Liveblogging Huggy

Baby Boy Jala was born around 2:15 this afternoon, in his house, in his room. It is a sunny, warm day. J2 pushed for about an hour, he cried for just a little bit, then started nursing almost immediately. He and Mom are doing just peachy.

Midwives made us some grilled cheese sandwiches, cleaned up, gave BBJ a couple shots. They're gone already, it's just the 3 of us now. Missing Roc, but we need a couple days of peace before introducing him to his bro.

Much to digest, but bottom line is, we're tired, but indescribably happy.

Liveblogging Huggy

not much happening right now, contractions getting stronger and more frequent. she's managing to joke around between them so nothing's imminent probably. midwives think this will go pretty fast though. water hasn't broken yet, but once that does, game on.

Liveblogging Huggy

midwives are watering our houseplants and picking a nice bouquet. just what are we paying them for anyway?

Liveblogging Huggy

We're slow dancing, junior-high style, to "pictures of you"

seems to help with the pain

Liveblogging Huggy

J2 just got some shots, I had to physically throw Goo outside cause she was getting in the way. Hated it.

About to break out the Boggle.

My "Youre my birthing Goddess" shirt is a hit.

Liveblogging Huggy

We just sent Roc off with AJ to stay with Lolo and Lola for a few days. Missing him already, sorry that he won't share in this experience, but he's too young to understand.

Midwives are here, setting up. It's a flurry of activity. Contractions every 3-4 min.

The Village Takes Care of its Own

Sciencemamma came over last night bearing food. Lots of it, all in handy, easy to reheat containers for post-partum noshing.

Thanks, from the Jalas.

37 weeks

As I look over at the mother of my children, I can see this lump on her distended abdomen move from side to side. Can't be very comfortable. We had a visit from the midwives today, they proclaimed our home suitable for birthing.

Any day now...

B minus 10 and counting

Here we go...

Some things ARE cheaper at Whole Foods...

...like pregnancy tests. You eliminate the fancy packaging and complicated digital readings, you can get 3 tests for like 5 bucks, according to Jalanquera.



(note the brilliant use of Comic Sans)

Roc's gonna be a big brother. Yay! Our plan was that we would start working on kidB when he turns 1 (which is only a couple weeks away), but we just accelerated that timeline by around 3 months or so. What can I say? We're fortunate to be so fertile, I guess. You know how it is, you stop breastfeeding, go on vacation, yadda yadda yadda, we're pregnant.

The Shmoo is doing fine, rolling along now at 12 weeks. His/her parents are a little stressed out, though. Happy, excited, but a little anxious. Can we afford another mouth to feed? Can you raise 2 kids in 800 square feet? (Yes, you can, no matter what the McMansion crowd tells you) Can we afford another kid? How is Rocco gonna handle all this? Can we afford another kid in childcare?

We think we're going to have this baby at home, with a midwife and/or a doula. It's not for sure, but we're real close to making that plunge. Not that the hospital was a terrible experience, but we were just 2 nuts in a giant baby machine, and we want to take back some of the control we surrendered (willingly, at the time) to the myriad doctors, nurses, machines that beep insistently, paperwork, hospital food (which actually wasn't that bad) and cramped rooms, all of which took away from what should and can be a quiet, private, family event. Think about it, hospitals are set up to treat everything as a procedure, one that can be predicted and controlled. And it's profitable for the hospital. It's no coincidence that caesarean rates are almost 1 in 3. That's messed up, y'all.

We drank the punch, but we've not gone totally hippie mental. But....it's much cheaper than hospitals or doctors, by maybe 2/3, we're following all the normal prenatal care and tests, we're more than willing to call it off and head to the hospital at the first sign of trouble, and we have a hot tub at home. Bonus! Conventional wisdom says labor for the 2nd child is much easier and faster than the first. Rocco came without much trouble, so we're thinking that this is the way we should go.

There are a few hurdles before we commit fully to it, so stay tuned.

MiniMaz

Maz and Niloo welcomed their little one last Thursday. Yay! He looks just like his dad.

Sour Milk

From the Washington Post...yet another clash of science vs. profit in this rotten administration. Guess who wins?

"In an attempt to raise the nation's historically low rate of breast-feeding, federal health officials commissioned an attention-grabbing advertising campaign a few years ago to convince mothers that their babies faced real health risks if they did not breast-feed. It featured striking photos of insulin syringes and asthma inhalers topped with rubber nipples.

Plans to run these blunt ads infuriated the politically powerful infant formula industry, which hired a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a former top regulatory official to lobby the Health and Human Services Department. Not long afterward, department political appointees toned down the campaign.

The ads ran instead with more friendly images of dandelions and cherry-topped ice cream scoops, to dramatize how breast-feeding could help avert respiratory problems and obesity. In a February 2004 letter (pdf), the lobbyists told then-HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson they were "grateful" for his staff's intervention to stop health officials from "scaring expectant mothers into breast-feeding," and asked for help in scaling back more of the ads."

[italics mine] I don't understand why people wouldn't want to breast feed--it's a free supply of food, people!. And that's the issue-ever buy formula at the store? $25 for a can that lasts maybe a couple weeks. Fuck that. This is purely a grab for more profit, and not at all about childrens' health.

True, formula is useful for supplementing one's milk supply for those lean times and for those who can't breastfeed, for whatever reason. We've used it ourselves, but avoid it if at all possible, and only the free samples that the formula companies send new parents. Roc's moving on to solids soon; you can bet I'm going to be looking at baby food in a different light. Here's the posters that were shelved and the final campaign poster, judge for yourself which is more effective:

Waiting...

This is week 37, which means Ray Ray is officially full term, which also means we're operating under "any day now" mode. But that could mean next week, or 3 weeks from now (4/25 is d-day, which is a week past our due date; if he's still not here, we'll have to go and get induced). This may be the longest few weeks we'll endure yet, I'm sure.

We've taken almost all the classes, just the newborn care on Sunday and that's it, we're qualified to be parents. Went to breastfeeding class on Tuesday, which was a bit odd, but educational nonetheless. Weird to be talking about boobs for a solid 2 hours and not get even a little turned on (is that wrong to even think that?)...

Still haven't picked a name yet, we're going to be lame and wait until he "tells" us what his name should be.

MKA has a pool going, any guesses as to the stats? I'm guessing he'll arrive April 12, 4:42 PM, weighing about 8.5 lbs...

Rant On

You suck big donkey testicles, yesterday afternoon's riders of the 312...how could you sit there with an obviously (very) pregnant woman standing within sight of you and not offer your seat? In a city so famous for its manners, next time why don't you try and display some? I realize that you worked soo hard for that seat, but hey, it's not your wife and kid, is it? Fucking bastards.

End rant.

The big haul

The surprise baby shower went off without a hitch, Arb had no idea what we were planning. How we managed to keep it a secret for almost 2 months is a mystery to me, but it worked. Many thanks to Ame, LHS, Peter Arthur and SunnyD, who hosted the shindig at their place. It was a good time, though I think I got a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff we got during the gift opening, knowing we would eventually have to find a place to put it. The onesies from Uncle Jason and Auntie Nicky were facking awesome, what baby wouldn't love to wear J's scowling puss on his chest?

Having people customize onesies at the party was a great idea. My fave is the Slayer one by Robb. I think that's going to be part of the "going home" outfit.

Don't have pics collected yet, I have to get them from the attendees, as I forgot my own camera.

"T minus 100," or "Im in Ur cribz, ste4lin Ur sL33pz"

If the magic dial-a-thingy at the doctor's office is right, Ray Ray will be here in 100 days.

I’m better at reflecting on the past than I am at getting a handle on the present and future, but here goes: This year, I resolve to remember how the world looks to a child, where everything is new and wonderful, even a little scary sometimes.

As fatherhood approaches (week 26 already), I’m a bit suprised by the lack of fear and trepidation I have about it. We can’t wait to meet Ray Ray, not because arb’s tired of being pregnant (yet), but we excited to get to know what this little squirming, kicking mass inside her belly is all about. It’s a role I wasn’t sure I wanted in the past, maybe out of selfishness, thinking that the kid would take over my entire identity, that I would just be someone’s dad. Yet I’ve always felt I had things to pass on, besides ½ of my genes, like how to throw a football, skip stones, multiplication tables, make the armpit fart sounds, you know, the important stuff. Now that I think about it, being someone’s dad sounds pretty good.

Name update: Lionel, Andre, Rocco and Theo (not short for Theodore, just Theo)…just letting those marinate, seeing what sounds right when we’re yelling it out the back door…