More photos are now online! And i moved the first set, so it will all be more hierarchical and logical and stuff.

So, you can select an album from here: http://www.webmonk.net/micah/

see the original set of photos here: http://www.webmonk.net/micah/week1/

And see the latest here: http://www.webmonk.net/micah/week3/

Yay baby!

Hello dear friends. Sorry for the lack of update, there has been much that i want to write about, but limited time (and sleep) to work with.

We have been home with Micah for 2 weeks now.  It’s been a really amazing time of community, adjustments, and learning to communicate with the little guy.

Sarah and I are so very grateful for the wonderful support and encouragement we have received from our friends, near and far.  The blessings have come in the form of prepared meals, joyful visits, and generous gifts. Such an outpouring is humbling; we offer our deepest thanks.  Our little house can barely accommodate it all!

If Harvey Mudd taught me anything, it was how to function on limited sleep.  Once again, those skills are proving useful.  Micah wakes up for a mid-night snack or a changing between 3 and 6 times at night (11p - 8a).  We are learning to transition in and out sleep very quickly, but it is still exhausting.  Most days we don’t get out of bed until 10a.  Sarah and I work hard to make sure we still love each other well in spite of our grogginess, which is not always easy.  I also find it difficult to stay focused on work during the day — this is my most important area to grow in over the next few months.  Time to knuckle down!

On the flip side, we are really enjoying time with our baby.  Micah amazes us with his complete set of tiny internal organs, his rapidly changing facial expressions, and his ability to melt our hearts with one peaceful moment of eye contact.

He lives a straightforward life these days.  He nurses when he’s hungry.  He lets us know if he needs to poop or be changed.  When he is alert, his eyes soak in all aspects of his surroundings (sometimes he will just stare at the wall, trying to figure out what it is).  He practices holding his head up to strengthen his neck muscles. And when all that wears him out, he sleeps for a few hours, dreams baby dreams (of being back in the womb?), processing all he has learned.  A few hours later, he awakes to have another go at it all.

As parents, we are both learning to better understand Micah’s methods of communication. If we can get his messages, and respond appropriately, we eliminate a lot of crying, and more importantly encourage him to keep using those style of expression.  Thankfully his desires are simple enough and his clues are clear enough that this is coming along well.  I just hope he keeps communicating with us throughout his teen years!  Build a good foundation now, eh?

I have a new set of photographs from the first weeks at home.  I will be trying to get those up this weekend, so stay posted.  I also have a bunch of fairly disjointed thoughts and reflections on the whole process that i will try to get into writing here.  So stay tuned if the details of my life are interesting enough to you!

And once again, many many thanks for all the assistance and encouragement we have received.  We love you all!

Phew, after 12 hours of painful contractions that kept sarah to about 2 hours of sleep and fitful rests, she was able to lay down and get some sleep at about 1.30pm. she fell asleep almost immediately. while she napped, our doctor came by, and got a “petosin” drip set up to help induce labor. no pattern was establishing, and contractions were ranging from 2-5 minutes (even 9 minutes while she slept).

two drops of the meds, and contractions jumped to regular three minute intervals. by the sounds of it, they are much stronger contractions as well. the necessary work is getting done. but it will still be a while.

it’s really hard to see my wife in such pain.

It’s 8pm now.  About 3 hours ago, Sarah’s water broke! We are still about 4-5 weeks away from when we expected to do this, but apparently, Micah has other plans! She will stay the night at the hospital, and if things don’t get rolling on their own, they will induce labor tomorrow morning.

So far, Sarah is doing well. She had a little bit of a chance to catch up on rest this week, after an exhausting previous 2 weeks. We are both really excited, but also caught off-gaurd. There was so much we wanted to get ready over these next few weeks. Ah well, we have a loving place to bring Micah home to, and don’t really see the need for much more.
I’ll try to post updates here as i’m able. Otherwise, we will likely be checked out of society at large for a while.

Happy thoughts, prayers and mindfulness appreciated.

Welcome, Micah!