Video

David's Arrival, 07-27-09

Delivery was an awesome spectacle. I don't have any younger siblings, so I've never been involved in the process on any level (other than my own birth). Mandi was having contractions and they progressed rapidly. Before she got her epidural (which are AWESOME btw), she was having some initial buildup contractions. Without the epidural, it would have been a pain-o-rama. By the end, the contractions were double what she had felt initially (judging by the graphs). She only had to push for 25 minutes, which is sprinting in baby-delivery terms.

David came out at 37.5 weeks, just a touch early. Apparently caucasian males are nicknamed "Wimpy White Boys" in Labor & Delivery circles. They have a hard time with breathing and they are a little lazy getting going in general. David had to be observed in the nursery as he transitioned into the air-breathing world, but was fine in a couple of hours. He then spent the rest of the time with us in the recovery room. I have never lost so much sleep in my life.

He had jaundice, which is a high level of a liver biproduct called bilirubin. This is basically due to a blood type conflict between the baby and mother, although there are some other reasons that it can happen. He had to be placed under fiberoptic lights to help break down the bilirubin (Billy Ruben, not akin to Paul Ruben), so he looked like a glow worm. he had to be blindfolded so the intense light would not damage his eyes. It was sad to see, but they kept checking his levels and the rate of increase eventually started to recede, so he was taken off of the lights after 24 hours or so.

We went home late Wednesday evening and tried to get settled. Since then we've gone through about 60 diapers (about 1 every 2 hours or so) and he has started to establish a good rhythm with eating, sleeping and pooping--something I still haven't quite figured out myself.

At this point, Mandi hasn't gotten more than 3 hours in a row of sleep since the baby arrived last Monday. The baby eats every 2 hours, so she's up feeding him a lot. I know some of us have aversions to that, but I can now tell you that it is an amazing thing to see mother and child bond so naturally through this process. This and other things-you-thought-you-would-cringe-at sort of melt away when the time comes.

It was a surreal experience and he has been a very mello baby (so far). It just keeps getting more fun the more he perks up.

Ben

Update

Mandi had a routine visit to the obgyn today and discovered that she is 3cm dialated and 50% effaced. This baby could be here any time now. I'll keep you posted here or on Facebook.

Gift Registries

Gift registry links for David:

Search each site using our names Ben & Amanda Witt

Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/baby/ref=gno_listpop_br

Target.com
http://www.target.com/registry/baby/find

Babys R Us
http://www.toysrus.com/registry/index.jsp

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David has started to drop over the last week. Mandi is getting more and more uncomfortable, but is hanging in there like a trooper. The first 'get it out!' looks have started to surface, as well as 'he just kicked my bladder' winces. There's not much I can do besides tell David to stop kicking his mother and go to his room. If he keeps this up, I'm taking away his vid'ya games.

Will post updated pic once I get it off the camera.

Ben

Sonogram 07-07-09

I have uploaded 3 videos of today's sonogram. They are compressed down a lot, so the quality is not perfect, but this will ultimately save your download time and hard drive space. I basically broke it into 3 parts, to avoid having one big file.

https://secure.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=896d6b875b616fb7b09a

David was a little camera shy today, so the actual pictures that I took were not exciting. The video is more fun anyway.

Also, sorry if it is a little jumpy at times, the screen was sitting about 7 feet off the floor, so I was holding the camera up over my head the whole time (often times not paying attention to what I was pointing at).

Nonetheless, enjoy.

Ben

Uneventful is Good

We had an uneventful weekend overall. However, we got to visit with some of Mandi's aunts/uncles and cousins. It was good to see them.

Mandi is feeling more uncomfortable lately and is looking forward to her workload getting lighter next month. She is being kicked in the ribs from the inside now. The boy is growing fast now.