Sickness

It seemed like longer, but I just looked it up.

Ending and including yesterday, our family has just been sick for 28 days straight. In the heart of a very cold winter, and at a time when I had to work anyway.

All of us got sick multiple times, except for myself...I was well throughout, until I came down with a hellish 12-day chest infection. Now except for a final little sniffle, it's all over.

I know in perspective to the hardship of the world, etc., that it's no big deal. But having a sick kid, especially when one is sick at the same time, just sucks. It's been some of the hardest weeks I've had in years.

Summer is coming. We are all well again.

I'm a Daddy

I see trees of green
Red roses too I see 'em bloom
For me and for you And I think to myself
What a wonderful world.

This is the first song that came on the radio, how about that?

Ren Akiko Goodfriend, born 1pm today, 7lb3oz. Everything smooth and easy. More later.

You can call tonight but I might not answer...I'll try to answer tomorrow. You can _ask_ about visiting tomorrow afternoon.

Here Are The Pictures!!
Movie to follow at a later date.

Yasuko's Arrival

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged. Sorry.

On Wednesday, Hiroko's mom, Yaasuko, arrived. She'll be with us for a month helping to raise Ren. This is great! Everything is in place now for Ren's arrival.

The last couple days have been a frenzy of activity. I would have thought after the long plane flight Yasuko would have been exhausted, but she was so excited to see us that we got started right away. We exchanged a lot of gifts, mostly for Ren. Yasuko brought a great mobile for the nursery, and some baby-sized chanting beads. In this picture, you can see that we've lined up the beads on Hiroko's belly so Ren can get to chanting right away. (They're upside-down, of course, because so is Ren). There were lots of other photos, which you can see here.

Yesterday after shopping for more baby necessities, Hiroko and Yasuko spent a great deal of time arranging the nursery, and I'll have pictures soon. I also worked and shopped, and after that everybody was pretty much exhausted.

I have tons and tons of more stuff to blog about (when I have the time and energy) but mostly it's about me, so you'll find it on my own blog.

Health Update: We went to the doctor again yesterday, and the physical therapist the day before that. Everything is back on track. Hiroko's still in pain, but it's less, and all the exercising she's doing (sometimes with my help) appears to be making a difference. We're certainly anxious about labor and potential post-birth consequences, but the doctors have told us to wait and see.

Preparing for Mom

All the work we've been doing to try to alleviate Hiroko's pain must be paying off, because she's reported very little bone pain today, and has been up and about like an active person. On the other hand, on Friday she fell while preparing a bath and bruised herself pretty badly. So we're watching for her. I'm glad to say that even with the bruise, things are getting back toward more normal and less scary.

On Wednesday, Hiroko's mother Yasuko arrives and I'll be glad that there will always be someone in the house. When Ren comes, she'll have two moms to take care of her, for a month. The picture here is the guest room we set up for Yasuko. This is Joe's old room. The bedding and paint are all new. It's a cozy little space in the basement.

From this picture you can see that poor Mr. Lion is under the impression that the changing table is a new bed for him. Won't he be disappointed when he finds out the truth!

Ultrasounds and Health Update

My Flickr problem has gone away, and I have full control again...so here are the ultrasounds! As you can tell by squinting at these pictures, clearly Ren is beautiful, intelligent, and charismatic.

Yesterday we got to go see a physical therapist to try to do something about Hiroko's pain. The PT was full of great information about why this is happening. She was able to show us how to stretch and exercise Hiroko's joints to try to keep her in better alignment. We also got an elastic belt to try to hold everything into place.

Overall, despite all the help yesterday, Hiroko reported the pain was about the same. But the difference is noticeable to me--she is more alert and sounds happier to me. Also she reports the drugs are "fun", so there's that.

I don't know why I didn't think to mention it earlier, but due to the many surgeries Hiroko had when she was a kid, her right foot is noticeably smaller than her left (by about a full size) and her right leg is shorter! Knowing this, the pain makes a lot of sense to me. I imagine injecting myself with a hormone to loosen my joints, tying two bowling balls to my stomach, and strapping a board to my left foot. And then walking around like that for a couple months. Yeah, I think I'd hurt, too.

Health Update

After another 24 hours of watching my wife in constant, serious pain, today's early doctor's visit was reassuring. Our doc came highly recommended and has been great from the start, and she completely believed us and made it clear she wanted to help.

We were able to schedule a meeting this afternoon with a physical therapist (there was a more specific baby-related name for the doctor, but I can't remember). Our impression has been to not expect dramatic improvement, but a PT doc ought to be able to show us how to move Hiroko's body around somewhat while minimizing pain.

The doc also prescribed Tylenol with codeine. I was very surprised Hiroko could take it. So now my recommendation that Hiroko not drive has become a medical necessity. She so far reports that the codeine isn't masking the pain, just making her loopy.

I have to say I still feel good about the pregnancy, and confident everything will come out in the end. Of course, I'm not the one in pain, so maybe it's easier for me. With the driving and doctors and drugs, at least I feel like I can do something now. She's going to be some kid.

Mom Not So Good

Update time.

The good news is slim: we got the changing table together. It took a couple hours and us working in pairs. It looks okay. It's functional.

The mildly bad news: Flickr is giving me grief right now on my account, so I still can't share out a bunch of photos I want for this and my other blog. If you're waiting to see the other ultrasound pictures, you'll darn well have to wait.

The truly bad news: We've figured out Hiroko has something called "Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction", which you can read about here and here. Let me tell you something: it sucks a lot. She basically can't do much of anything and hurts a great deal. It's off and on but more on. We're exploring treatment options beyond acetaminophen.

It does mean that I'm cancelling most everything and spending all my time at home. This is especially because I've asked Hiroko not to drive. She can't wear a seat belt, and the pain is sufficiently severe that I don't think she can pay full attention. So we're shifting everything around this new curve ball.

Ultrasound

Here she is (click to enlarge). This is the best pic with her face. Because we were classified as an "at risk" pregnancy, we got treated to a lot of extra ultrasounds and I have a few more pictures. Later on I'll put them on flickr and let you know soon. So I guess this is a teaser.

On Friday right after I got done blogging that Hiroko was in a lot of pain, she called the docs and they told her to come in right away. We spent the afternoon in the hospital, where they pretty much told us "you're in pain because you're pregnant". But it's been really bad. It comes and goes, but when it comes she can't really do anything but sleep. So I'm trying to stick by her side.

The changing table we bought didn't really work out. The boards were really warped, and one was even already cracked. The dowels and screws were just loose inside the big cardboard box it came in, and we're missing a dowel (they couldn't include some extras?). The screw holes don't really match up right. After two hours of trying to get the thing together, I gave up. We're actually sleeping on top of the warped boards (in between the mattress and box spring) in the hope that they'll straighten enough to be usable. I would have expected more from a product from Target.

One good turn

The baby has turned, and the pressure of Ren's head in Hiroko's body is causing her a lot of pain, discomfort, and disruption. Near as I can tell, there's really nothing I can do about it except worry a lot about it, and take away her other stresses as much as I can. I'm really impressed with how she is weathering it.

Last night Ren was moving around a lot (as she always does) and I had my hand on Hiroko's belly. Ren is so big now, and fills up Hiroko's belly so much that it feels like a full-size baby right beneath her skin. It's really an amazing and scary experience.