Extreme food coloring and biology for a toddler

As Sydney planned to visit Max and Michele in the hospital she wanted to bring a present (or "treasure" as she's been saying since her stint as a pirate at a birthday party - see below). She picked out a wonderful princess cupcake, bedecked in hot pink frosting. After presenting it to her little brother she set out to de-frost the princess, revealing an anatomically robust doll underneath, and turning her mouth an electric shade of pink (This was, in a way, a follow up to her experience with electric blue ice cream in August at my parents' house. If the food stains her face, she loves it). She also made note of the parts she'd uncovered in a proud way.

That leads me to part two of today's post: biology. Yesterday morning Max was resting on my chest while Michele was getting ready to face the day. He started the whimpering sounds of a hungry child, and I called out to Michele that she'd be needed soon. Sydney, who was sitting with us, asked why Max was crying, and I told her that he was hungry and needed Mommy to feed him. She replied, ever so earnestly, "Daddy, you can feed Max with milk from your booobies." I told her that I couldn't (despite my having missed working out the past 10 days), and that daddies weren't equippped to handle that kind of task. She looked very puzzled and a bit distraught. She then volunteered herself for the task, which, while sweet and generous, led me to a further lesson in biology. I never thought I'd have to get into that discussion so early on. We'll have to see if she makes mention of it to her pre-school class today. It would be just our luck to be "that family" at a school where we're already the "wacky" parents! Rock on, Syd!
And now I present a picture of Max sleeping on my boobies.

Home At Last!

Everyone came home on Tuesday, Oct. 18 after five days and four nights of hospital glory. The extra time there was great, particularly for Michele, as the hospital staff was tremendous in taking care of everyone and getting Michele rested up. Two nights into it Max has been sleeping well, which I shouldn't commit to type! Sydney has been great, though mostly trying to act as though things were the same. We'll be sure to get her to the park and Las Paletas for her favorite popsicles (Green Tea flavored) and off to play with friends. Enough typing - here are photos. Enjoy!

He's here!

At 3:09 PM today Maxwell Alan Palmer finally joined us. He came in at 7 lb. 12.5 oz and 20" long. He's healthy, has eaten, burped and taken care of other sundry tasks. When Sydney first saw him in the nursery her comment was, "where's his passy?" I think she'll be a good sister.

Michele was, as usual, the hero and champion of the process. After a smooth inducing early this morning she progressed very quickly and we thought that we might have Max by noon or a little after. That was not to be, as over 2 hours of intense pushing produced no Max, and no movement from Max. On the advice of our amazing doctor, and with much thoughtful consideration, we opted to go with a C-Section.

And while that had never been near the list, much less the top of said list, we needed to get this little man birthed. It turned out that the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, which could have contributed to the trouble getting him out. By the time I could snap out of the initial shock of hearing "we've got a cord wrapped times two", our doctor was holding Max up over the surgical curtain for us to see and hear; he has very healthy lungs.

Gotta run now as we move to a recovery room. More to come. Thanks one and all for thoughts, prayers, calls and emails.

Contractions at work

This is a shot of the contraction and heartbeat printout that is right next to Michele's bed. Max has a strong and steady heartbeat and all is well. We're just waiting for things to heat up. Thanksfully Michele is getting some rest and I'm glomming on to some wi-fi - who knew?

The joys of piracy

Syd is best summed up this way: A Barbie in one hand and a monster truck in the other. This day she was attending a pirate themed birthday party, replete with her black Ramones "Rock & Roll Pre-School" t-shirt. She found the hat and a new accessory was introduced to the wardrobe.