Friday, February 23, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Brack video
I sent this email out to friends and family:
[Camera: Sony Handycam HC28, edited: iMovie/Mac OS X, music: La vie en rose by Edith Piaf, credit to Rich]
Yes - it is a circular reference.
Vivian Bina Chatterjee was born at 758pm on Friday,
Feb 16. She weighed 6 lbs and 10 oz, and was 19 and
3/4 inches long.
JoEllen and Vivian are doing great.
Click on the link (to google video) below to see a
short video clip from the hospital when Vivian was a
day old.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7367486283494609346&hl=en
-arun
[Camera: Sony Handycam HC28, edited: iMovie/Mac OS X, music: La vie en rose by Edith Piaf, credit to Rich]
Yes - it is a circular reference.
Do Newborns Dream of Baby Sheep?
What's in the recorded memories section of a five-day old baby brain? Everything? Can Vivian simply recall every detail of every experience of her extant brain. I can imagine the following conversation:
Jo: "Hey - do you remember the afternoon feeding times?"
Me: "Huh?"
Vivian: "Started at 2:43pm. 12 minutes on right breast, 7 on left. For the record, I wasn't completely done, Mom. The mailman was on his route. Someone called Robbe got something from someone called Netflix."
And what does Vivian dream of? A mash-up of past experiences? Completely new subject matter from out of the blue? Our world on a baby scale?
Not that I dream of sheep. Gordon does, I think. [Talking on sheep, one of the funniest moments I recall was Grant telling Gordon the MacGregor joke in his Kiwi / Scottish accent]
Jo: "Hey - do you remember the afternoon feeding times?"
Me: "Huh?"
Vivian: "Started at 2:43pm. 12 minutes on right breast, 7 on left. For the record, I wasn't completely done, Mom. The mailman was on his route. Someone called Robbe got something from someone called Netflix."
And what does Vivian dream of? A mash-up of past experiences? Completely new subject matter from out of the blue? Our world on a baby scale?
Not that I dream of sheep. Gordon does, I think. [Talking on sheep, one of the funniest moments I recall was Grant telling Gordon the MacGregor joke in his Kiwi / Scottish accent]
The Fountainhead
They say that baby boys will pee on you when you change their diapers. Just found out that baby girls take that one step further.
I was changing Vivian's diaper and had her backside up in the air. The stream of baby poop arched through the air and got me square. "Brown and seedy" was the journal entry in the poop log.
I was changing Vivian's diaper and had her backside up in the air. The stream of baby poop arched through the air and got me square. "Brown and seedy" was the journal entry in the poop log.
And It's a.....
I have this feeling that we are getting down to business. Nurse Michelle tells each of us what to do (the CliffsNotes version for those like me who will never experience a push first-hand, is simply this - pushing is like trying to take a huge monster dump) .
We watch the monitors and wait for the next contraction. As it comes on, Jo breathes in quickly and begins a long push. Then exhales even faster and starts again. She gets three good pushes in. The contraction passes. We sit back on our heels. During the height of the next push, Nurse Michelle asks me to lean over and take a peek - and lo and behold - the top of the baby's head is just visible - black hair, mated with blood and a white scalp.
The next few pushes are amazing. Jo's explosive inhale sounds like Michael Phelps going for gold in the 100m butterfly. Between pushes, I wipe Jo's face with a cool washcloth and pop a few ice-chips into her mouth. I feel like the Cut Man. My sports analogies start running together...
Nurse Michelle tells us that after this next push, we can take a breather while she gets Dr. Z. We get ready for the next one. Jo squares her jaw and gets a steely look in her lovely grey eyes. Push. Push. Push. I am inches from Jo's face - it is blood-red. A vein starts to pop out on her forehead. She starts the last push of the set. Before it ends, I hear Nurse Michelle's cool voice: "Jo - stop pushing. Just breathe for me". In slow motion, I look over to the business end - and see most of top of the head outside. Nurse Michelle reaches past Jo and hits the call button on the intercom. "Doctor Z to Labor 6, please."
The room fills with people in scrubs. I see the baby's face appear. Then tiny fingers around it's throat - as if it's collar is too tight. A woman in a blue lab coat reaches under it's chin and gives it a tiny tug. And the baby and chord spill out like slippery fish. It's a girl!
I hear a voice reading out the time:"1958". Dr. Z sails into the room.
See Mom and Dad with baby soon after birth here.
We watch the monitors and wait for the next contraction. As it comes on, Jo breathes in quickly and begins a long push. Then exhales even faster and starts again. She gets three good pushes in. The contraction passes. We sit back on our heels. During the height of the next push, Nurse Michelle asks me to lean over and take a peek - and lo and behold - the top of the baby's head is just visible - black hair, mated with blood and a white scalp.
The next few pushes are amazing. Jo's explosive inhale sounds like Michael Phelps going for gold in the 100m butterfly. Between pushes, I wipe Jo's face with a cool washcloth and pop a few ice-chips into her mouth. I feel like the Cut Man. My sports analogies start running together...
Nurse Michelle tells us that after this next push, we can take a breather while she gets Dr. Z. We get ready for the next one. Jo squares her jaw and gets a steely look in her lovely grey eyes. Push. Push. Push. I am inches from Jo's face - it is blood-red. A vein starts to pop out on her forehead. She starts the last push of the set. Before it ends, I hear Nurse Michelle's cool voice: "Jo - stop pushing. Just breathe for me". In slow motion, I look over to the business end - and see most of top of the head outside. Nurse Michelle reaches past Jo and hits the call button on the intercom. "Doctor Z to Labor 6, please."
The room fills with people in scrubs. I see the baby's face appear. Then tiny fingers around it's throat - as if it's collar is too tight. A woman in a blue lab coat reaches under it's chin and gives it a tiny tug. And the baby and chord spill out like slippery fish. It's a girl!
I hear a voice reading out the time:"1958". Dr. Z sails into the room.
See Mom and Dad with baby soon after birth here.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
The Labor of Love
It is 3am on Feb 16, Fri. Jo calmly announces "I think I am having contractions". Nicolle arrives shortly after. We sit around in the living room with our shoes on, and measure contraction times, and wait. Jo contracts. I time. Cole writes. Abe sleeps. At 7:30am, we are in rush-hour traffic. By 8am, Jo is in a very flimsy gown and on a delivery room bed at Brack.
Everyone is having a baby that morning. It is almost noon before Dr. Nix can check Jo. By then, she is 5 cm dilated (by the way, why metric, why there?). We cheer and high-five. During the exam, Jo's water breaks. Suddenly, the room is full of all kinds of delivery-oriented paraphernalia and nurses. The fear of Braxton Hicks subsides. This is the real thing, they say.
Stacey shows up with lunch - subs and every conceivable flavor of potato chips. We tuck in. Jo eats more ice-chips. The contractions kept their end of the bargain up. Jo decides to get an epidural. It takes a couple of anesthesiologists to get it right. What contractions?
When Jo is at 7cm, Nurse Abby calls Dr. Z at home, who is catching a few zzz's after a night at the hospital. By 7pm, she is a full 10 and +1 station. Nursing shift changes. We lament that we will miss Nurse Shannon's audio-visual pushing clinic. But Michelle, her new nurse, is no push-over, especially if push comes to shove. OK - so you can tell where I am going with this.
Everyone is having a baby that morning. It is almost noon before Dr. Nix can check Jo. By then, she is 5 cm dilated (by the way, why metric, why there?). We cheer and high-five. During the exam, Jo's water breaks. Suddenly, the room is full of all kinds of delivery-oriented paraphernalia and nurses. The fear of Braxton Hicks subsides. This is the real thing, they say.
Stacey shows up with lunch - subs and every conceivable flavor of potato chips. We tuck in. Jo eats more ice-chips. The contractions kept their end of the bargain up. Jo decides to get an epidural. It takes a couple of anesthesiologists to get it right. What contractions?
When Jo is at 7cm, Nurse Abby calls Dr. Z at home, who is catching a few zzz's after a night at the hospital. By 7pm, she is a full 10 and +1 station. Nursing shift changes. We lament that we will miss Nurse Shannon's audio-visual pushing clinic. But Michelle, her new nurse, is no push-over, especially if push comes to shove. OK - so you can tell where I am going with this.
Friday, February 16, 2007
t+3 days
Its 445am. And I am not up working. About 2 hours ago, Jo was woken up by back pain. Turns out she is having contractions. Started off 6-8 minutes apart, then all the way down to 3:30 apart. Still waiting at home to see if this is the real thing.
The cats bowls are full. The bags are in the car. We are ready and waiting....
The cats bowls are full. The bags are in the car. We are ready and waiting....
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