Odyssey of a Daddy

A pictorial journey into fatherhood (for the second time). The real question: After doing so little, why am I so exhausted?

Dr. Dre

David Richard Erickson was born at 8:39 this morning. He was breach so he arrived via c-section. I have a great picture of him at 1 second old, but I don't think it is blog appropriate. It was pretty wild watching the operation. I could handle it as long as I didn't think about all the blood and stuff being Lia's. The thought crossed my mind once and I had to sit down. But I rallied in time to see David come into the world. His first spontaneous act was to pee. He weighed in at 7 lbs and measured at 20 inches, which seem like pretty normal stats. Our friend Anita managed to switch her schedule so she could be the nurse on duty. Louis Lipscomb was the doctor. I don't know who picked the music but it was raggae. The ob was able to also remove the cyst that had developed in Lia's right ovary, thereby saving her a surgery. We were very grateful. That (a dermoid cyst) was less gross than I was anticipating. Some have hair and teeth and stuff. This looked like a golf ball with a latex glove around it. We are in our room now. Dre (his initials...I doubt it will be what I call him, but you never know) is nursing right now. Lia's hives have kicked up a notch. Hopefully once her hormones cool down, things will go back to normal. Otherwise, she is doing well. We're all in great spirits. I have some great pics on one camera but do not have anything to upload them. I just took some with the other so I will upload those.

Baby Store

It is an odd sensation being given the opportunity to "schedule" the arrival of one's child. The way Lia likens it: she says tomorrow we are going to the baby store to pick out our son.

That's right, tomorrow. I know earlier I wrote February 10. And though I am notorious for flubbing up birthdates, this one is not on me. Lia finagled a reschedule. You can do that when you are the one going under the knife. So we will be picking up Ned Jr. from the baby store tomorrow: February 9, 2009. 2/9/2009. Pretty cool. (It seems like I'm destined to confuse 9s and 10s. Lia's birthday is either the 9th or the 10th of August. Ned Jr.'s will likely have the same murkiness about it.)

Check in this time tomorrow for the details and stats.

Stay on target, stay on target, almost there...

That's the feel of things around the Erickson household. We're cruising down the underbelly of this insurmountable foe called Having a Baby, looking for the spot to deposit our depth charge. The fate of the galaxy is in our hands, and there are TIE/D fighters firing their lasers at us.

Ok. Not exactly. Not at all really. I have had two simultaneous incongruous thoughts the last few days: 1. Lia will be pregnant forever. She will be the first woman in history never to deliver! 2. In less than one week, life as we know it will never be the same. We will have a baby whether we are ready for him or not!

I feel Lia's impatience. It's like a tangible substance. It's is our current other child. Maybe that is why the boy has remained breach. Had he been in position, I believe Lia would have done everything within her power to fire her rockets. So the boy is holding onto her ribs for dear life: he is like the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, "Use the force Lia!" stay on target...stay on target...almost there... I don't want to give the wrong impression. Lia's not doing jazzercise or deep lunges or anything. She is just tired of this whole deal. That has been the difficulty of being on "alert" for going on six weeks now. It's too long to keep your sanity and stay in the chute.

If I'm honest, and I am, sometimes, partially, but when I am honest the truth is I wouldn't mind Ned Jr. baking a bit longer. I got stuff I'm trying to get finished. This whole birth thing, it's sort of a distraction, you know?

I guess he'll come when he's ready. Or at noon on Feb 10. That's when we have the C-Section scheduled.