Geek Dad

Jordan’s been here for a week. Actually, 8 days. And over that time, while gently rocking her to sleep while doing my Nth circuit of the downstairs, while changing her diapers, while just looking with wonder into her open, attentive and intelligent eyes, I’ve had a few moments to speculate on babies, fatherhood, and my newborn daughter.

Walking, Rocking, and Singing Beats All: When Jordan’s upset, there’s one thing that will almost always calm her down: taking a stroll around the house, singing calming songs and slowly rocking her.

StarGirl (not her real name, obviously)  was born at 11:20 a.m. on March 26. She was 7 lbs. 10 ounces and 20 inches long. And she’s absolutely beautiful. More soon, once we have a chance to eat, sleep and get to know our little girl.

We’re now two days past Sue’s due date and the baby has still not made an appearance. The midwife gave us some labor-inducing home remedies to try, but whether they’ll actually work, or whether they’re just to give us something to do, remains to be seen. So we’re renting movies, putting jigsaw puzzles together, cleaning, … Read more

Sue hasn’t had the baby yet. Everyone wants to know, so I figured I’d throw it out there before I wrote another word. Sue’s “informal” due date of March 14 — which we got from the ultrasound tech — has come and gone and her official due date of March 21 is getting closer by … Read more

Well folks, we’re at T-11 days and counting, and still no baby. We had our weekly baby appointment today, and the midwife said everything was going well … and that we had a nice-sized baby coming. How big does that translate to? Not a clue. So … the waiting game continues. We’ve got our bag … Read more

Madison has seen the face of the enemy, and it is pink. Our five-year-old Yellow Labrador was freaked out when Sue began talking to her belly a few months ago, and she started sulking when she saw us loading Sue’s overnight bag into the Cherokee in anticipation of her impending labor (Mad Dog knows that … Read more

We’ve got four weeks until Sue’s due date on March 21. One week until she’s term. One week until Lamaze is over. Yes folks, labor is definitely starting to loom rather large on the horizon.

Exactly how large became apparent last night at Lamaze, and it had nothing to do with the 30-minute video we watched of three women giving birth. No, what really drove it home for me was the fact that we’d lost about four couples from our class, not to snow, lack of interest, or schedule conflicts but to … birth.

Sue and I have raised a few eyebrows by deciding to go with a midwife for delivering the baby, rather than a traditional obstetrician. Not that people are all that surprised — Sue being nature girl and all — but they’ve been a little concerned, mostly because of misconceptions about what a midwife is and what it means for giving birth.

So why the surprise? It seems that a lot of folks think that having a midwife means that you’re giving birth at home. And naturally they were a little anxious about her being so far away from the hospital.

But having a midwife doesn’t mean that you have to have the baby on your couch. In fact, from what I’ve seen and read, that option would be the exception to the rule.

Big baby milestone today – we had our first Lamaze class. The first thing I learned was that it’s really important to eat before class – it starts at 7 and I foolishly drove there straight from work without grabbing anything to eat. The class has about ten couples in it, and it felt a … Read more

I’ve noticed a few changes in myself since Sue got pregnant which my wife ascribes to a combination of surging testosterone and nesting instinct. I’ve found myself with a growing desire for an honest-to-God work bench, an admiration of power tools, and a hankering to watching professional football. As a result, I went out and … Read more