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.

Ben SMASH!

The countdown to August is getting shorter and shorter. I am not ashamed to say that I have been nesting--turning the house upside down and shaking out all of the old lady funk that the previous owner left.






Alas, David will never know the original blue carpet in the bedrooms or blue vinyl in the kitchen. He will never know fruity mauve or yellow wallpaper.










He'll never know about the busted kitchen drain pipe or the hole in the floor.




Hopefully, he will have a nice, soft place to run around, throw up, and break our nice stuff until he learns otherwise.



He will probably know alot, however, about loud plastic toys, stuffed animals, good food, and, if I've got anything to do with it, super hero costumes.

The Latest

Mandi had another doc appointment today. David is measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule. He may arrive in July. We have tall genes on both sides of the family. If he managed to inherit any of those, he may be a biggin'.

Third trimester is underway. Mandi is getting more uncomfortable, but is managing. She has a strong constitution--or at least she pushes through adversity with gusto.

We are getting the house a little closer to acceptable, having the blue vinyl in the kitchen and laundry room replaced with ceramic tile. It is already looking nice and should be a good move toward neutralizing the blue/mauve colors that we have endured needlessly for so long. David will hopefully not remember blue carpet either, as it is next on the list to go.

Only 10 more weeks to go and they will be flying by. Trying to hang on for the ride and get everything prepared. So far, so good.

Ben

Finally, A Post!

I've been slacking off getting info to this blog, but here is the latest picture of Mandi. She's doing great! David is kicking like crazy, especially when she is relaxed in a recliner or in bed, where he has more room to toss and turn. We have been reading to him--mostly Dr. Seuss books. I recommend Scrambled Eggs Super Dee Dooper.

Otherwise, things are going well. We have the nursery put together, but we still have the basic supplies to obtain. One of Mandi's co-workers sold us her furniture, a car seat, breast pump, and pack n'play. She was very generous and we truly appreciate it.

I think that I will be getting a Sam's card soon. Or perhaps diapers are cheaper online? All those things will come soon enough and in great abundance.

I am going to try and take more pictures and more regularly.
Ben

Video

Let's see if this video link works:

No sound, unfortunately, but video of heartbeat.

The scrolling waves are the heart beats. In the center of the image you can sort of see a wide dotted line that runs vertically. The 4 chambers of the heart are SORT OF visible. Fun anyway. Wish I had sound.

Don't worry, I am getting a new camera soon. Feel free to contribute.

It's a .....!!!

Sorry for the long overdue post, but here are some results from today's sonogram!


Nice Profile shot!








Get your knittin needles and blue yarn ready---
It's a BOY!





It's been an exciting day. Let's just say that.

So technically, last week's entry was for week 13, but it was Wednesday, which was the start of week 14. That means I am just skipping talking about week 14 and moving on to week 15, where your baby is the size of a kit kat bar, or approximately 4" and the size of an apple. Of course, not all apples are the same size, but you get the idea.

Lo and behold, Mandi is finally starting to feel better. Monumental accomplishments include:

-"I drank a whole bottle of water today!"

-"This iceberg lettuce is delicious!"

-"I ate that whole plate of Lima beans!. Do you see right there? Where they used to be?"

The nausea seems to be significantly reduced, but she is still fighting drainage issues. She has an arsenal of methods for combating sinus troubles and they help with the symptoms. Her morning and evening routine for one day is as long as mine for the whole week. Whatever helps her feel better though!

So, let the trips to the buffet begin! And she might start eating more too.

Ben

Status Quo

Your pregnancy: 13 weeks

How your baby's growing:
Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

From http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-13-weeks_1102.bc

Not much news to report this week. Mandi's been having some funny dreams lately. She's separately dreamed that we are having a boy and a girl, so no foreshadowing really there. The diet challenges remain and we are still looking for the light at the end of that tunnel. I have discovered that if I am going to have any veggies at all, I have to make them separately for myself. Due to laziness, apathy, and sometimes both, I have been eating raw veggies along with whatever mound of brown, carbohydrate-meat goo Mandi is able to tolerate. Sprinkle some fries on those cupcakes.

Things we are not fully aware of that might come to bite us later:
Day care. Holey Moley it is expensive. We need some grandparents to move closer.

Gear. There is so much stuff out there, I really don't know what you actually NEED. I am pretty sure that I need to make a list sometime. Crib, changing table, rocker, toys, monitor, toys, earplugs, Jamaican vacation. oh and a breast Pump: Enough said.

Sleep. We are both aware of what is coming. Mandi has a sister that was born when she was 14 (hi Jessa!), so she has been through most of the major elements of the early stages. I am the last of 3 and have very little experience with the tiny humans. I understand they mostly eat, poop, and cry, so we'll have alot in common. I am praying that this kid is healthy and happy. If it is a girl, I hope she'll take to sleep like her mom's female relatives, which is quite naturally and in abundance. I, on the other hand, am a fairly light sleeper because some parts of my brain are left on guard duty at night. If I have a dark, secluded and/or secure place to sleep, like a bank vault or sealed cave, I can hibernate for months.

I wonder how long we will have the child before I fall asleep at my desk at work.

Second trimester, where are you?

I will try to get Mandi to enter something on here sometime.
Ben

Baby Wants Taters and Meat!

This week has been a food adventure, filled with high hopes, a super bowl, and ending in microwaved potatoes. When Mandi started to feel better in general, she began to daydream about the foods she might like to have. Mostly they were comfort foods, including a rash of ground-beef-based recipes. We have had Hamburger Helper's Stroganoff and a homegrown Hamburger casserole dish that included ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, cream cheese (yes, I said cream cheese), topped with canned flaky biscuits. I am not going to lie to you, it is satisfying on a Paula Dean level, except her recipe might have included extra butter and a few bananas. We cooked several dishes last week and by the weekend, I pulled out 7 unique meals for leftovers. Needless to say, we do not usually cook that many dishes, but Mandi's appetite has been wavering from "hey that sounds good, let's make that!" to "What, Crackers!? Let's not even talk about eating right now." So, she has been a little frustrated with the nausea. Unfortunately, Sunday was also the day of the Carbohydrate, I mean, Super Bowl and, of course, we had our usual guests and usual smorgasbord of eats. Everyone is full within the first 5 minutes, but somehow manages to find a way to eat throughout the game. I believe Mandi's addition to the meal included 1 piece of toast. Her tailgating style might not be popular, but it's cheap and easy to prepare!

So, the saga continues. We're waiting for the second trimester to show up, so she can have some relief, but until then, we'll just keep on truckin'. If I can find it, I will put up a copy of the recipe mentioned earlier.

Ben

Red Hot Chili Baby

I'm not going to lie to you, my twisted sense of humor and love of chili peppers and our baby-to-be makes this costume a completely rational decision on my part. Torture, you might say, for the infant? Bah! There will be time for Batman or princess outfits, so why not take advantage of this time to impact the child on an elementary level.

Things at our house are pretty status quo. Mandi has been battling nausea and searching for a light at the end of the zofran tunnel. The diet is still set to "whatever" and she's making it to work. Weekends are still recovery time from the week's activities. This past weekend, I went camping with the Boy Scout troop that I work with. Sadly, Mandi was left alone on Saturday. I felt bad about it, but it seems to have turned out ok. It's amazing how she is managing to maintain. The power of motherhood...fueled by gatorade and pigs-in-a-blanket. She is in her 12th week and hopefully will enter her second trimester soon, which should be a time of eating and expanding and hopefully getting out for walks!

Woosh Woosh Woosh. Your baby has a heart!

Despite being fairly level-headed people, hearing the whooshwhoosh of our baby's heart through a fetal doppler monitor was a bit surreal. The nurse who first attempted to locate the baby tried the smash-and-grab method of analysis. You might have thought she was grinding corn into meal the way she rooted around on Mandi's stomach with the doppler receiver. She was unable to locate it on the first pass. The doctor was much more gentle and successful when she used the device.

Mandi will be 11 weeks pregnant on Wednesday and is really looking forward to the supposed nausea relief. The past couple of months have been exciting, yet tiring. Mandi has mustered up enough strength to focus on her duties during the day, but evenings and weekends are usually filled with rest and recouperation. I spend a lot of time asking, "what do you feel like eating?" Right now, our diets are on auto-pilot. All I know is that we both need some ruffage soon.

All that being said, the time is actually going by fast. We're already about 25% through and it seems like we just found out. We won't know the sex of the baby until about March, when we have the first offical ultrasound, so any gender-related purchases are on hold. We've decided to go ahead and find out, just to keep things simple, so we can buy clothes and people can buy blue or pink gifts, as appropriate. When people ask me, "So, what's it going to be, a boy or a girl," I have been responding with, "As long as it's one or the other, I'll be happy." Perhaps perceived as sarcasm, I think we both are up in the air about it, although every time we think about having a girl, it seems to make the rest of the family vibrate internally. We decided that both boys and girls have their pros and cons, in terms of raising them early on, so we'll leave it to the miracle of genetics.

On a side note, on the way home from the test this morning, Mandi and I indulged our nerdier tendencies by discussing our blood types and those of our expected progeny. I am AB+ (the universal receiver), which means that my parents were A and B. I seem to recall that one of my brothers is O (I can't remember if it's +/-). This means that my parents were likely AO and BO. So there was a 25% chance of winding up with AB. Alternatively, Mandi is O+ (the universal donor). Her parents are both AO+, which gave her 25% chance of being O+. Three % of white people have AB+ and 37% have O+. Therefore, because I have no O group to give, our child will be either AO+ or BO+. I feel so unique and decisive with my blood type. It is discussions like this that take my mind off the fact that we are having a child and waste precious time all at once.

Thanks to all who have offered their congratulations through our endeavor and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Ben