Back home with Ruby

We brought Ruby home from the hospital today, and are all happy at home now. Rose's mother and sister flew up over the weekend to help us get all settled into the new routine of having two kids, and we really appreciate their being here. Nora (Rose's sister) also brought her son Jax who is just a little younger than Gus - the two of them have been playing really well together the last couple days.

I will be posting more pictures online shortly, so remember to check our Picasa account regularly.

Welcome to Our World

Ruby Elizabeth George was born this morning, at 4:21am. She was 8 lbs 10 oz, and 19 inches long. It only took an hour and a half from when Rose woke up with heavy labor till she was born, and we barely made it into the delivery room before she arrived. That was a nice change from the 18-hours of labor that Rose went through with Gus, and it was done without medication.

I don't have a lot of time to write right now, as I need to get back to the hospital, but I have uploaded a first batch of pictures to our Picasa account. More will follow in the coming days, along with further posts about her young life.

If you want to come visit us in the hospital, please call Rose or me and we'll let you know our room number and when would be a good time.

Doctor visit today

Gus and company (myself excluded - I was at work) took a trip to the doctor today for his 2-week checkup and Hep-B vaccination. It seems that all went well, except that the little fellow took the liberty to relieve himself while his diaper was off - twice. I think we are all looking forward to year #2, and potty training! ;)

No more hospital visits!

At least, not for a few days. From his birth until yesterday, Gus was at either the hospital proper or the doctor's office every day of his life. At first it was a weight check, then checking his jaundice levels each day, then once that subsided his week one checkup and then finally the circumcision yesterday. He did remarkably well for all that poking and prodding, though; I really think it took more out of poor Rose than it did him.

A mother worries over such things, naturally, and she hardly slept except a couple hours at night until we got back from Group Health yesterday. Once that weight was lifted from her shoulders she hit the sack, and has been sleeping on and off ever since. I'm very glad that she is finally able to get some well-deserved rest, and hopefully that will help speed her recovery from the delivery as well.

I'll be posting more pictures that we've taken since we got home, probably tomorrow. From now on, though, I won't announce every single time we add to our Picasa photo albums - you all will just have to check there on occasion for updates :)

Snip-snip

So, little Gus got circumcised this morning (sorry if you think that is too much information - I don't pull any punches). Normally this would have been done before he left the hospital after being born, but because he was a little jaundiced they wanted to wait till that subsided.

Interestingly, though, this is the 8th day since he was born - and that was (is?) the traditional day for circumcision under the covenant between God and Abraham. I was just reading that chapter of the Bible last week, the day Gus was born, and while it isn't super important I am rather pleased it worked out this way :)

BTW, if you ever read this some day Gus: you did a great job! No big fuss - you took it like a man. I'm very proud.

On the subject of mis-reported measurements

We took Gus in for a follow-up appointment today, where they checked his weight and height (among other things). He lost a little weight, as all babies do after brith, and is now 8lbs 9oz. He was also found to be 20.25" tall - a bit less than the 20.7" they reported at the hospital. It isn't a huge deal, but it is rather funny since something similar happened with his weight at birth. The initial report came in as 9lbs 2oz, which they then revised due to rounding as 9lbs 3oz. At this rate, the next thing they'll probably tell us is that Gus is actually a girl! Thankfully we can check that one for ourselves ;)

At the hosptial, expecting soon!

It seems very appropriate to begin this blog with a couple postings related to the first human addition to our family. So for the inaugural "issue", I am writing to you from Rose's room here at the Family Beginnings Unit at Group Health. We went into the hospital at about 5pm this afternoon, shortly after Rose's water broke. She spent several hours in labor, and shortly after midnight went ahead and elected to get an epidural. She is now resting peacefully, and is back to her chatty self.

I suspect my guess that the baby would be born at 4am this morning will not make it, as she is just dilated to 3cm - oh well! Hopefully we both will be resting soon, and I'll post again in the morning when things have progressed a little further. Once the baby arrives, we'll announce his name (a secret, so far) and hopefully post pictures.