as well as the name of others in our family.

Hello, Elijah!

Elijah David Voss was born May 13th at 10:48pm at the Boston Medical Center. Although this may be foretelling of his personality, he was born on his due date, a feat that only 5% of babies accomplish. He weighed 8.2lb and was officially 20.2inches (unofficially 21.5inches)

Jamie went into labor at around 10:00am, starting off strong with contractions about three minutes apart, lasting for a minute. This kind of put us at a loss to what to do, because all the books we had read said you should call in when the contractions get to around 7 minutes, and go to the hospital when they get to around 5. After talking to the midwife, we waited to go to the hospital until 4pm. At this point she was 5cm dilated and contractions were coming on strong! Well, I won't go into much more detail other than to say Jamie was amazing!!! She was focused, brave, and persevered to deliver a beautiful baby boy (with no pain medication, I might add). It was such a blessing to have a wonderful nurse and midwife as well who helped us through the process, and who were very supportive the whole way. When Elijah came out, I was the one to be able to tell Jamie that we had a boy. She told the room that his name was Elijah David. Such a special moment!

It turns out that Elijah was so excited to see us that he tried to say "hi dad and mom" a little too early and ended up getting a "mouthful of meconium " as a friend put it. Basically this means that the little man aspirated (breathed) a lot of his amniotic fluid where he had had a bowel movement during the labor. Thankfully the nurse and midwife recognized the possibility of this when Jamie's water broke, so there was a team of pediatricians there, ready to take him if something happened.

Sure enough his lungs were pretty full. They sucked out as much as they could, but there was still quite a bit in there. He was stable enough that we could each hold him for a precious 15 seconds, before they whisked him away to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We got to see him on the way to the recovery room. It was hard seeing so many little sensors on him, but we were thankful he was stable! They had placed a tube down into his lungs to help take the load off them and to help with the arrhythmic nature of his breathing.

Thursday morning they took him off of the tube and he was able to breathe on his own with the support of a breathing tube in his nose. This was so encouraging!

His breathing was still very irregular, but he was doing it on his own. On Thursday night we had some friends from our small group at church come and visit, and it was such an encouragement! One of them snapped the below picture of some of Elijah's first opening his eyes to see his mommy.

As the night progressed on Thursday, Elijah became more fatigued by breathing on his own and the doctors had to put the breathing tube back in. All though you know there will be steps back, it was still so hard to see little Elijah struggling so much, especially after doing so well.

The doctors decided to leave the tube in all Friday so Elijah could take a break and let his lungs clear out some of the meconium. I must comment at this time how amazing the nurses are at the NICU. They were so supportive of us, answering any questions we had (even mine about the how the instruments worked), and supported us when we were crying. They all were great and they all loved Elijah, referring to him as a "wild man" or "crazy man" as he had so much energy (kind of sounds like his namesake in the Bible. I guess Jamie and I asked for this :)).

This proved to be true as last night Elijah "wrote his own order" as the pediatrician put it, and pulled out his own breathing tube. This is normally a good sign that they are tired of it and can manage on their own. So at this point they have Eli breathing on his own, with just some help from a "snorkel" type thing in his nose.

On Friday we also had a bunch of guys from my lab visit Jamie and I, which was very encouraging. It was so much fun showing each of them Elijah.

Currently the doctors are concerned about a possible infection in his lungs (possibly pneumonia), as well as a possible trouble relapse with the breathing. They think they will keep him at the hospital for around 5 to 7 days at this point.

Jamie and I are so thankful for Elijah and we are amazed how much we already love the little man. We are so thankful for the doctors and nurses and the wonderful job they are doing taking care of him. We are a bit emotional at times as you could imagine, but are trusting God and knowing that he knows best. Although it was hard to come home today without Elijah, we plan on being at the hospital as much as we can in order to be with him. Thank you to all of you for your prayers and support!

If you would like to see more pictures of little Eli you can follow the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dlvoss/090513ElijahSBirthDay#

Although we will be at the NICU most of the time, please feel free to call, txt, or drop by. As can be expected of new parents, we love showing off our new little man.

Graduation cupcakes

Made these graduation cupcakes for a friend's phD graduation from MIT. Cute, huh?

Waiting for Baby

Our due date is May 13, but at our last appointment, our midwife told us "Any day now!" It's hard to think that Baby Voss could come tonight, or in 3 weeks! We're hoping for sooner, rather than later, but are trusting in God's perfect timing.

Jamie's having constant mild contractions, and is soo tired... We're walking a lot, eating lots of spicy foods... hoping the old wives' tales work! We're as ready as we're going to be.