Dax has 3 faces:
1. Asleep
2. Angry
3. Normal
Faces 1 & 2 are in effect approximately 95% of the time. I'm hoping #3 will start gaining ground pretty soon and maybe even take the lead (until he becomes a teenager).
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Baby Reactions
People seem to fall into 2 camps with babies:
1. Can't wait to get their hands on them
2. Mortally afraid of them
I'd have put myself in the latter category as recently as a week ago. It's amazing how quickly you adapt when it's just you, mom, and a terrifying little newborn in a room for a couple of days. Especially when mom has had surgery and can't get out of bed yet to grab him herself. Now I enjoy holding the little guy and sometimes have to ask mom to give me a turn (unless it's 3am, then turns are plentiful).
1. Can't wait to get their hands on them
2. Mortally afraid of them
I'd have put myself in the latter category as recently as a week ago. It's amazing how quickly you adapt when it's just you, mom, and a terrifying little newborn in a room for a couple of days. Especially when mom has had surgery and can't get out of bed yet to grab him herself. Now I enjoy holding the little guy and sometimes have to ask mom to give me a turn (unless it's 3am, then turns are plentiful).
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
It's all true
Before the little guy was born it was fun to talk to parents and get their take on having a kid and hear all the types of quirks they had when they were little. One kid liked to be all swaddled up to sleep while another needed to have one arm free, things like that. Universally, they advised stocking up on sleep because after the birth it was going to be a while before sleep was again available in significant, steady amounts.
Well it's true. In the hospital the baby was up at all hours of the night screaming, but at least sometimes the nurses would come to borrow him for tests or something and we could get some sleep in. At home, it's up to us to suck it up and deal with it. Last night at 3am, as I held Dax in the other room trying to soothe him so Julie could get a little bit of sleep, I clearly remember thinking "My God, what I have I gotten myself into?"
Then 10 minutes later he very suddenly stopped screaming for no reason (I had to double check to make sure he was still breathing). He was out like a light, no explanation for it. I looked down at him and he was so cute and peaceful and I was very happy. So advice givers are right, you lose a lot of sleep but it's worth it.
I do miss you sleep, here's hoping we get together again soon.
Well it's true. In the hospital the baby was up at all hours of the night screaming, but at least sometimes the nurses would come to borrow him for tests or something and we could get some sleep in. At home, it's up to us to suck it up and deal with it. Last night at 3am, as I held Dax in the other room trying to soothe him so Julie could get a little bit of sleep, I clearly remember thinking "My God, what I have I gotten myself into?"
Then 10 minutes later he very suddenly stopped screaming for no reason (I had to double check to make sure he was still breathing). He was out like a light, no explanation for it. I looked down at him and he was so cute and peaceful and I was very happy. So advice givers are right, you lose a lot of sleep but it's worth it.
I do miss you sleep, here's hoping we get together again soon.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Excitement
"There you go! Good job!" Never thought I'd see my wife so excited about someone moving their bowels. Here I've been moving my bowels regularly for pretty much our entire relationship without even a pat on the back. On the plus side she's recovered enough from surgery by day 2 that she can help me clean up the disaster that is a newborn's diaper.
The Labor Ordeal
18:30 on 04/07/2011. Two excited parents-to-be ready to depart for a quick meal and then to the hospital to begin the induction procedures.
An abbreviated timeline:
Cervadil: Thursday night
Pitocin Started: 07:35
Water Broken: 08:20
Epidural: 09:30
6cm: 18:15
8cm: 20:00
Pushing: 22:45
Birth: 23:33
Baby to Room: 03:15
Poop everywhere: 10:30 - the rest of my life
It was a long, rough day for mom. Lots of drugs and the unfortunate side-effects that go along with them. Everything seemed to take forever until pushing started and then it was emergency c-section and all over in no time at all.
The worst part is that I was nearly done with a Starcraft level I'd been working hard to beat and all of a sudden the nurse says "she's complete, it's time to start pushing." Thank goodness for save games.
He's here
It's been nearly 36 hours since the birth and one question is on everyone's mind: What's his name? That's a great question and I'm glad you asked.
Vital stats:
Arrival Date: 04/08/2011
Arrival Time: 23:33
Weight: 6 lbs 10 oz
Height?: 20 inches
Having a baby is weird, I feel like I should have had to pass a test or get approval from some authority to be entrusted with the care of a little person. For now, I'm just doing whatever seems logical and listening to the nurses. I'd add in some fun anecdotes here, but for now they all involve bodily functions and I'm pretty sure only a baby's parents are interested in those things.
Vital stats:
Arrival Date: 04/08/2011
Arrival Time: 23:33
Weight: 6 lbs 10 oz
Height?: 20 inches
Having a baby is weird, I feel like I should have had to pass a test or get approval from some authority to be entrusted with the care of a little person. For now, I'm just doing whatever seems logical and listening to the nurses. I'd add in some fun anecdotes here, but for now they all involve bodily functions and I'm pretty sure only a baby's parents are interested in those things.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Merry Christmas!
I'm down to less than 100 days till my due date, 98 days to be exact, and this is the last week of my second trimester. The third trimester starts on either 12/31, 1/2 or 1/5, depending on who you ask, mostly the doctors just go by weeks and not trimesters, which just seems to confuse everyone else. For those of you who prefer months, I'm at the end of my sixth month.
Christmas was great, B's mom stayed with us for the long weekend and we all traipsed over to my parents for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I got to spend a lot of time with my little niece and nephew, who are always a blast, and are a never ending fount of energy. We also got in a couple coats of paint on the nursery, so we now have trim, lights and duct work still to go.
Dax is getting more and more active these days. If you have good timing you can sometimes actually see my belly move when he's kicking or squirming around. It's awesome and a little creepy at the same time.
People keep asking me about whether or not we've decided on a name. The short answer is no we haven't. But also we don't plan to tell anyone what we do decide until he's born anyway. I've just heard too many stories about people that tell the name before the baby is born and get all sorts of bad feedback, I just don't want to deal with it. I'd rather that there be a cute little baby attached to the name so that people will be too polite to say anything disparaging if they don't like the name we choose. So we're waiting and you will all find out what his name is as soon as Dax is born.
Having said that, deciding on a name is hard. It seems like such a huge decision (though Freakonomics tells us it's not that big a deal after all), little Dax is going to live with that name for the rest of his life. There are so many factors to weigh; do the first, middle and last name sound good together? are there any terrible nicknames that he could be teased about in elementary school? will people be able to pronounce it or spell it? is it too common? does it remind either B or I of something or someone we don't particularly like? does someone else in the family already have that name? is there some famous actor or character that people will automatically associate the name with? have we thought of all the possibilities?
And it just goes on and on... I hope that at some point in the next couple months there will be a name that clicks for both of us and that will be that.
Christmas was great, B's mom stayed with us for the long weekend and we all traipsed over to my parents for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I got to spend a lot of time with my little niece and nephew, who are always a blast, and are a never ending fount of energy. We also got in a couple coats of paint on the nursery, so we now have trim, lights and duct work still to go.
Dax is getting more and more active these days. If you have good timing you can sometimes actually see my belly move when he's kicking or squirming around. It's awesome and a little creepy at the same time.
People keep asking me about whether or not we've decided on a name. The short answer is no we haven't. But also we don't plan to tell anyone what we do decide until he's born anyway. I've just heard too many stories about people that tell the name before the baby is born and get all sorts of bad feedback, I just don't want to deal with it. I'd rather that there be a cute little baby attached to the name so that people will be too polite to say anything disparaging if they don't like the name we choose. So we're waiting and you will all find out what his name is as soon as Dax is born.
Having said that, deciding on a name is hard. It seems like such a huge decision (though Freakonomics tells us it's not that big a deal after all), little Dax is going to live with that name for the rest of his life. There are so many factors to weigh; do the first, middle and last name sound good together? are there any terrible nicknames that he could be teased about in elementary school? will people be able to pronounce it or spell it? is it too common? does it remind either B or I of something or someone we don't particularly like? does someone else in the family already have that name? is there some famous actor or character that people will automatically associate the name with? have we thought of all the possibilities?
And it just goes on and on... I hope that at some point in the next couple months there will be a name that clicks for both of us and that will be that.
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