From Wit’s End

I think Baby Nora really likes her Uncle Dave, and I think the feeling is mutual.

She slept through the night for the first time last night!

Safe and sound. Grandma is bringing Jack home even as I type. Soon we will all be one big happy! When things calm down after he gets back (HA!), I will see about posting some more pictures (and videos? Maybe. ) from the last few days.

Coming in at 19.75″ and 7 lbs, 7 oz, a stealer of hearts and a seller of smiles, I give you… Baby Nora!!!1!

Rachel is holding Nora and seeing if she will latch on. We are all well, as you can see.

Wow, that was fast! She only took about five minutes to go from seven to ten cm dilation. And she only had to push twice!

Baby Nora was born at 12:11pm.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

…Jack either wore himself out yesterday, or that last “double-feeding” last night filled him up really well, or both, because he slept all the way through the night last night for the second time. Huzzah.

He slept through the night for the first time ever last night! From 10:30pm to 5:30am! Thank you, Jack!

I mean, we had both sets here this afternoon. Grandma Wisdom arrived last Wednesday, Grandpa Wisdom flew in this past Saturday, and G.M & G.P. McCune and Unca’ Nik were just passing through on the way to Hilton Head. The McCunes stopped by for “another cup of coffee” and a bit of lemon meringue pie and some chat, and then went on their way.

Just click on a picture to view a larger version of it.

The doctor just came in and told us we can go home today! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Rachel’s going home with some antibiotics, some pain drugs if she needs them, some instructions for how to care for her wound, and the knowledge that what happened to us this time has a 50-50 chance of happening if and when we come back for the same reason again, with the possibility of worse consequences should it indeed happen again. [Note: I don't personally understand the full ramifications of what I just typed, because my mother forbade me from looking up H.E.L.L.P. on the internet for at least two weeks. I am following Nurse-Mom's orders] That is pause-giving, but for today, we are just absolutely thrilled to finally be going home as a family!

We “rattled our cage” a little bit and got an audience with our own son granted to us by the Special Care Nursery doctor. Rachel got to feed Jack from a bottle, and Jennifer took a lot of pictures, some of the best of which I will be posting here, if not tonight then tomorrow.

Just click on a picture to view a larger version of it.

Jack finds all of this quite boring.
Jack takes after his Mom and vexes the paparazzi.	Jack is praisin’ the Lord.
			According to Jennifer, this is the Picture O’ the Day.
More Movies!! “This Jack. He’s my son.” (22 secs, 6.37 MB AVI file) Ben & Jack (1 min, 49 secs, 28.9 MB) — in which Ben asks Jennifer, “Are you movies-taking again?”

Just click on a picture to view a larger version of it.

	Movies! Lonely Jack (11 secs, 3.2 MB AVI file) Flat Feet (3 secs, 1.04 MB) “Hey Jack, How’s it Goin’?” (38 secs, 9.5 MB) “Say Hi to Jack.” (26 secs, 8.1 MB)

On May 9th, 2006, at 11:21am, Daniel Jackson Wisdom was brought into this world with grace and strength by my lovely wife Rachel! Praise the Lord in the highest of heavens!!!

We’ve been moved from our “pre-partum” room in the outer Maternity Ward into the inner sanctum of Labor & Delivery. The nurses were saying that we might be meeting Jack today! Keep praying! It is definitely working!!

Everybody worked together to get the house ready for the Birthday party, the new kitchen’s maiden voyage!

…Then, with only minutes to spare, everybody kicks back and has another cup of coffee.
Happy 30th Birthday, Jennifer!

It was lot of fun to come home from work on Friday night, because the house was alive with activity:

Mom and Dad were speaking with a young architect about theirs idea for the house that they want to build eventually on their housing plot in Arcadia Lakes…

Dave H. was putting little finishing touches on the trim of the kitchen/den room…

…and Rachel’s Mom, sister, and little brother were hanging out in said new kitchen, working and coloring.

It was so neat to come into a home that was so alive. How comfortable can you get?

				Emily: “So, how’s Jack?”
I caught dad right in the middle of saying, “What, are you kiddin’ me?” with his best New Joisey accent.

Well, the range vent hole under the oven got put in the wrong place, right over a support beam of the house. Ironically, this is the same thing, in reverse, that we found to be the case with the old range vent that went up to the ceiling. And the dishwasher isn’t wired right, but we have a working sink! So like the thing on my other site that I worked on all week, the kitchen is essentially right, with some details still to be worked out. Merry Kitch-mas to us! Rachel says, and I quote, “YAAAYYYY!”

Here’s our new little human bean!

I’m currently in Detroit taking a two-day course in the newest version of Pro/Engineer, called “Wildfire 2.0″. I am in a tremendously good mood, full of energy, and remarkably at ease. Throughout the day, i have been ruminating about physiological explanations for this ebullience: i must have slept well last night, perhaps i just operate well in the cooler temperatures of this place, the mile of walking first thing in the morning from the hotel to the office building, etc.

All of a sudden a little voice intervenes: “It’s spring and you’re happy. You don’t need to explain it, just enjoy it!” Okay, i think i will.