Monkeyblog

Now that Petra has arrived, it is time to move on. The Monkeyblog was all about the lead up to Petra's arrival. Now that she's here, it's not nice to call her the monkey (though we do). So, in honor of the terror she has introduced into our lives, we have a new blog for her story: Petra-fied (http://home.earthlink.net/~rlindstrom/blog/petrafied/Petra-fied.htm). Petra-fied will continue to document (ramble and rant about) life with Petra. Petra-fied is where you will find all the new pretty pictures, witty anecdotes, boasting, fears etc.

With this post, Monkeyblog will now go dormant (but it will stay online!). Please visit Petra-fied to follow the story.

We managed a fair amount of sleep last night (feeding Petra while lying down helps), and are feeling much better. Petra has also demonstrated that she can sleep through just about anything, so we aren't really too worried about the phone anymore.

If friends and relatives have been dying to call, go right ahead. Not too early, not too late would be great!

Thanks to everyone for bearing with us in this first crazy week. I hope the Monkeyblog has helped keep you informed, and taken the edge off a little while we were incommunicado.

That's what the pediatrician said when she had her first appointment today. And I'm SURE that he wasn't rolling his eye's when he said it. He must see a dozen parents a day that are sure that their kid is Einstein because he smiles when he burps (not that Petra does, she smiles when she hiccups). Just because ours really IS doesn't mean he shouldn't say it.

Petra's first day out was done very well. She fussed for only a few seconds when popped into her Maxi-Cosi carseat, but then was immediately quiet for the rest of the trip to Kaiser and back. Very interested in everyone and everything that she saw though. She was checked by the pediatrician, Alison's feeding technique was critiqued by the lactation consultant (the same woman who did the childcare classes we hated, but she is much more tolerable in this setting), and Alison and I both got flu shots to protect Petra from the impending global pandemic.

Maybe tomorrow we'll take her out on a little walk to show her off. I've been dying to try out the Quinny Zapp stroller!

I stuck a few good (?) pictures up on my Yahoo! photos account. These are big enough that you can order prints (or, if you have a home photo printer, just ask and I can send you original files).

I plan on putting together an online photo gallery so you can print or order prints, but again, give me time.

The photos link is http://photos.yahoo.com/rwl2

Ahh, thank goodness she takes after her mother in the hair department! Poor thing though, with those two whorls, she'll be good for nothing but twin ponytails or a faux-hawk. Hmmm, which to go with first?

It is a whole new world though. It's amazing watching just how much she changes day-to-day (or hour to hour even). That first day you could see her learn to open her eyes, look at daddy (mommy too), burp, hiccup (she loves hiccuping. Each one is new and exciting). I'm always amazed at how alert she is, watching what is going on around her, looking at daddy (and following when he points to mommy coming into the room). She's one smart cookie.

She was also cranky beyond belief last night. There was no way I could console her. She thrashed about screaming, bright red (giving us her patented "Laaaaaaaa" cry, which means we are in real trouble- a "waaah" is just a warning). Shushing, hugging, bouncing, rocking, rubbing, patting- nothing helped. She'd work her self up so much she would arch like a bow, going rigid with her head locked to one side. Scary! Only mommy's breast could quiet her, but she wouldn't even eat for more than a couple of minutes.

I'm hoping (oh please, oh please) that this is just the discomfort of having her digestive system start coming on line. The steady "poot-poot-poot" of gas certainly suggests that is a contributing factor. She should settle soon? Luckily, we have her first pediatric appointment today, so we can be fearful parents and ask questions that everyone who already has kids already knows.

She did quiet this morning though, even sleeping in daddy's arms for an hour and a half while mommy rested. Of course, half way through there was a knock on the door and ringing of the doorbell- a gift arriving from Alison's office. Luckily, she slept right through it. Alison was thrilled to see the muffins and cookies when she woke up hungry.

[Update: My genetics genius brother points out that whorl directions are strongly linked to handedness (Genetics, 2003), and puts his money on her being a lefty or ambidextrous]

I'll try to get a new picture up every day, if I can. I'll also put together an online photo album where people can order prints (but give me time!).

Sorry about the last two posts being a bit testy. We've been running on VERY little sleep. We know how much everyone wants to know more about Petra- all the vital stats, pictures, digitized burp noises etc. Now that we are home, it should be easier to meet the demand. But don't expect too much, here is a capsule review of Petra's first 3 days of life:

10/18, 3:09am: Born (nearly dropped by Doctor because Alison shot her out so quickly)
10/18, 3:21am: Daddy takes picture while still in the bun warmer (to be posted soon)
10/18, 4:07am: First breast feeding (or game attempt at such, both mom and baby are exhausted)
10/18, 6am: Move to hospital room for recovery
10/18, 10:30am: first real feeding (after a blessedly peaceful 4 hour sleep- an exhausted baby is a good baby)
10/18, 1:30pm: Feeding (after another long nap), first pee
10/18, 5:15pm: Feeding
10/18, 8pm: Feeding, first poop (meconium)
10/18, 10:45pm: feeding, pee
10/18, 11:45pm: feeding, gas, crying, lots of daddy carrying her around
(This was the day that they said let her sleep, she won't wake up much)

10/19, 1:45am: feeding, gas, crying, pee, lots of daddy staggering around doing everything possible to keep her quiet so mommy can sleep
10/19, 6:45am: feeding
10/19, 9:00am: feeding
10/19, 11:50am: feeding
10/19, 3:20pm: feeding, pee
10/19, 6pm: Going home from the hospital
10/19, 7:00pm: feeding, cranky
10/19, 9:00pm: marathon feeding
10/19, 11:00pm: marathon pooping (first real baby poo)
(cranky day, what with learning how to digest and everything)

10/20, 12:00am: feeding
10/20, 2:20am: feeding (and a long one), then sleeping on daddy's lap the rest of the night- good baby!
10/20, 6:30am: handoff to mommy so daddy can crash a couple of hours. feeding
10/20, 8:55am: feeding
10/20, 9:45am: daddy wakes up feeling (comparatively speaking) like a million bucks. Finds mommy and Petra snoozing on the couch post feed.

And so, welcome to our world- feed, poop, pee, repeat.

The weird thing is, I wouldn't give it up for the world!

Geez, sorry about the technical difficulties of maintaining a blog from a recovery room. Here are a few pictures take the edge off!

We are going home!

Please don't flood us with phone calls, let us get settled, then everyone will get a chance to hear Petra crying in the background.

Pictures should go up tonight.

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Sent from my Treo

(drumroll please)

Petra Ingrid

It's official, the monkey has a name!

Response so far has ranged from ecstatic to ‘what kind of name is that?’

We consulted the monkey, and the other options got frowns, but Petra got wide open eyes and raised eyebrows (delicate blond eyebrows). Obviously a winner.

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Sent from my Treo

After 17 hours of induced labor, Alison gave birth to our 9lb 6.9oz beauty at 3:09am

Mother and Daughter are doing fine

Name still TBD

I'm a Daddy!

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Sent from my Treo

No news to report. Went out on a lovely day. Visited Babystyle in Santa Monica- lots of really neat stuff, and not nearly as ridiculously overpriced as I though (well, if you can exclude the bugaboos and Stokke strollers). Especially excited about the monkey chair! Managed to leave without spending a dime though, saved by Tim and Anissa calling us to go to Sierra Bonita Cafe for brunch. We like to consider ourselves chow afficionados, and we feel like we discovered Sierra Bonita about a year ago. All our friends are now regulars, and we want them to succeed!

More walking around, but no love for us. The monkey is already a recalcitrant teen!

Last day at work for awhile. As expected, Alison insisted on going to work today. She is such a trooper. It doesn't hurt that she is as healthy as you can be without being divine (though she is a bit of that too!). I, being a nervous wreck, insisted on driving her to work (and a good excuse to stop at Peet's too!). She at least promised she might consider leaving a little bit early (like, maybe 4:30 or something). Sigh, what a gal!

Still waiting. In a bid to move things along, we went to the Farmer's Market yesterday to have a little walk. Oh, OK, really we went to have nachos at Loteria Grill, and a donut at Bob's, but we really did walk around a bit too. Such fashion mistakes to giggle at!

I'm lobbying for Alison to stay home from work tomorrow. More for my own piece of mind than for her. All week long, every time the phone rings I've jumped. I've already cleared my desk (well, OK, finished off projects, my desk is really a mess), warned everyone I might disappear at any moment, and chewed my finger nails. What else can I do? I just want to be home with Alison waiting for the blessed event to finally happen!

Still no monkey. We had an OB appointment this morning and everything seems to be in order- monkey's head is down, but no sign that she's ready to go anywhere. They ran a "non-stress test" with Alison on a fetal heart monitor to see how the monkey is doing (fine- jogging in place, gymnastics etc.). Nothing much to do except wait!

Thanks to Alison's coworkers for their shower gifts (I have to say, though, that the ice cream cake was a bad choice in my (lactose intolerant) view- none for me!). Some nice books, a Got Milk? t-shirt/bottle/pacifier set, and, of course, a purple monkey rattle. Our little monkey is themed for life. Poor thing!

After much cajoling, I managed to snap a picture of Alison before work this morning. Yes, I said work this morning. On the bus and everything. She could be taking time off (no good- it means less time once the monkey arrives), she could be driving (but the bus isn't that bad, and it saves me 3 hours a day on public transit if I drive). Nothing keeps Alison down, even 9 months of monkey on her back (well, in her belly).

Isn't she cute in her maternity dress? She was playing dress up for a little shower at her work today. Nice of them, if a little tardy. She could be on leave already. The best thing about going to work though is that if she does go into labor, she is right across the street from the UCLA hospital. Our other backup is to be shopping at Beverly Center when it hits, so we end up at Cedars Sinai!

What do you do after you've done all the shopping, the scrubbing, the shopping, the building, the shopping, the washing and the shopping? You wait. You know the monkey has to arrive sometime, anytime, but you can't think of anything else to do to get ready for her arrival. You catch up on a little overdue gardening, you read the Sunday NY Times from front to back, you play a little Katamari Damacy. But none of these really helps you forget that you are about to become a daddy, oops, better make that Daddy.

I guess this waiting period is meant to let you start to think about all the things you will probably do wrong in the next 18 years or so. How, exactly, do you change a diaper? When do you start toilet training? Public or private school? Chicken or fish? Basically, you start to wallow in uncertainty. This isn't to say there wasn't a fair amount of uncertainty involved before, but now I've actually got time to wallow in it!

I keep telling mylself (and Alison) that people do this all the time, and with a lot less preparation, education, income, infrastructure, health care than we have. Not that this really helps. I think the only thing that does help now is inevitability- we're having a monkey, and nothing is going to stop that. She'll be traumatized in myriad ways that we can't even begin to imagine, and not even flinch at things that scare us to pieces now. All the things that we liked/hated about our own upbringings (not, dear parents, that there was much in the latter category!) will be completely different than those that she loves/hates about her own. We'll just try to do our best, and be surprised at every turn.

We have a tour of labor & Delivery, so I figured I'd do a test post so we can post when the blessed event comes!
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Sent from my Treo

Perfectly timed to coincide with the Monkey's arrival, the LADWP is replacing (20 years behind schedule) the water mains in front of our house (and all down the street beside it, and around the corner....). For the next several months (minimum!) we will have no street- only a large open trench. Jackhammers, trucks and backhoes starting at 6am every day (except Sunday), 24-hour pumps and generators, and more dirt, dust and gravel than you can imagine.

The construction will, I'm sure, help the monkey sleep well all day! They say things are usually too quiet for babies, who are used to the roaring noises of mom's gastrointestinal tract. But the constant "beep-beep-beep" of backing vehicles may be a little distracting. And her poor little monkey lungs will be coated in mud! Our house is 75 years old, so it is hardly air tight. With no A/C, leaving the windows closed all the time is also not really an option.

I guess we'll just have to invest in a little hard hat and orange vest for her. Good thing we got the off road stroller, as our only access to the world will be through the construction zone.

Ahhh, life in the big city. Anyone in Paris want a house swap for a few months?

Labor and delivery class was last night at Kaiser, and within minutes of arriving I felt bad about dragging Alison there. As before, the "health educator" started with asking if there were any questions (and answering each with "we'll get to that"- duh, nothing had been covered yet!). The only good part was a (badly edited) handout on exactly what goes on when in labor (basically- ouch!). We took off before the delivery videos started (do we really want to see this?). Alison will be cancelling next week's class today, because with all the misinformation this person presents, it is better for us not to attend.

Then, back to Kaiser this morning for our weekly checkup. Basically, the monkey can come whenever she damn well feels like it. Of course, the Doctor is leaving town for a week or so tomorrow, so cross your legs! Everything seems to be on target, the baby is growing, Alison isn't (no space for food anywhere anymore). The OB recommended lots of walking and sex to stimulate contractions. Since Alison is ready for this whole pregnancy thing to be over, I gues we'll have to try something!

But not the one you were probably expecting.

My lovely coworkers threw a surprise baby shower for me this afternoon. It really was a complete surprise. Yesterday was probably the worst day I've ever had at work, and today wasn't looking much better. I'm trying like crazy to get hold of someone on the phone who is avoiding my calls, and suddenly the Dean wants to talk to me for a minute. Well, the Dean was there, but so was everyone else- students, clerkship directors, department chairs, all and sundry! And you wouldn't believe all the pink! Pink princess tablecloth even! Well, it was quite the surprise!

Lots of gifts, lots of cards, lots of pink! Cute pink though- a nice fuzzy footie sleeper, little pink overalls, butterfly hair clips etc. And also a pack 'n play, so we can cage the monkey for the first few years (at least until she's old enough to lock in the closet). And what a cake! It's a custom job too, they had to request a change at the last minute though- near King/Drew the default baby on top is black. Kind of Des to have them change that for me, I have enough things to worry about! Thanks everyone!

Now, back to my frantic day!

I must say, being a daddy-to-be has certainly made me a manly man (or at least play one at home). If you ignore all the house cleaning (more shiny baseboards!) and curtain hanging (blackout curtains so the monkey never has to know the pain of natural light), I've been quite the handy man- building a library in the garage, patching and painting the nursery (you can't tell there was ever a big hole in the wall now), wiring in new light fixtures etc. More work has gone into the house this summer than in the last 3 years (well, assuming you don't count the kitchen remodel, but I didn't do the construction on that one)! I only hope the manliness translates appropriately to Dadliness when the monkey arrives.

Which, by the way, is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! What with only 5% of babies arriving on their due date (which we have been told 1,236,435 times), we could be due pretty much anytime over the next 2 weeks or so. We'll be packing our bags tonight so that when we need to head to Kaiser we don't end up with a paper sack full of underwear, hairspray, and silver polish instead of the things we'll actually need.

Tomorrow I'm dragging Alison to "Labor and Delivery" class, apparently taught by the same stellar educator as the completely useless "newborn care" class two weeks ago (we bailed on post-partum care last week). Saturday we tour the labor and delivery facilities as well. Then we should be as ready as we are likely to ever be. After that, it's "Hail Mary!" and push, and ta-daa, we'll be parents!