We are so proud to introduce you to the newest addition to our family...
Alexander Andrew Murphy
Born : February 4th, 2009 - 5:01 PM
Weight : 8 pounds 2 ounces
Length : 21"
We still can't believe that we are parents once again - let alone of a boy. We have a lot to learn! Sarah and Charlotte both were very thrilled! Unfortunately, the girls (and all of our guests that were here in the hospital at the time of the birth) could not spend much time with little Alex yet. As part of standard hospital procedure for pre-term babies, they keep him under close observation and don't release him from the special care unit until they get enough tests and doctor approvals to release him to his family. We can visit him at anytime - he is just down the hall. Deanna had a long dry spell without him - as she was recovering from delivery. Charlotte was adament about holding little Alex. We let Sarah hold him while sitting on the hospital bed. Char kept trying to get Sarah to be done with her turn so she could get her crack. She demanded "I HAVE WAITED FOR HOURS!!" It sounds more like something you would hear an adult utter while waiting in line on black friday than a three year old! But yeah, she has a point - our family has waited for this moment for quite some time. Deanna was overcome with emotion following the birth. We both cannot believe this was another child that God has entrusted to us. It was powerful to witness her dream finally coming true and to be apart of that. Alex didn't start nursing until 9pm or so. He did great so far. They did put a tube down into his stomach to get some glucose in him - as his level was pretty low. I told the nurses that if at all possible, we did not want them to feed him using a bottle. They did that with Charlotte in the hospital for hours after she was born and took over a month to recover. So the option was a tube or a bottle. He was not bothered by the tube at all - and given how well he nursed, I know we did the right thing. Alex did get released from the special care nursery around midnight. So now he is free to come to our room and not constrained to this special area. We were excited to hear that news.
Deanna's aunt, Brenda stayed overnight Tuesday night and watched the girls all day Wed until she took them to the hospital. They got there at a perfect time, they were only here maybe an hour before the birth. Anything more than that could have been dangerous, esp with no naps! Fortunately, they had friends to hang out with in the lobby. Andy's parents are staying with the girls tonight and tomorrow. They will have their work cut out for them - as both girls have to be driven to and from school tomorrow. I know they can handle it.
It is very nice to have wireless access in the hospital and be able to communicate this exciting time with all of you. I understand that some of you got an error while trying to visit the page shortly after we sent the massive email list out. I guess I take that as a compliement that so many of you cared that it caused there to not be enough connections to the database available! It appears to be stable now - but I guess Alex already has quite a following. If you haven't done so already, please leave us a comment. We love hearing from you! I will post all of the pictures tomorrow and anything else I have the energy to do.
Thanks for caring and for your concern and friendship. Our new family of 5 appreciates it all!
Love, Andy / Deanna / Sarah / Charlotte / Alex
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