Saturday, May 16, 2015

Ellis Andrew

On May 13, 2015 at 8:29 a.m., Ellis Andrew Shafer made his way into our world. He weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 inches long. And he is perfect.



His birth was precious. The c-section was incredibly low-key and peaceful, even including delayed cord cutting to get him more of that precious, rich blood. After being weighed by nurses under dad's watchful eye, he was placed directly on my chest for skin-to-skin time, something I've never gotten to experience with any of my children at birth. For about 20 minutes, he spent time with mom and dad, cuddling and getting to know each other. Just magical.



His entire first day was story-book perfect. He met his excited siblings, who all showered him with hand-holding and kisses. Barnes especially was immediately smitten. He met all four of his grandparents and his Aunt Elizabeth. He was surrounded by love and support from the moment he was born.

He is a beautiful boy, with a perfect head and fuzzy hair. He has long toes and fingers. He likes to keep one hand by his face at all times, and sometimes he grabs his tiny ear. And we are completely in love.



On his first night, things got a little less perfect, and he is currently still in the NICU (more on that later). We are immensely grateful that he is getting the care he needs, but I will be forever thankful that we had that first perfect day together. That I got to cuddle him all day. That I got to nurse him and kiss him and pass him around to those that love him most in the world. And now I am counting the days until I can hold him again.

Barnes is in love with baby brother. He could not stop holding his hand. When he called to say goodnight after meeting him at the hospital, he asked, unprompted, "Is baby Ellis still okay?" 

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations on the new bundle! I love the name. Ellis was on our short list of boy names too! I hope everything is okay with him. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks Emery has been in the NICU. I will be looking for an update soon...because I know you have all the time in the world to blog...ha! I will be praying for your sweet boy and your entire family.

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