My first crack at the world

Hi everyone! My mommy told me I should apologize for not having written yet. Sorry. But you must understand, the world is new to me and I had a LOT to take in. Here are some pictures of me in my first week of life. I was very young back then and a lot smaller than I am today.

Here I am kicking it on my mommy's hospital bed. We spent my first 10days of life there. All the nurses were so nice to me. They gave me this cool hat and wrapped me like a sushi roll in the matching blanket.

Here I am making acquaintance with Mr. Puppy. He kept me company while my mommy and daddy ate their breakfast. Mr. Puppy told me all about the outside world and how I'd love pouncing on grass, chasing cats, and licking human faces.

Mr. Puppy made licking faces sound like so much fun, I couldn't wait to try it out on my mommy. She giggled. That made me happy.

I had to include this picture to show you how big I'm gonna get one of these days. My daddy is a giant and since my feet look just like his feet, I know I'm gonna be a giant one day too. I can't wait.. even though my mommy asked me to hold off on becoming a giant too fast.

labor of love.

wow.

today, i am a MOM.

may 16th, 8PM - contractions began while having dinner. i didn't have an appetite all day that day. was too tired to eat.

8pm - 10pm: as contractions started to come on a regular pattern, we called the OB. she advised we time it, and when it becomes 2minutes apart, head for the hospital. tim and i didn't have a stopwatch nor any watch with a second hand, we used his MP3 player. every time i had a contraction, we were rocking out to 3 Doors Down. heh, 21st century is funny sometimes.

11pm: i was wiped out. contractions like.. really hurt and stuff. told tim to sleep a bit. i slept a bit too, with one eye squinched and my body in a fetal position, crying for mommy.

2am: contractions were now 2minutes apart. woke up tim. contemplated on putting some make up on and fixing my hair when my water broke. that freaked me out so we headed out the door. but not before i had tim throw away the trash.

2am - 12pm (july 17th) : was in labor. received antibiotics for my group strep b and had my epidural. was dilated 9cm. no pain but started a fever and violent shakes. nurse gave me tylenol.

12pm - 2pm: my shakes were uncontrollably violent, i passed out. my OB came in and when i came to, my fever was at 103.5 . Dr. said, i wasn't quite 10cm, the baby's head couldn't be turned, and due to my high high fever, we had to do an emergency C-section. tim and i looked at each other puzzled. we tried to talk the doctor out of having to give a c-sexn but of course, these things arent' exactly up to us.

2:15pm (may 17th): Riley is born.

2:45pm: i'm in recovery. nurse pokes and prods. tim is feeding me ice. nurse notices something wrong, my blood pressure drops very very fast. all of a sudden, i notice a group of doctors around my bed, my arms are being strapped in. tim is asked to move aside, he goes to the back of the room, not knowing what is going on. i black out.

from now until 24 hours later: i am sedated. in between the hours, they take me back into surgery for internal bleeding. they re-open my c-section incision, find nothing. they cut me vertically for what is called an exploratory of the abdomen surgery. they find that my body has gone into Septic Shock. my heart and lungs start to fail. i lose 6pints of blood and receive a blood transfusion. a serious infection takes over my body and they pump me with gallons of IV to keep my veins open.

my husband timothy has to go from the exilaration of seeing his first born to watching his wife barely hang on to her life. later he told me the walk from my operating room to where they took riley was the farthest walk he's ever made in his life. no one could tell him whether his wife nor his son would be okay.

Ma y19th: i wake up in the ICU. apparently i was asleep for 24 hours. my body was bloated 10x my normal size due to the IVs. i find out i have a T scar on my belly. i'm slowly trying to understand what happened in the last 2 days. the nurses bring in riley and i see him for the first time. i'm observed and poked and prodded for two days.

May 21: i am taken to the Woman's hospital. I'm in unbelievable pain. i can't move an inch while lying down. getting out of bed requires 2-3 people to help me up. for 2-3 days, getting out of bed and standing is the most painful thing i've ever endured. at times, i'd sit and cry because it hurt so much. i'm observed and poked and prodded 24/7.

May 29: i'm released out of the hospital.

i tested positive for the GBS test during my exam while i was pregnant. i was the unfortunate one in a million case where the GBS virus entered my bloodstream during labor and wreaked havoc and made my blood stop working. thank god i made it.

the road to recovery has been physically and emotionally trying. i was so healthy prior to delivery. now, i have 6 doctors looking after me, 4-5 medicines to take, and i'm just weak and tired. being a first time mom is trying as it is, being a first time mom after 3 major surgeries in 24hours and a long recovery to look forward to is to say the least, tough.

but then i look at Riley. and i see how my husband looks at riley. how he holds him, and soothes him. it doesn't make my surgeries and pain go away but it makes me forget about the painful experience. even just for that moment. and that is what makes it at least o.k.

i love my baby boy. and my husband.

me. being loved.

me and my binkie

me and grandma Lam. she likes to watch me sleep.

me and my grandpa Lam. he likes to laugh a lot.

me with grandpa and grandma Lam. they both love me lots.

me and my daddy. he just loves me. and i just love him too.

yay, i'm one week old today. thanks mommy and daddy! i can't wait to see our home =)

Gina Had A Little Lam

Hello World, my name is Riley Preston Lam. I was born on May 17th and weigh 7lbs 2 oz. Ok, so I am a little early, I just couldn't wait to see everyone.

As some of you may have heard, mommy had a little trouble getting me out, but she is ok now. We are all resting well at Evanston Northwestern Hospital. If you would like to talk to mommy or daddy, they are in room 2618 in the Women's Hospital. I can't wait to meet all of my new family and friends. Love you all!!!

see? i AM for real!

Today, May 7, 2006, my Mommy and Daddy saw me

for the very first time! I hope they saw me wave and smile!

My photos should show that I am positioned head first and that I

am here all by myself!

They both knew already that I was a boy so I was too shy to let the camera see.

I can't wait to meet my Family!

Only 3 weeks to go!

:: this is me, taking a nap... again. my mom thinks i have my Dad's nose.::

::this is me sucking my thumb... waiting for my turn to join the world!::

see you all very soon! until then, i'm gonna nap some more and enjoy my alone time with my mommy.

love,

Eggy Lam