Thursday, July 17, 2008
Raging Bull, 19 Minutes, and a Baby
It's been a busy week, so I apologize for it taking so long to get this up. Wyatt Russell Witt was born at 5:34 on July 9th at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, VA. He weighed an even 8.0 lbs, was 20.5 inches long, and had a full head of dark hair. Here is a run-down of all the action:
Tuesday, July 8th
9:24 p.m. -- April tells me in the kitchen that she is starting to feel some contractions that are lower than the Braxton Hicks she had been feeling.
10:14 -- April and I sit down on the couch to finish watching the rest of Raging Bull (part of our ongoing commitment to watch all of AFI's 100 Best Movies). She periodically tells me to pause the movie as she continues to have contractions.
Wednesday, July 9th
12:17 a.m. -- The contractions are starting to get a little more consistent and closer together. They are now about 10 minutes apart and last about 45 seconds. April thinks that they are not going to stop and frets that she is not going to get any rest tonight.
2:43 -- The contractions are still lasting about 45 seconds, but are now about five minutes apart. Both April and I think that she is going to have the baby tonight, but we want to try and hold off calling my parents in DC and the doctor since it's the middle of the night.
3:05 -- It's becoming more and more clear that April is going to have this baby soon, so I go ahead and wake up my parents to have them come down to Charlottesville. It'll take them two hours to get down here and I figure that even if we don't have the baby this morning, it won't be very long after that.
3:17 -- There is no sign of letting up, so I start sending emails to my coworkers letting them know that I probably won't be coming in tomorrow.
4:14 -- We're down to 3-4 minutes between contractions, lasting about 60 seconds. So, I finally call Dr. Campbell. He asks for the stats and then asks how April is handling the contractions. I think that she is handling them great. Actually, she looks like she is attacking these contractions with a vengeance. She is moving from the bed to the bathroom, using the vanity for support. She is so focused that I'm having a hard time telling when she is having a contraction without her telling me. I'm also comparing this to Elena, when April told me that I wasn't going to be able to get her in the car if we waited much longer. We got to the hospital only to find out she had barely progressed and then went on to labor almost another six hours. Since April is doing fine, Dr. Campbell says to keep her at home for another hour or two.
4:31 -- April's water breaks and I call Dr. Campbell back. He tells me that we don't need to rush, but start heading over to the hospital. He tells me that he'll meet us there in 45 minutes. Elena is still asleep, so I get our next door neighbor to come over to watch the house until my parents get here. At this point April sits on the bathroom floor and tells me that she is getting scared and that she wants to push. I tell her that we just need to go.
5:03 -- We're in the van and April starts crawling into the back seat. She kicks the hazard light button on the dashboard as she positions herself between the two captain's chairs in the back. She turns to me and asks why I turned the hazard lights on, to which I replied, "I didn't. You did!"
5:15 -- We get to the hospital and get her wheeled up to the birthing room. Dr. Campbell comes in a minute after we arrive with the luggage I left downstairs. (How's that for concierge medical services?) April is already dilated to 8 cm!!! Dr. Campbell says that he needs to change and that we're about to have a baby.
5:34 -- After another check and a few pushes, Wyatt is born. That's right, 19 minutes after we were officially admitted to the hospital. His face is little bruised (which I guess is common with quick deliveries), but he appears to be in good health. (My experienced medical evaluation is based on the fact that I can count 10 toes and fingers.) Once the birthing room was cleaned up, I remember Dr. Campbell saying, "Now that's how you have a baby."
Compared with Elena, this birth was very surreal because it happened so quickly once we got to the hospital. I keep thinking about what other things take 19 minutes, and it's tough. Maybe going to store. Maybe 7-11, if you don't spend too much time at the Big Gulp machine and if the lottery machine is down so people can't buy tickets. At the grocery store, I usually spend 19 minutes waiting to check out. And if it's Best Buy, forget it. I think it's hard to spend less than 19 minutes walking past the plasmas.
Having thought about the birth over the past week, I've also changed my views on the separation of labor of childbirth (no pun intended). Before, I didn't think that men had any role at all. When Elena was born, there were times when it definitely felt awkward. What was I even supposed to do? Now, I think that women get to experience it, and men get to remember it. When April was in the bed at home having contractions, I remember asking her a question and realizing that she had no idea what I was talking about. I don't even think she heard me. In fact, I think that her memory basically blacked out for about three hours and finally turned back on right after she had the baby. I probably should have taken more advantage of the situation and told her all the things that I don't want her to remember. Oh, well. So, remembering it is my job, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Tuesday, July 8th
9:24 p.m. -- April tells me in the kitchen that she is starting to feel some contractions that are lower than the Braxton Hicks she had been feeling.
10:14 -- April and I sit down on the couch to finish watching the rest of Raging Bull (part of our ongoing commitment to watch all of AFI's 100 Best Movies). She periodically tells me to pause the movie as she continues to have contractions.
Wednesday, July 9th
12:17 a.m. -- The contractions are starting to get a little more consistent and closer together. They are now about 10 minutes apart and last about 45 seconds. April thinks that they are not going to stop and frets that she is not going to get any rest tonight.
2:43 -- The contractions are still lasting about 45 seconds, but are now about five minutes apart. Both April and I think that she is going to have the baby tonight, but we want to try and hold off calling my parents in DC and the doctor since it's the middle of the night.
3:05 -- It's becoming more and more clear that April is going to have this baby soon, so I go ahead and wake up my parents to have them come down to Charlottesville. It'll take them two hours to get down here and I figure that even if we don't have the baby this morning, it won't be very long after that.
3:17 -- There is no sign of letting up, so I start sending emails to my coworkers letting them know that I probably won't be coming in tomorrow.
4:14 -- We're down to 3-4 minutes between contractions, lasting about 60 seconds. So, I finally call Dr. Campbell. He asks for the stats and then asks how April is handling the contractions. I think that she is handling them great. Actually, she looks like she is attacking these contractions with a vengeance. She is moving from the bed to the bathroom, using the vanity for support. She is so focused that I'm having a hard time telling when she is having a contraction without her telling me. I'm also comparing this to Elena, when April told me that I wasn't going to be able to get her in the car if we waited much longer. We got to the hospital only to find out she had barely progressed and then went on to labor almost another six hours. Since April is doing fine, Dr. Campbell says to keep her at home for another hour or two.
4:31 -- April's water breaks and I call Dr. Campbell back. He tells me that we don't need to rush, but start heading over to the hospital. He tells me that he'll meet us there in 45 minutes. Elena is still asleep, so I get our next door neighbor to come over to watch the house until my parents get here. At this point April sits on the bathroom floor and tells me that she is getting scared and that she wants to push. I tell her that we just need to go.
5:03 -- We're in the van and April starts crawling into the back seat. She kicks the hazard light button on the dashboard as she positions herself between the two captain's chairs in the back. She turns to me and asks why I turned the hazard lights on, to which I replied, "I didn't. You did!"
5:15 -- We get to the hospital and get her wheeled up to the birthing room. Dr. Campbell comes in a minute after we arrive with the luggage I left downstairs. (How's that for concierge medical services?) April is already dilated to 8 cm!!! Dr. Campbell says that he needs to change and that we're about to have a baby.
5:34 -- After another check and a few pushes, Wyatt is born. That's right, 19 minutes after we were officially admitted to the hospital. His face is little bruised (which I guess is common with quick deliveries), but he appears to be in good health. (My experienced medical evaluation is based on the fact that I can count 10 toes and fingers.) Once the birthing room was cleaned up, I remember Dr. Campbell saying, "Now that's how you have a baby."
Compared with Elena, this birth was very surreal because it happened so quickly once we got to the hospital. I keep thinking about what other things take 19 minutes, and it's tough. Maybe going to store. Maybe 7-11, if you don't spend too much time at the Big Gulp machine and if the lottery machine is down so people can't buy tickets. At the grocery store, I usually spend 19 minutes waiting to check out. And if it's Best Buy, forget it. I think it's hard to spend less than 19 minutes walking past the plasmas.
Having thought about the birth over the past week, I've also changed my views on the separation of labor of childbirth (no pun intended). Before, I didn't think that men had any role at all. When Elena was born, there were times when it definitely felt awkward. What was I even supposed to do? Now, I think that women get to experience it, and men get to remember it. When April was in the bed at home having contractions, I remember asking her a question and realizing that she had no idea what I was talking about. I don't even think she heard me. In fact, I think that her memory basically blacked out for about three hours and finally turned back on right after she had the baby. I probably should have taken more advantage of the situation and told her all the things that I don't want her to remember. Oh, well. So, remembering it is my job, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Elena Vacation Extended
Elena (our two-year-old daughter) has been up in DC at her Grandma and Grandpa's since Sunday. My mom offered to take her so that we could go out to dinner at C&O Monday evening for our anniversary.
We were initially worried about how Elena would react. We prepared her all week by talking about "Elena vacation" with Grandma and Grandpa. She seemed to be very excited seeing Grandma and Grandpa and litterally ran out the door when they arrived. When we were putting her in the carseat, she kept talking about "bye-bye with Nama Papa" and "I watch Elmo" as I was hooking up the dvd player. I kept thinking that everything was going to be fine until she realized that mommy and daddy were not going with her. But right before we closed the door, when April and I told he goodbye, she had a big smile on her face and shouted with delight, "bye Mommy, bye Daddy."
Things were going so well that we decided to have her stay with my parents until Thursday evening, and have them all come down for 4th of July weekend. Elena seemed to be loving her "Elena vacation" and all the fun she was having with her Grandma and Grandpa. Apparently, on the way to the metro the other day, she turned to my mom, cocked her head in this very cute way, and asked, "You having fun Nama?" We may be missing her more than she is missing us.
So, without a child, we drove the 30 minutes south down to Dr. Ho's Humble Pie, a small, hole-in-the-wall, hippy pizza joint in the middle of no-where Virginia. (I know it doesn't make any sense, but if you've been there you understand.) To our surprise, there was live music, with the band taking up half of the already small dining room. The singer was Greg Allen (http://www.gregallenmusic.net) a local musician in a style that I guess is called modern folk. The pizza was great and it was very fascinating to hear Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" as a folk song. And somewhere between REM's "It's the End of the World As We Know It" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," I think I remembered what it was like to not have a kid.
We were initially worried about how Elena would react. We prepared her all week by talking about "Elena vacation" with Grandma and Grandpa. She seemed to be very excited seeing Grandma and Grandpa and litterally ran out the door when they arrived. When we were putting her in the carseat, she kept talking about "bye-bye with Nama Papa" and "I watch Elmo" as I was hooking up the dvd player. I kept thinking that everything was going to be fine until she realized that mommy and daddy were not going with her. But right before we closed the door, when April and I told he goodbye, she had a big smile on her face and shouted with delight, "bye Mommy, bye Daddy."
Things were going so well that we decided to have her stay with my parents until Thursday evening, and have them all come down for 4th of July weekend. Elena seemed to be loving her "Elena vacation" and all the fun she was having with her Grandma and Grandpa. Apparently, on the way to the metro the other day, she turned to my mom, cocked her head in this very cute way, and asked, "You having fun Nama?" We may be missing her more than she is missing us.
So, without a child, we drove the 30 minutes south down to Dr. Ho's Humble Pie, a small, hole-in-the-wall, hippy pizza joint in the middle of no-where Virginia. (I know it doesn't make any sense, but if you've been there you understand.) To our surprise, there was live music, with the band taking up half of the already small dining room. The singer was Greg Allen (http://www.gregallenmusic.net) a local musician in a style that I guess is called modern folk. The pizza was great and it was very fascinating to hear Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" as a folk song. And somewhere between REM's "It's the End of the World As We Know It" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," I think I remembered what it was like to not have a kid.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Waiting for Baby Brother
I guess that the first post is probably the hardest. Where do you start? What do you say that is so important that it justifies starting a blog in the first place? What historical context is important so that the reader knows where we're coming from?
I had to write my life story in 400 words when I was at Darden, but I was never really happy with that. In fact, trying to put your life in context is pretty difficult, so I think that I will leave that for the philosophers. Instead, I think am going to dive right in.
The due date for the new baby is a week from today. I think that April is finally ready for the baby to come. I remember before she got pregnant with this baby, she would always say that she loved being pregnant. That may be true most of the time, but we have finally gotten to the point that she does NOT love being pregnant. And as I have been told by a couple people (all men, by the way), if momma's not happy then you're not happy.
I had to write my life story in 400 words when I was at Darden, but I was never really happy with that. In fact, trying to put your life in context is pretty difficult, so I think that I will leave that for the philosophers. Instead, I think am going to dive right in.
The due date for the new baby is a week from today. I think that April is finally ready for the baby to come. I remember before she got pregnant with this baby, she would always say that she loved being pregnant. That may be true most of the time, but we have finally gotten to the point that she does NOT love being pregnant. And as I have been told by a couple people (all men, by the way), if momma's not happy then you're not happy.
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