We settled on a name this afternoon.
Gabriel Joel O'Brien
We will call him Gabe, unless we are calling him home for dinner, in which case it is easier to shout Gabriel. We like to have options.
There is nothing else pressing to decide at the moment and we couldn't be happier to just sit and stare at him. I will post some photos as soon as I get somewhere with a decent internet connection.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Baby Boy
At 7:51 in the morning (the 21st of December), we had a baby boy. He is 8 pounds, 8 ounces. I have no idea how long he is, but he is an appropriate length for the weight. He isn't a string bean and he isn't a little chunk.
He fed for about an hour and a half this morning and now he and Mary are sleeping.
Everything so far is going well. ten fingers. ten toes. His blood sugar levels are fine. His hair is not blonde, but not dark brown. I will wait for his first bath before I try to give you the definitive answer on that.
Mary is recovering from the c-section. The procedure was as relaxing and stress free as surgery can be.
I am sitting in a dark room in front of my laptop breathing a long sigh of relief. The sound of the IV drip machine and the occasional sigh from the baby is a fitting soundtrack to this placid conclusion.
What else? Oh, the name... we will have to get back to you on that. I am still trying to get Mary to agree to Boba Fett O'Brien.
Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.
He fed for about an hour and a half this morning and now he and Mary are sleeping.
Everything so far is going well. ten fingers. ten toes. His blood sugar levels are fine. His hair is not blonde, but not dark brown. I will wait for his first bath before I try to give you the definitive answer on that.
Mary is recovering from the c-section. The procedure was as relaxing and stress free as surgery can be.
I am sitting in a dark room in front of my laptop breathing a long sigh of relief. The sound of the IV drip machine and the occasional sigh from the baby is a fitting soundtrack to this placid conclusion.
What else? Oh, the name... we will have to get back to you on that. I am still trying to get Mary to agree to Boba Fett O'Brien.
Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Pregnancy Diary: Entry 4
Stuff you might want to know:
1. Tuesday the 21st of December, is the day we are going to the hospital for the c-section, caesarean, cesarean, caesar, caesarian, etc.
2. Yes, since a c-section is major internal surgery, the patient would normally stay in the hospital for five days. You may ask yourself "does that mean Mary will be in the hospital for Christmas?" and it is very astute of you to ask. Thank you. If everything goes well, the doctor said she can come home on the 24th.
3. We have to be at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning which is a little silly because the procedure is scheduled for 7:30. I am confident they won't send us into the delivery room before 9:00, so please be patient.
4. The time difference between Brisbane and Wisconsin is currently 16 hours. That means at 1:30 in the afternoon on the 20th, we will arrive at the hospital.
5. We may be enjoying the moment and take some time with the new person before calling or e-mailing out the announcement, so please be patient. I am sure I will get an e-mail out within six hours of us arriving at the hospital.
6. I may have to follow that up with an e-mail a few days later with the actual name of the baby, so please be patient.
7. Mary's mom and dad, Jim and Jean, are staying with us for a few weeks. Cole and Cora will be well cared for while we spend our waking moments trying to figure out a name for this baby.
The current list of rejected names is:
Noodle (this is a favorite of mine)
Ruby (this was in our top three girl names for so long and was a guarded secret, but has not made the cut)
Cashew Kelpa (a suggestion by Cora for a girl name. I think it is cute.)
Foster
Pancreas
Sterling
Apollo
Cobra Python, or Python Cobra (Cole is still deciding which should go first)
Rolf
Mary is enjoying her last day of being pregnant and looks forward to seeing her toes.
1. Tuesday the 21st of December, is the day we are going to the hospital for the c-section, caesarean, cesarean, caesar, caesarian, etc.
2. Yes, since a c-section is major internal surgery, the patient would normally stay in the hospital for five days. You may ask yourself "does that mean Mary will be in the hospital for Christmas?" and it is very astute of you to ask. Thank you. If everything goes well, the doctor said she can come home on the 24th.
3. We have to be at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning which is a little silly because the procedure is scheduled for 7:30. I am confident they won't send us into the delivery room before 9:00, so please be patient.
4. The time difference between Brisbane and Wisconsin is currently 16 hours. That means at 1:30 in the afternoon on the 20th, we will arrive at the hospital.
5. We may be enjoying the moment and take some time with the new person before calling or e-mailing out the announcement, so please be patient. I am sure I will get an e-mail out within six hours of us arriving at the hospital.
6. I may have to follow that up with an e-mail a few days later with the actual name of the baby, so please be patient.
7. Mary's mom and dad, Jim and Jean, are staying with us for a few weeks. Cole and Cora will be well cared for while we spend our waking moments trying to figure out a name for this baby.
The current list of rejected names is:
Noodle (this is a favorite of mine)
Ruby (this was in our top three girl names for so long and was a guarded secret, but has not made the cut)
Cashew Kelpa (a suggestion by Cora for a girl name. I think it is cute.)
Foster
Pancreas
Sterling
Apollo
Cobra Python, or Python Cobra (Cole is still deciding which should go first)
Rolf
Mary is enjoying her last day of being pregnant and looks forward to seeing her toes.
Friday, December 10, 2010
correction
I was wrong. Sorry mom.
She sent me a well meaning forward about e-mail trackers and I responded stating that they do not exist.
Apparently they do. My initial research failed me. Wikipedia has a lovely article on them which is here.
This reaffirms that my mom is much smarter than me and that I tend to jump the gun and rant about topics that irritate me.
I do still prefer my mom's kitten e-mails to apocalyptic warnings of internet fraud.
She sent me a well meaning forward about e-mail trackers and I responded stating that they do not exist.
Apparently they do. My initial research failed me. Wikipedia has a lovely article on them which is here.
This reaffirms that my mom is much smarter than me and that I tend to jump the gun and rant about topics that irritate me.
I do still prefer my mom's kitten e-mails to apocalyptic warnings of internet fraud.
I call shenanigans
[Edit: I was wrong. WRONG. Contrary to the notes below, which have been crossed out, e-mail tracking does exist. see the correction above. sorry mom.]
I just received an e-mail from someone about e-mail tracker programs. To protect the innocent party's identity, let us refer to her simply as mom.
The e-mail is intended to warn the ones we love about nefarious tracker programs attached to "forward this on to ten people" e-mails. It then says the following:
You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them.
Isn't the whole point of this e-mail to warn people about cookie trackers and not spamming people with warning forwards? How do I know there isn't a mythical cookie tracker attached to this e-mail?
E-mail tracker programs do not exist. If they did exist, I would be sitting on millions of dollars from the Bill Gates e-mail I forwarded in college in 1994.
but don't take my word for it, go to the very source referenced in the e-mail: snopes.com (also my favorite debunking web site)
Please. I implore all of you to spend the brief ten seconds of your life to check these things out on google before mechanically hitting the forward button. [note to self: do better research before blogging.]
Let us use the e-mail system for what it was intended:
e-mails telling me about how great your kid/puppy/vacation is
cute kitty pictures
I am also particularly fond of cute giraffe pictures, but I am not that picky
motivationals
people you admire
inspirational photos or words
or combinations of the above: here is a favorite photo of my cool wife from a trip we took to Utah in 2001
cute as a kitten, we were on vacation, she motivates me, I admire her and she inspires me. If I could just sneak a giraffe into the photo it would be perfect.
I just received an e-mail from someone about e-mail tracker programs. To protect the innocent party's identity, let us refer to her simply as mom.
The e-mail is intended to warn the ones we love about nefarious tracker programs attached to "forward this on to ten people" e-mails. It then says the following:
You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them.
Isn't the whole point of this e-mail to warn people about cookie trackers and not spamming people with warning forwards? How do I know there isn't a mythical cookie tracker attached to this e-mail?
but don't take my word for it, go to the very source referenced in the e-mail: snopes.com (also my favorite debunking web site)
Please. I implore all of you to spend the brief ten seconds of your life to check these things out on google before mechanically hitting the forward button. [note to self: do better research before blogging.]
Let us use the e-mail system for what it was intended:
e-mails telling me about how great your kid/puppy/vacation is
cute kitty pictures
I am also particularly fond of cute giraffe pictures, but I am not that picky
motivationals
people you admire
inspirational photos or words
or combinations of the above: here is a favorite photo of my cool wife from a trip we took to Utah in 2001
cute as a kitten, we were on vacation, she motivates me, I admire her and she inspires me. If I could just sneak a giraffe into the photo it would be perfect.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Pregnancy Diary: Entry 3
Where were we when I wrote last?
-No idea if it is a boy or a girl
-No solid name picked out for a boy
-Dozens of girl names to choose from
-Excited kids
-Excited/petrified us
That about sums it up and is still valid. We have two weeks to go before the next leg of the race starts.
You may find it curious that we have gone through 36+ weeks of pregnancy and this is only the third entry in the virtual diary. I myself have wondered why I haven't been showering you with an abundance of information. I think it is because we have done this before and our experiences have not been unique. Or not unique enough for me to describe to you. Or not unique enough in subject matter I wish to discuss in this particular forum. The lack of information is an indication that things have been progressing as expected.
My mother was asking if I was going to do another 'fetus watch' series like I did in 2006 when Cora was due for arrival. I had not considered it for several reasons, the main one being that we know precisely when this one will arrive. We are booked in for a hospital visit at 38 1/2 weeks and that is just fine by us. Statistically, I am assured this one will not arrive early and judging from its demeanor thus far, I am sure it will remain well behaved and punctual.
This is a very tumbly baby. It is destined for the circus or break dancing. With the other children, I would have to sit patiently with my hand on Mary's belly and wait for a kick or some movement. This one will use your hand for a speed bag if you leave it there for more than a minute.
Mary hasn't complained of too many kidney punches yet and it doesn't seem to be using her bladder for drumming practice.
A week ago, we talked with a nurse about hormones during and after the delivery of a baby. It was fascinating. Not three hours of fascinating, which is the time it took her to explain basic concepts, but for about half an hour I was very interested. There were five hormones she covered in her talk, but my new favorite is oxytocin. I am not qualified to enlighten you on how cool it is, but it is worth five minutes of your life to look it up on Wikipedia.
Current rejected names:
Newton
Frankie (for a girl)
Gertrude or Gertie
Shrek (that was Cole's suggestion)
Ben Ten (another beauty from Cole)
Rose (that is Cora's favorite)
Sport
Bison
Magnus
-No idea if it is a boy or a girl
-No solid name picked out for a boy
-Dozens of girl names to choose from
-Excited kids
-Excited/petrified us
That about sums it up and is still valid. We have two weeks to go before the next leg of the race starts.
You may find it curious that we have gone through 36+ weeks of pregnancy and this is only the third entry in the virtual diary. I myself have wondered why I haven't been showering you with an abundance of information. I think it is because we have done this before and our experiences have not been unique. Or not unique enough for me to describe to you. Or not unique enough in subject matter I wish to discuss in this particular forum. The lack of information is an indication that things have been progressing as expected.
My mother was asking if I was going to do another 'fetus watch' series like I did in 2006 when Cora was due for arrival. I had not considered it for several reasons, the main one being that we know precisely when this one will arrive. We are booked in for a hospital visit at 38 1/2 weeks and that is just fine by us. Statistically, I am assured this one will not arrive early and judging from its demeanor thus far, I am sure it will remain well behaved and punctual.
This is a very tumbly baby. It is destined for the circus or break dancing. With the other children, I would have to sit patiently with my hand on Mary's belly and wait for a kick or some movement. This one will use your hand for a speed bag if you leave it there for more than a minute.
Mary hasn't complained of too many kidney punches yet and it doesn't seem to be using her bladder for drumming practice.
A week ago, we talked with a nurse about hormones during and after the delivery of a baby. It was fascinating. Not three hours of fascinating, which is the time it took her to explain basic concepts, but for about half an hour I was very interested. There were five hormones she covered in her talk, but my new favorite is oxytocin. I am not qualified to enlighten you on how cool it is, but it is worth five minutes of your life to look it up on Wikipedia.
Current rejected names:
Newton
Frankie (for a girl)
Gertrude or Gertie
Shrek (that was Cole's suggestion)
Ben Ten (another beauty from Cole)
Rose (that is Cora's favorite)
Sport
Bison
Magnus
Cookies
This cookie recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of rolled oats blended to a fine powder. It also has 200 grams of chopped dark chocolate dumped in and another 250 grams of chocolate chips.With the insoluble fiber from the oats and the anti-oxidants in the dark chocolate, they are a prescription for fighting cancer. I should be given my father of the year ribbon right now for the deep concern I have with the health and well being of my children.
If I could figure out how to reduce the 2 cups of sugar the recipe calls for, I would be serving them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
As a public service, I would like to mention that the 'Low GI' sugar sold in grocery stores may be fine for adding to your coffee but it has no place in baking. I used it in a batch of chocolate chip cookies a few weeks ago and they came out with an undissolved caramel taste that did not suit the recipe.
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