Well, sorry we don’t have many more pics as yet.  We’re dealing with a little jaundice situation, involving an IV (which necessitated her getting moved to the NICU) but Aurora is responding well to treatment, so hopefully get some more good news on that today or tomorrow.  Mindy’s doing better as well, though still on the antibiotics.  It’ll be nice to get away from the damned IV pole at some point, hopefully tomorrow.

—

I’m not much for Bible quotes, but our recovery room here at Seton has a pretty good one posted:

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Apparently some translations say “sons” instead of the more contemporary “children” interpretation, and some say “contend” instead of “speak”.  To which my friend Nate summed up: “Sons: they killz your enemiez.”  Heh heh, gotta love that Old Testamenty material.

-D.

Check out the “Baby Baby Baby” set on the Flickr page.

-D.

Well, very long story short, after 22 hours.  Anyhow, we’re all more or less in one piece, more updates, including pics, to follow once we’ve gotten some sleep.  7 lbs. 5 oz. at 1:26 AM Aug 15 for those of you keeping score.

-D.

Hour 13 and no news yet.  Looks like we’re in for the marathon.  More to come. -D.

Well, 8 hours and no progress, so it’s Pitocin time.  I reckon we’ll be trucking along here shortly.

Well, we made it to the hospital at 3:30 AM after Mindy’s water broke.  Things are still heating up contraction-wise, but we’re definitely doing this thing.  Aurora’s on the way!  -D.

Now we are in the “red zone” as I like to call it, the point after some of the pre-labor signs are showing up but before actual birth. I must say that this stage of pregnancy (which does not get talked about very much) is a lot more difficult than I imagined. Growing up in a (post)-industrialized society our lives are arranged according to a schedule, and within that schedule you have to get your work done by a deadline. This is particularly true at my job. But this thing is different – there is no schedule and the deadline is “just a guess.” Also, you are not in control of the work.

Right now I am about 9 days away from my due date, and my increasing difficulty in getting around helped my decision to start my maternity leave a week earlier than originally planned. I am hoping I can get into a frame of mind that will help me discard the “schedule” and the “deadline” mentality and be more comfortable with whatever and whenever things happen. I might even be able to get a little vacation out of it.

For all you hungry sonogram consumers out there.

-D,

We have gotten a few inquiries about the name we have chosen for our kiddo, and after some thought (I needed some convincing) we have decided to go ahead and post our choice.

Aurora Evelyn Papas

Aurora will be shortened to “Ro” for everyday use. We came up with this name a long time ago, before we knew the sex of the baby, and I am pretty happy we get to use it. (the boy names were particularly difficult to decide on). Enjoy!

So, two things of note. As I don’t get to *personally* experience the pregnancy, I get to relate to some degree though the new things that are asked of me. In this case, baby shower registry. Now let me tell you, my previous policy dealing with baby goods was to ignore them. Not only because I didn’t need them, but also because I find the marketing for them completely repugnant. In case you hadn’t noticed, most baby good are marketed either overtly or covertly with a “you’re a bad parent if you don’t have this” message. So, my defense mechanism has typically been to filter baby good information to the point of ignoring it.

You might see the internal conflict developing here.

Am I nervous about being a dad? Not really. I can’t do any worse than the freaks who haul their toddler into (Wal-Mart, Meijer’s, take your pick) in the wee hours and then smack them up if they dare to cry. I’m mildly nervous about budgeting and such, dropping the kid on her head,sure. But I’m downright perturbed at the idea of having to willingly absorb baby marketing.

Now, that said, Mindy & I went out last weekend, and it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Mindy softened the blow quite a bit. I had fun taking pictures and making the store staff nervous. Now, I am ready to be barfed/shit/snot/god-knows-what-else on. The speech about “humans are a virus” from Agent Smith in the first Matrix comes to mind.

More pics on the Flickr control too.