daddy journal
June 25, 2002
What a night we had!
Dalton Van Charlson
born June 24, 2002 @ 9:22 p.m.
7 lbs 8 oz
19 inches long
red-ish hair, green-ish eyes
cute as can be
At the doctor's appointment yesterday, the OB said Anitta was at 3 cm and looking good. We had an induction scheduled for Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Since her cervix was already opening, the doc told us we didn't have to come to the hospital on Tuesday night for the "cervix ripening" -- just show up Wednesday morning at 6:45 a.m. and they'd begin to induce. During the examination, the doctor thinned the membrane and Anitta had a big ol' contraction at that point. We got back home after 5:00 pm, she'd still been having contractions off and on since 3:00. At about 6:15 she came and told me "I think you should start timing these."
The contractions were coming every 4 minutes apart, some were even a minute apart, and all seemed to last 40 seconds to a minute. We called the doctor at 6:45, he said we should probably go to the hospital and have them take a look. We left the house just before 7:00 p.m, reached the hospital at 7:30. Anitta thought they'd probably tell her she was a long ways off and should go back home. Instead, they whisked her off to a room and the Nurse discovered that she was now at 6 cm!
We put them through a "Hurry-up-the-baby's-coming-now" drill. Our delivery nurse was wonderful, but she was mighty rushed by all this and a little nervous because this was happening so fast. By the time the doctor got there (and it didn't take him very long), Anitta was at 8 cm and it was too late for her to get the epidural -- she had to do it all herself, no pain meds. Her back was hurting badly, and while watching the display that was monitoring both the baby's heartbeat and Anitta's uterine action, the nurse & I noticed that there was something a little funny going on with the kid. Anitta was given an oxygen mask -- not so much for her, the nurse said, but for The Boy.
Anitta began to actively push at about 8:45 p.m. and The Boy was born at 9:22 p.m.! As he emerged, we saw what caused the trouble on the monitor: the umbilical cord was around his neck. The doctor had Anitta stop pushing for a moment while he clamped and clipped the cord, then after another good push the rest of Dalton came right on out. Unbelievable! Anitta was amazing! Both she and Dalton are doing just fine.
Amazing. I'm so proud of my wife and my new baby boy.
June 6, 2002
Yesterday we went to the doctor's office for an ultrasound. Since the Wife has a minor case of gestational diabetes, the docs wanted to make sure Bingo wasn't going to be too big. If he was larger than 9 pounds, some ounces, they were going to schedule a C-section for next week to go ahead and take him out.
Well, the tech estimated he was 6 lbs, 15 oz, so no scheduled C-section. We were happy to hear that. We did see that The Boy already has a head full o' hair -- almost an inch of it! It's too bad we couldn't see what color it is, but he'll need a haircut when he's born! He waved at us, too. We can't wait to meet him!
Wifey has been having contractions for a couple weeks now -- not just the "Braxton-Hicks" contractions, but full-fledged, all-over contractions. Nothing in any kind of regular pattern, though, but every now and then she'll have one that really gets her attention. They seem to especially kick in when we're driving. Towards the end of May, I needed to go to Charlotte and the Wife said "You're not going without me. If something happens, you need to be with me." So she asked the doctor about taking road trips at this point in the pregnancy. The Doc said, "I wouldn't advise it -- anything can happen. But it's a free country."
I might argue that last point somewhat, but we promptly ignored his advice and went on an overnight trip to Charlotte and followed it up for good measure with a two-day trip to Asheville on the Memorial Day weekend to visit our friends up there. We figured that there are hospitals everywhere if something happened, but nothing happened and we had a great time. The Wife noticed the contractions seemed to occur much more in the car, though, so it seems there might actually be something to the Old Wives' Tale about driving a pregnant woman around to jump-start labor.
Speaking of which, we had some really hot-n-spicy Jamaican jerk chicken for dinner last night -- marinated for 24 hours in a sauce made with habenero peppers -- and if it's hot for us, it would likely scald the skin off the tongues of 98% of the population. Bingo was kicking up a storm after that, but whether that was an indication that he loved it or hated it we don't know. We have about two meals' worth of it left, though, so maybe that'll give him some incentive to come on outta there...
30 April, 2002
This past weekend we went to the Southern Short Course in News Photography, where we saw many of our friends from the world of photojournalism. This event is usually the only time we get together with these folks during the year, and last year Anitta wasn't pregnant. So there was much "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" over The Wife's belly. Chuck drew a face on Anitta's tummy, and later that night (after he'd consumed several adult beverages) tried to get her to show his artwork to everybody in the hotel's bar area. The Wife declined; we've both known Chuck for years and it's one thing to show The Belly to him, but quite another to bare it for a crowd which included a lot of strangers. (Of course, posting a picture of it on the Internet for the world to see is okay, right?) It was funny, though.
Anitta spent time talking with Crystal, who has a couple of kids, and they were discussing all this stuff about birthing and nursing and other "mom stuff" right there in the seminar's registration area, seemingly oblivious to the other people milling around. Crystal's husband Jean and I remarked on how this kind of thing wasn't usually a Public Conversation, but they didn't care. Later on, Jean ended up telling me a few of his own "fatherhood" tales, which were amusing since A) they're in the past; and B) they didn't happen to me (yet). Anitta would have playfully tried to shut him up if she'd been around -- she doesn't think I need to be hearing the "bad" stories about parenthood.
Joe kept coming up to me and saying, "Man! You're going to be a Dad!! How cool is that?!" Bernie said that he was looking forward to meeting The Boy at next year's Short Course. That'll be an interesting logistical exercise... I'm not quite sure how we're going to work it yet. But it oughta be fun!
Anitta has been pretty good about the diet she's on to control her gestational diabetes. Anytime she gets tempted by something she shouldn't have, I just say "Ten Pound Baby!" and that's usually enough to make her think twice. Amazingly enough, I haven't been gaining any real "sympathy weight" along with her. Maybe a couple of pounds, but at least I haven't had to go out and buy a new wardrobe.
5 March, 2002
It's been a while since I wrote anything. So sue me, I've been busy. In the meantime, I've been able to actually feel Bingo movin' around in there. Wifey, of course, has been feeling him for weeks now, but I never could detect the movement when I put my hand on her tummy. Even now it can be difficult to tell if the motion I'm feeling is Bingo or just the Wife breathing (or her heartbeat). But when The Boy kicks, he gives his Mom a good shot. I suppose we'll have to look into Karate lessons or something...
And now, a word about Pregnancy Hormones:
Actually, this sort of thing has been remarkably absent around our place, the only real "hormonal episode" that springs to mind had nothing to do with me (surprisingly enough!). We've been playing "Russian Roulette" with our water, and every now and then some nice red sediment (i.e., "mud") comes up from the well with the water and ends up in the washing machine — usually when a load of whites or light-colored clothing is in there. It's not something that occurs all the time, just often enough to make us really worry about putting some clothes into our washing machine.
Well, a week or so ago it happened again, and this time the load was mostly poor Wifey's maternity shirts. Almost every single one of them was stained with this nasty red mud. She went into a crying fit like I've never seen before, weeping and wailing in anger and frustration, and she just couldn't stop. There aren't too many maternity outfits she likes to wear, and the ones she did like had just been "ruined."
Happily, she took them to a cleaners and the stains came out (cost us $30, but I'd pay that again in a heartbeat to get those precious shirts cleaned!), but we're going to have to call someone who knows about water wells to see what we can do about the mud spew — we can't be washing baby clothes and diapers in muddy water... It's always something, isn't it?
17 January, 2002
ohboyohboyohboyohboy!! Bingo is a boy! Not that a girl wouldn't be just as welcome, but I must say that I am glad that we'll have a son. It'll be fun to do "guy stuff" with him.
After we found out, we went on a clothes-buying spree — primarily in search of the little three-piece bomber-jacket outfit I spotted while Christmas shopping (which Anitta wouldn't buy, since at the time we didn't know if Bingo was a boy or a girl. I argued that it would look really cute on a little girl, too, but I was "shot down," so to speak.). Anyway, we hit three different Stein-Marts before we found one — and it was the only one left, for a two-year-old. So, I'll have to wait a while until I can see him in it. We found a lot of other stuff on sale, too, so the kid is going to be well-clothed for the next couple years...
It's funny that when we got home with all the new kiddie duds, Anitta looked at the clothes she'd bought over the past many months and discovered that most of it was "boy stuff." I guess maybe she had some sort of premonition, I don't know.
Anitta's got a list of all the stuff we have to get over the next few months in preparation for the munchkin (stroller, car seat, medicine, etc.). She said the first half of the pregnancy seems to have zoomed by, but thinks that the rest of it is going to crawl by. I don't know about that — mid-June looks awfully close to me. I can't wait.
16 December, 2001
We saw a bunch of baby stuff while doing some more Christmas shopping today, but Anitta has vowed to buy no more until we know whether Bingo is a boy or a girl. Too bad, because the little three-piece outfit with the bomber jacket and the khakis was really cute. And yes, I'm surprised I'm writing that, too.
13 December, 2001
Wifey's new "toy" arrived the other day, it's a little Doppler sensor that allows her to hear the baby's heartbeat and outputs the number to an LCD panel (she paid extra for that, to avoid counting). Usually Bingo is running about 170 beats per minute, give or take. It has done a world o' good for her peace-of-mind, and it is a nice sound to hear (as long as she doesn't move the little microphone-thing and fill the room with ear-splitting static...).
5 December, 2001
Since the ultrasound visit, nothing much new. At least, not for us. My high-school buddy Pete & his wife Lois had a baby boy today, though. Isaac Allen Vogt, 7 pounds and 8 ounces and 21 and 1/2 inches long. Congrats!
We've got another visit to the doctor coming up on my birthday, and Wifey ordered some sort of "doppler sonogram thing" so she can listen to Bingo's heartbeat. Should be here in a couple of days. Perhaps she'll be less nervous when she can "listen in" whenever she wants.