Here We Go Rabbits, Here We Go!

That was Garnette's high school rallying cry. Not much, I suppose, since rabbits aren't all that fierce, but it's been our mantra for a while, and especially now. We intoned it as Max was having trouble getting enough to eat, and then we figured out a solution to get more ...ah... flow. Now meal times are a bit happier, as are the times between. We got a full 4 hours of sleep last night (with an intermission for feeding)! That is huge and we are almost giddy with restfulness. Of course that's relative. This is, of course, a house where everybody likes to sleep. A lot. Someday.
It snowed last night here in the MPLS, and it's beautiful. First snow that's sticking this year, and it's hard not to find it beautiful, even in the foggy delirium. Yesterday it was 47F. Nutty.
Things are getting somewhat normalized now. Max has expressed interest in meeting the people we keep talking about. Soon, little pumpkin, soon.

Frazzle-dazzled

Well, Max is 5 days old. The title of this post says it all: this is a roller coaster. He is simply the most kissable, amazing little creature we have ever run into, and he's so instantly lovable, but he's a lot of work! Luckily, he is a healthy baby, and a happy one too. Except when he's hungry. And since he's 5 days old, he's hungry about every 2 or 3 hours around the clock. The advice we got from so many people to eat and sleep when he's sleeping is somewhat easier said than done, since there are so many things we need to do too. Prolonged lack of sleep, we've found, leads to emotional incontinence, bringing out a spectrum of emotions from both of us. I have been thinking about a story our friends Eric and Shannon told us about the fights they'd have in the middle of the night which, when considered the next day, didn't seem to make any sense. But Max has been pretty understanding about all of it. He even went to Target with me yesterday to help pick out house supplies. I can report that he has very good taste. Must be his mom's influence.
But if you're reading this, you either know about stuff like sleep deprivation already or you have no real idea what I'm talking about. Max thinks you're really here for the pictures. I think he's right.

On the scale minutes after he was borned up:


Trying out his new baby carrying sling. Two thumbs up... and then sideways. And then in his mouth. Garnette may actually be asleep in this picture.



Bug (our cat) is doing well. She seems mostly disinterested, sniffing him occasionally and backing off when he starts crying, but otherwise still the happy, loving cat we've always known. Here's a picture from a few weeks ago. Lap space was expensive real estate for a while there, but the view was great.


Sleepy baby on his birthday:



We pretty much missed Thanksgiving, but that was o.k., because we got a big reminder of what it is to be thankful, and it sure didn't involve turkey and stuffing. We did have company briefly. The home health care nurse from Park Nicollet clinic came by yesterday to do a check up and declared that Max is doing good, and so are we. We're not so confident, but it's good to hear.

Thanks for all the well wishes, cards, and calls. Your support is invaluable. We love you all very much and can't wait for you to meet Max! In a few more days we'll feel more settled and when we are, I'll post visiting hours right here. Stop by and meet Max! He's looking forward to it!

-Andy

Hi everybody, and thanks for checking out Max's own webspace! He's only 2 days old and already he's got a webspace. That's nuts. We'll see as we go how coherent this first entry is (and how many more after?) , as Garnette and I are operating on very little sleep. Any of you with kids know about this part of parenthood intimately. In fact, I think every single one of you warned us about this while Max was in G's belly. Thanks. You were right.

Max was born on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008, at 6pm, weighing 8lbs 7oz. He was 21" long! We were scheduled to "be induced" the next Tuesday, and had been working on fixing up the house all day Saturday. That night, in an attempt to induce labor, I gave Garn a foot rub. It worked. It gave her contractions right away, which built through the night. About 2:30am we started timing them, and about 3am her water broke. It was at this point I put the eggs and sausage I had been cooking into the fridge (G asked for them, as we had been advised to eat protein as labor started since we'd have a long time before we could eat and sleep again) and got our bags out to the car. At 3:30am we drove to the hospital (Methodist Birth Center. They put the meth in Methodist. Seriously: they were really great.), waiting almost comically for red lights as Garn's contractions got stronger and closer, where I got her into a wheelchair and we promptly got lost. It's a big building and pretty empty that time of day. A couple tense minutes and three floors later, we got directions from a night desk attendant and made our way to the birthing center.
Garnette was in labor for about 16 hours starting at 2:30am Sunday morning. We had been awake since about 9:30am Saturday morning. The labor was tough but medically uneventful, except that Max kept flipping over and was born face up. Garn was so strong and so focused. She is super tough, and I am amazed by her now even more than I already was.
Max was born 39 weeks to the day after his conception, and although he somewhat resembles Winston Churchill, he is pretty darn cute. More stuff to come, but I need some sleep.
Thanks to all of you for your amazing love and support. You are the best friends and family ever!

Andy