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We came home from the hospital today. It was so nice to be greeted by our baby girl and "Grandma". We took some more pictures and then I took our baby girl to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and get some film developed. Most of the photos turned out well, except a couple of the "Macro mode" close-ups that I tried. I wasn't able to get the black-and-white roll of film developed through 1-hour photo, which is what was left over in the camera before, so I wasn't able to see how well those turned out yet. I'd really like to get a new digital camera.
Beth gave birth to our baby boy just a few hours ago. This has been a long string of days. Beth's labor lasted about 29 hours.
Our original plan was to have a home-water birth. We had a midwife taking care of us… well it was actually a staff of midwives. Beth's labor started, as one would expect, with discomfort. Near the end it was unbearable pain for Beth as the cervix was not opening and the baby's head was pressing into the wrong place. At that point Beth had been in labor for 24 hours. We though we were at the end but another check by the midwife proved us wrong. We made a decision to go to the hospital for an epidural to allow Beth to relax and get some much-needed rest. A couple hours later the baby was born.
Unfortunately, because of hospital policy, I was unable to capture the action of the birth on film, but I did get plenty of before and after shots with the camcorder.
Beth is trying to breastfeed the baby now. He's a quiet baby, fussing rarely. The nurse said, "He's a mild-mannered baby".
I'm going to try to get some sleep now and hopefully in the morning I'll be able to get some food that I like.
First of all… I have to say that carpentry is NOT one of my hobbies. I spent several hours yesterday planning to make a cabinet for the garage. This isn't one of those days where I sat at my computer or played board games while thinking about doing it - I was actually drawing up plans and figuring out dimensions. After 2 or 3 hours of planning Beth asked me what was taking so long. "I'm not an experienced carpenter. What do you expect?" Finally I got around to Lowe's and discovered something else about the project - cost. I called Beth and decided to change the plan some but she was hesitant because she wanted a solid cabinet. I'm quite sure that 2x2 boards will be sturdy enough for the frame and they are about $1 cheaper for each one compared to 2x4 boards. Today we should be going back to Lowe's with the adjusted plans; Beth will be with me this time. Hopefully I'll get the cabinet done today.
We just finished up another game of Carcassonne. I beat Beth twice already tonight in Carcassonne, just two of us. This time Beth's mom joined us and Beth won, but it was a close game between Beth and me. She had an 8-point lead over me in the end. We both had lapped Beth's mom on the scoreboard, meaning that we had over 50 more than her. We also played Rack-O once and Beth won… but that's not as impressive to me as when she wins Carcassonne. Nah... I shouldn't say that - the Rack-O game was pretty close too.
Earlier this evening the birthing tub was delivered to our house. Beth still is feeling uncomfortable, but not where she thinks the baby will be coming any time soon. The midwife said it looks like it could be another week.
Tomorrow night we're planning to Rabbi's house for a dinner (like a potluck) for Simcha Torah "when the concluding Chapter of Torah is read and Genesis Chapter One is read… ending… and restarting this years cycle of Torah readings." (Quoted from Rabbi Sivan)
On Wednesday we're planning to go visit my family and celebrate my sister's birthday. We called her up because this Saturday (yesterday/today - whatever you want to call it) was her actual birthday. She says she had a good time celebrating it at her home today.
Well… I should get to bed now. I told Beth that I was just going to be a few minutes, so I need to wrap this up anyway.