Velcrometer
Throwing stuff at the internet to see what sticks
|
|
|
M. Giant's Velcrometer Throwing stuff at the internet to see what sticks |
|
|
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 Scheduling Issues Last Friday, while Trash was at work, I took on the huge project of moving my home-office desk and computer equipment out of the "study," thereby making it a "nursery." It took me pretty much the whole afternoon to relocate all my files and papers, dismantle my computer setup, partially disassemble my desk so it would fit through the door, move everything, and rewire all the Ethernet cables to where they needed to be. We hadn’t planned to do it just yet, but I wanted to get it finished that day, as a pleasant little surprise for Trash. She was indeed impressed when she got home and saw that I had taken care of this, weeks ahead of schedule. I mean, really, our son’s due date is in late November, but it never hurts to be ahead of the game. Because, you know, sometimes babies have their own schedules about this kind of thing. As was brought quite forcefully home to us last night when M. Tiny was born. Yes, I said born. BORN! Yesterday afternoon, about seven weeks before the official due date and only nineteen days after we found out we’d been chosen as adoptive parents in the first place, the birth father called to tell me that the birth mother was having contractions. They tried to stop them at the hospital, but M. Tiny was pretty insistent on coming out right then, and we dispatched a small army of friends and relatives on various emergency baby-prep missions. See, even though we’ve been getting all this great stuff for the baby from friends, relatives, and you readers, there are a few essentials that weren’t quite covered yet. Like a place for the baby to sleep, or more than a few things for him to wear, or a car seat to drive him home in, or one single, solitary diaper. Or, while we were at it, another six weeks or so for Trash and I to come to terms with just exactly what we’d gotten ourselves into. But it doesn’t look like we’re getting that last one. The next twelve hours were exciting and terrifying and surreal (up to and including writing and posting the regularly scheduled Monday night entry) , but at least we got to be home during them. We had to be home, in case the phone rang. Which it did, all night. As did both of our cell phones, after we instructed people to call them instead of our land line in order to keep the latter clear for the inevitable news. When a phone rings between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m., it generally means either that someone has died, or the opposite. People were very happy to hear it was the latter when Trash and I made our respective calls. The birth parents invited us to come to the hospital this morning, which we did. And we met our little guy. He’s surprisingly large, considering how early he was. He weighed four pounds, thirteen ounces (2.2 kg) at birth and measures over 18 inches (47.6 cm), which makes his birth mom pretty relieved that he didn’t go full-term. His current home is a plexiglass (perspex) incubator, and there are numerous wires running between him and various pieces of monitoring equipment which put me in mind of the Borg (Cybermen), and I think that’s all the translating I need to do for non-U.S. readers for today. He’s spending most of his time sleeping on his stomach in the NICU, because his lungs aren’t fully developed yet. He’s not on a breathing tube or even one of those nose-hose thingies, but his pipes aren’t up to a lusty newborn howl yet. Instead, a few times an hour, his forehead crinkles and his eyes open up to just the barest squint and his EKG reading spikes from the 140s to the 170s and he lets out a tremulous noise that sounds like he’s singing through the whirling blades of an electric fan. “If that’s as loud as he’s ever going to get, we’ll be fine,” I told Trash. She knew I was kidding. He has a mass of wavy dark hair. He also has an overlapping mass of wavy blond hair. I posited that perhaps he is a metrosexual. And then we came home to try and finish getting the nursery ready. Thanks to a number of wonderful people, we’re in a lot better shape, baby-gear-wise, than we were thirty-six hours ago. We still have a little ways to go, but it’s okay because M. Tiny will be staying in the hospital for at least a little while longer, until he’s big and strong enough to come home. I assured the hospital staff that I wouldn’t make him drive, but they remained insistent that he’s not ready to leave yet. So I’m a dad now. Trash is a mom. My folks are grandparents for the first time. My sisters are aunts—in fact, DeBitch the Elder just got married this past Saturday, and when she comes home from her honeymoon she’ll get the news that she became a wife and an aunt in the same week. The preparations here have been quite forcefully kicked into high gear, and we should have time to pull everything off. We’ve washed loads of tiny clothes in Dreft™, and now the washing machine smells like a baby whenever we open it. I’m fixing the drawers in the nursery dresser so they can be opened with one arm while the other is filled with a small human. We’re stocking the nursery with the stuff that wonderful people have supplied for us. And we have a little more time. Of course, we’re going to be spending as much of that time as possible in the hospital with our new son, so if the baby books aren’t alphabetized by author when he moves in, we hope he’ll understand. Did I mention I’m a dad? posted by M. Giant 6:59 PM 39 comments 39 Comments:
Congratulations! Best of luck to you and Trash for becoming parents (even if it was quicker than you were expecting). Looking forward to hearing all about your newest member of the family.
By
Awesome! Congratulations! :-D
By Oh! Oh! M. Tiny has arrived! Congratulations, and best of luck, and oh, I'm just so happy for you!
By
holy crap! so exciting!!
By Oh, that is the most fantastic news! I hope M. Tiny stays healthy and comes home soon. Congratulations to the new parents!
By That is fabulous! Congratulation, M.Giant, Trash and M. Tiny!
By How excellent! How exciting! Congratulations -- the whirlwind has only just begun :~}
By
Autercakes should be firing me your address so I may mail off Ye Boxe Of Stuff.
By Congratulations! I'm so very excited for you!
By I hope you guys are ready! Congratulations!!
By Heartfelt congratulations, and I wish your new family all happiness.
By Congratulations! That is such great news. Hope the little guy is OK and gets to come home soon.
By Woo-hoo! Congratulations, M. Giant and Trash, and Welcome Home, M. Tiny. (from thatgrrrl.diaryland.com)
By
Congratulations to you and Trash! It's so exciting. Best of luck to you all!
By
Hearty congratulations!
By Congratulations on your new little blessing! The three of you will make a wonderful family.
By
Congratulations!
By
Congratulations M.Giant and Trash! Welcome, M.Tiny!
By
YAAAAAY! Congratulations, and we love you!
By
Yayy!
By
That's excellent news! Welcome, M.Tiny!
By
You will learn a lot about "baby's own timetable" in the weeks and months ahead. Sentences like "But he *just* pooped!" will be the norm.
By
Oh! That is so wonderful!! Congratulations to you and Trash, and congrats to M.Tiny for getting such great parents!
By Awww...what a wonderful surprise!! Congratulations MomTrash and DadGiant, and welcome to the world, little M.Tiny!
By Awww. Congratulations! You know, even if you don't get the baby supplies set up in time, don't worry. As my mom tells it, I spent the first two weeks of my life sleeping in a dresser drawer. Just remember to leave the drawer open, and the baby will be fine. :)
By So, SO exciting to read your stories of high-speed parenthood. Huge congratulations to M. Giant and Trash, huge Internet smooches of welcome to M. Tiny. (Oh, and pats to the kitties: don't worry, the tiny human makes a lot of noise, but eventually it drops food all over the place too--pretty handy.)
By Wow: congratulations! My best wishes on M. Tiny's good health. And I will now officially chill on the Sugar Cookie Contest front.
By
Congrats!
By
Congratulations on the little guy!
By
CONGRATS to the new bestest parents on the planet!!! Cannot wait to hear all about the induction of M. Tiny into the House of Velcrometer.
By What you guys are doing is one of the most amazing things two people can do. M.Tiny is so very lucky. As an adopted child myself, I know just how lucky he is. I hope he grows to be as proud of the profoundly loving thing you two have done for him as everyone here is. Congratulations to all of you.
By Aw, your post made me cry! I have five months to go, but the moral of the story is that it's never too early to clear out the office. Maybe my husband and I should get cracking. Congratulations and best of luck!
By
Holy Crap! Welcome, M. Tiny! And congrats, mom & dad! I was 2 lbs 13 oz when I was born and turned out just fine. M. Tiny will be home turning your lives blissfully upside down before you know it.
By Oh you guys, that's wonderful. I wish only the best for your new family, all 5 of you (can't forget the cats!) and I am now off to buy something from your registry. I had intended to wait until it was closer to the due date, but I guess M. Tiny beat me to it!
By As a long time American reader but now in Paris (France, not Texas, please). I hope I am the first to wish a European congrats to you all. All my best wishes and you know what? If he is a metrosexual, you'll never have to worry about fashion advice or skin care products. Trust me, for people that live in MN (and I did) that is a huge plus.
By Congratulations and good luck with everything!
By That's wonderful! Congrats to you, Trash, M. Tiny!
By
My theory is M. Tiny just found out who his new family would be and couldn't wait any longer. That's probably why I popped out THREE MONTHS early.
By
Welcome M. Tiny!!! Congrats M. Giant and Trash! How exciting!!!
By 
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
