Alex's jaudice has improved slightly, but they're still talking about putting him under some lights to treat it. My wife has gotten really upset about the whole matter because of the doctors playing ping pong with the information, and this is quite stressful for us. The whites of his eyes are still a bit yellowish, but hopefully that should improve. We made the decision to not depend so much on the breastmilk, and to lean more towards the bottle because he's definitely eating more from the bottle.

Poor little guy.

A quick notice to everyone - our cell phones have been cancelled, so you'll have to call our home number to get a hold of us! Too pricey of a toy for us now...

It's settled, my mother was right.

My son is better looking than me when I was a baby.

I looked at some old video montage of me, and I guess that my memory served me completely wrong, because in my old photos, I look more like a balding turnip than a cute baby. Alex, however, is a cutie that I'll gladly surrender my title to.

Today has been a little bit of a stressful day -- the early morning wasn't too bad -- we went to the doctor's and found out that Alex was weighing in a little heavier than yesterday, which is excellent. They took a blood test for the jaundice and drew like a pint of blood from his foot, upsetting him severely and my wife even more.

Later this afternoon the doctor called and said that his levels were pretty high, and we would have to bring him in tomorrow to lay under some lights for treatment, and then take another pint of blood from him. This is worrying us, but it is really upsetting my wife as well as it should. In rare cases, jaundice can cause brain damage and even death, but it is fairly common in a lot of babies and is very treatable.

Of course, one of the stupid cats had to elevate the stress level by getting to the highest point of the Laze-Z-Boy, and then in true Exorcist fashion, hurl some really big chunks down the chair. All over the chair. Just propelled it. My wife swore like a sailor and the best I could do was clean it up. All sorts of fun, cleaning that up. And everyone knows how much I love cats.

Anyway, I'm sure Alex will go through this with no problems. I've completed a batch of 39 gift chocolates which I hand designed -- almost drove myself crazy trying to create something that looked good and worked decently. Will probably make more soon, but hit me up for some when you see me before I eat them all!

On yet another note, and since my wife gave me permission to discuss this on the blog, I will indulge... I cannot believe how big my wife's breasts have become. They are bigger than my head, they're so big. They're the Jupiter of breasts - other breasts can park on her breasts. They have started to produce milk for Alex, so it's really good for him because he needs the food to rid of the jaundice. But man, I cannot fanthom how my wife handles the breasts. I've held them and they weigh as much as Alex! Probably more than the little guy! Arrrghh! They're so big!!

Okay, that's the extent of my fascination with my wife's engorged breasts. I'll shut up now.

D'oh!

I guess dotphoto's gotten fussy as well, so we're back to Imagestation. Probaby won't do too much in the way of noting every possible album, just maybe a post to direct people to new photos when they come up. I'll post the super cool ones on the page itself, so no worries!

So, click here to see some of the select photos from my camera and my brother's camera!

We went to the doctor's today for a follow-up checkup, and it seems like he's gaining some of his weight back. We're slightly concerned because he has jaudice, and I guess it's causing some yellow color to show up in his eyes and skin, and it has something to do with the liver or kidneys not being fully formed. It's not serious, and it's common in new babies, but still we're a little concerned about him.

We were mobbed at the doctor's office today, everyone wanting to see the baby. We also stopped by my Freddy's and everyone was gushing over the little guy.

By the way, we're now open house! Taking all visitors! Hopefully not tonight because I gotta finish the baby tokens sometime. But anyone and everyone is welcome to give us a call to visit us and see the baby! You can certainly hold him as well, but I'm going to make you wash your hands! Babies don't like germies. If you have a cold, take a raincheck! If you have an infant girl, sorry, no arranged marriages for our little Cassanova! Hee hee!

Even when he was still in the hospital, he was starting to get nasty little scratches on his face. Our silly boy tends to get worked up when he gets upset, and he starts grabbing his own face which is absolutely cringe-worthy from our point of view. Seems like he's about to grab his own eyeball out. So yesterday when we got him home, we tried trimming his soft tiny nails, but that didn't work either. Couldn't cut it that close without hurting him.

So last night I went to Freddy's to get him some mittens, and the only ones they had had bears on them. We put them on him last night and since he was flailing, he would swing the mitten to his face and the weight of the mitten would make the bears smack him in the face - making him give the cutest little frowny despair face ever. Being the sensitive parents, we would laugh at him. So, after the second attack of the bears, we took it off him.

I took these pictures of him napping with me this afternoon, with his mittens back on. More scratches showed up, so we figured that it would be less harmful with killer bears than his own fingernails.

Am changing the photos accessibility again. Choosing dotphoto over Imagestation because one doesn't need to "log in" to see photos at dotphoto, and even though the pictures are compressed on dotphoto, it's better for most of our modem-using friends. Imagestation just takes too long.

Alright, now that I don't have to play catchup on the past few very important days, I can focus on now. I just woke up at 7:30 am, having went to bed at around 2:30 am, when my wife took Alex downstairs because he was just crying continuously. She wanted me to get some sleep, but my poor wife has been extremely sleep deprived for the last few days. We're talking only a few hours everyday. Alex is being a little fusspot, so if he's not being held he would let out an adorable little cry. It's very hard to sit very long while the little guy cries...

So my wife is now downstairs with the baby, half asleep on the chair. I'm starting to change my mind on the whole bottle feeding thing because initially, I was thinking that the baby should get mostly breast milk, but my wife has been feeding him so often that she hasn't had any opportunity to sleep. He literally gets hungry very few hours. I can't feed him yet, but that might change. Might invest in a little pump or something, even though we're broke.

Well, gotta go see if my wife wants relief.

Little cutie Alex probably misses his Daddy anyhow!

Welcome Baby Andrew Alex!

So much to say about the beautiful baby boy that we just had, so the only way to tell it is to break it down into sections so that everyone who's heard the stories and skim through the headlines and move to the next section!!!

Induction into the Hall of Pain.

We were admitted into the hospital for induction at around 7 pm, and it was relatively low key. She was given a medication that released minimal amounts of medication to soften the cervix over a span of 12 hours, and it was a mild method of induction that would not be too intrusive to her asthma or gestational diabetes. So, we were still unsure what was going to happen, and the possibility of it not working was certainly present. What we did know was they did not intend to let us leave until the baby was born.

The room itself was quite nice, very large, with a lot of automated things that allowed mom to do almost everything for herself, or at least find the proper assistance to do so. Huge bathroom, and a daybed for Dads who like to sleep under airvents that blow out cold air, even if the thermostat was somewhere in the 70s.

Woke up at around 6:51 in the morning, when my brother called and asked if we had the baby yet, and whether or not he should be driving up later. I said no, and quietly asked him why, dear god, did he call me at 6:51 in the morning to ask me that. My wife's contractions were starting to hurt a little, and since I was awake, I just chatted with her. At that point, they were still pretty mild. There's a machine that monitors the baby's heartbeat and the mom's contractions, and as the morning progressed the contractions get longer, and closer together. At seven something, my mom called again and still, I couldn't give them any estimate.

Then, it got more and more painful and I rang for the nurse, and she checked - 2 cm, still a while to go. Our doctor, who is actually on vacation, was on her way, she said. A request for an epideral was put in, and although there was a fair amount of bustle and hustle, I honestly don't think that the nurses were very concerned at all. I think they were expecting a long labor.

Boy were they wrong. The doctor came in and before long, she was rushing around with an English muffin in her mouth. I remember her shock when she checked my wife and said, "Wow! You're 8 cm and I think I feel some hair!" The epidural guy, who had spend the majority of his presence explaining the side effects of the epidural, was sent packing because my wife had already starting pushing. I felt really horrible because my wife was in such enormous pain, and all my little compliments and reassurances were heart-felt I'm sure, but completely useless in the grand scheme of things. I have to say this though, at the risk of sounding like a complete jackass - she was making me confused because she kept saying, "Oh my God!", as in, "Oh my God, this hurts like a mother****er, everyone needs to help me get this baby out, NOW!" But I heard, "Oh my God!" which are the exact same words, similar in tone and intensity, that she uses during certain activities that lead up to conception. I wasn't aroused, mind you, but I sure was perplexed.

After a few pushes, I saw a roundish head of hair emerge, and I just got excited. I told my wife, who was busy with other things, that I could see the head. The next push and his entire head was out, and the doctor started to clear his airways, making sure he could breath. And with the final push, the baby slipped and slid out... I think the image of the baby there will sear into my mind forever. A bunch of stuff happened after that - I cut his cord, the baby was placed on the new mother, the doctor did some weird biological show and tell - "This was the sac that the baby was in. The sac was much cleaner at the time, of course..." But I was pretty much out of it. Then when I had to hold the baby I just lost it. Alex was looking at me and I just lost it. I've never seen something so beautiful and important and precious and wonderful as my son, looking back at me.

First Impressions

Changing diapers ain't that bad. My first experience was kinda strange - a nurse was helping me change his diapers and he decided to mark the virgin experience by peeing naked. Talk about the Fountain of Youth. Ouch. Everyone was complimenting us on the baby, that he was just beautiful, nice color, great hair, outstanding diction, and long appendanges. Big feet and long fingers. Nice curious eyes that wander all over your face to study you, and almost instantly thereafter, forget you.

Babies have this floppy head thing that makes everyone nervous. I did get over the initial fear of him popping his head all over the place, but it's still there. A lot of people came the visit the first day, and I had to go run some baby errands, like posting his birth at our workplace and calling people. I was sidetracked by my brother getting lost and me having to get him, and then buy my family lunch, but I was more concerned about leaving my wife at the hospital. But it worked out fine.

And I kept saying to myself - Boy, this isn't too bad. Cute baby, diapers aren't too bad. Crying is minimal...

Sleep Deprivation

I couldn't sleep because of the stupid climate control. I think they secretly made the vents noisy and cold so as to keep the babies asleep, what with all the noise and cold air. Don't ask me how that works. My wife couldn't sleep because she would feed the baby a lot, and make sure that he was taken care of. He got a lot of shots this last few days, feel kinda bad for the little sponge.

etc.

Okay, I'm losing my format quickly because I am getting really exhausted now. It's 2:30 in the morning and Alex has been crying on and off for the past few hours, and really fussing a lot. So I'm just barely keeping any sort of focus about the entry. So I might as well just be random about it.

Random Thoughts

Alex's head smells really nice. Like baby. Soft, warm, babyhead.

His nails are capable of slicing through diamonds.

He cries based on how tired you are.

He eats like a maniac. He eats like a frequent buffet luncher. He eats like a fish.

He doesn't poop in proportion to what he eats. That perplexes me somewhat.

I enjoy being a father - it is still a very surreal experience, but I like taking care of him.

He likes to be held a lot, and that is not always condusive to people with only two hands.

I should end this post. Only took me seven hours to write.

Click on September, then click on Andrew Alex on the 7th of the month!

Andrew Alex was born September 7, 2003 at 9:21 am, and he's a healthy 8 pounds, and 20.5 inches long! He is simply beyond words... more later!