Pics

Sam's First Veteran's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm done with acronyms, but if I were to feel so inclined, I'd have to add barfing somewhere into that last one I made up. Sam proved his gastric infortitude once again, this time through the mouth. I felt a little bad, but this is how dads learn. I had him slightly more horizontal than vertical, so when he puked, he sort of gargled it a little bit, and then some came out his nose. BUT, before you call DCFS on me, you should know that I am the master of the snot removal bulb. I sucked all that crud right out of there... no problem.

We're happy to report that after his first Pediatrician appointment, he's got a clean bill of health. He grew a half inch, and is up to 8 lbs! Way to eat fatty! The medical assistant or whatever she's called in the doctor's office claimed she had superior tape measure operation technique than would an actual RN in the hospital, and that he therefore may not have actually grown, because the RN likely did not take an accurate measurement when he was born. Tevs... all we know is that he's 50th percentile in the weight, and 25th percentile in the length. That seems odd, because he's much less pudgy than most newborns, which should be supported by a higher length percentile than weight percentile. But I'm holding out hope that he's not a midget. He was supposed to get a Hep B shot, but our doctor is a rogue - a maverick as it were - and he doesn't give the shot if the mother doesn't have it. So this was a fortuitous way for me to verify that Marne aint rollin no Hep.

Sam had some new visitors. He met his Aunt Amy and his Cousin Shannon. Grandfolks Pieroni were also in attendance with Amy, but Sam has met them before. He was awake for the Pieroni visit, but Shannon was not so lucky. Oh, BTW Shannon...Mexican Lasagna? Hell yeah. Shannon brought a full casserole for us to pop in the oven whenever. It's called Mexican Lasagna. I didn't know what it was, but it sounded like it combined by two favorite things ever...Lasagna and Mexicans. Anyway, we cooked it tonight and it was radical. Food is a prerequisite when visiting, and so far all visitors are batting 1.000. THANKS!! But I digress. Grandfolks Osten have been by to see him recently too. He was even awake for Rose a little this evening. They love their first grandchild, and he loves that they're close enough to come see him whenever. And I certainly appreciate that if Marne is in need of some company during the day and I can't sneak out of work, that her Mom is usually available to come be with her.

Marne got a little fever today...actually a big fever...101 degrees. She was shivering, and also thought that she might have an infection related to breast feeding. Shannon and Marne had a long discussion about this malady, and what do you know as soon as Shannon leaves, it sets on! No, but she was seriously not feeling well, and she didn't know what it was, so she warmed up a little bit to cure the shivers, and took some Motrin, and within a couple hours was back to 98.6.

What else is going on...oh yeah...his man organ is doing much better since the big snip. It looks like a regular penis now...just incredibly small. This means we don't have to treat it with gauze and petroleum jelly at each changing any more. And his cord is ready to fall out any day now. Which is good because he could use a full submersion bath...he's starting to smell like a hobo. Of course, I'm kidding. Somehow, he smells as fresh as could be, with nothing more than one sponge bath since birth. Oh, and we got word from the cord blood lab that his sample was received and tested, the cell count was adequate, and it's all cryo'd up now, ready for the apocalypse, or when the machines take over, or whatever else might arise where needing an exact blood match is necessary. We hope to God we never need to use it, but it's nice to know it's there in the event of something tragic.

There are some new pics above, which I suppose you've already seen now that you're down here. You can tell we got a little overzealous with the macro feature on the camera, with all the close-ups. Those are classic though.

Love,
Jake & Marne

SPEC

SPEC is my new acronym I just coined for all new parents to know about. It stands for Sleep-Poop-Eat-Cry. Not necessarily in that order, and some simultaneously, this is Sam's life exclusive of all other things. Oh, actually, there's a slight variant to this acronym: SPECASPOD. That stands for Sleep-Poop-Eat-Cry-and-sometimes-pee-on-dad. You see, and some of you know, babies of course have no control over urethral and bladderal matters. Nor, as I found out, do the bowels fall into the category of "things Sam has any regard for the control of". I was holding him last night, and felt and heard a thunder down under, so I though I'd do him a solid and change him after only farting himself up a little bit, as it didn't appear a huge poop had been made. So he's on the changing table, ankles in my hands, kiester in the air, and out comes a squirt of projectile mustard! Marne thought it was pretty funny. It got even funnier while, holding him in the same position frozen with amazement at what I just saw and nearly missed a direct interaction with, he peed on me, himself, and the floor!! Gah.

Oh, but what a joy he is! Our first night home was pretty uneventful. He cried a little at night, but nothing Marne wasn't able to shush up with some feeding. I felt well rested in the morning. But the second night, oh boy. He had a 3 hour span from 11:45 pm to 2:45 am where he pretty much didn't stop crying. I got up too, and tried to see what I could do, but he really only stopped when we held him...as soon as it appeared that he calmed down, we'd lay him back down, and he'd immediately resume screaming bloody murder. When I held him, he kept trying to milk me, so I had to tell Marne, "Sorry, I really wish there was something I could do to more directly help, but Tubbs McGhee over here wants to eat again." So he'd eat, then cry again. I think Marne fed him twice in that time period.

So I didn't really feel refreshed that morning, and as soon as I got into work started figuring out which upcoming week would be best for me to take off while we adjust. But then last night, it was perfect! Marne set an alarm at 2am to roust him up for some eats, but he ended up stirring about a little bit right around then, so he was up and ready anyway. He had a good feeding, went back to sleep, and didn't wake up again until 5:30am. Hah! Perfect. I could go for this every night. I'm not stupid enough to believe he's on this schedule now, but here's to hoping we're on the right path.

Marne and I were able to enjoy a civil meal around a table with him here:


Also Grandpa Osten came by the house, and this time Sam got some pics with him. Somehow he evaded the camera at the hospital:


Sam has been taking more pictures with Dad than Mom, because every time Dad tries to take a picture with Sam and Mom, Mom is exposed...I tell you Sam eats a lot. But here are good'ns with pappy:


Also Great Auntie Lynnie rolled up and spent some time with her new boy. He wasn't really awake, but it was good times nonetheless:

Nothing like a good photo to make you realize how many LBs you've put on since you stopped working out. Oh well, I have more important things to worry about.

For those who don't know, I built Sam's crib from scratch...just raw planks of Maple to start with. I have an amateur wood shop which has completely overtaken our garage. Below is a picture of it. I don't brag about much, unless I'm trying to be funny, and we all know that I'm pretty much the funniest person ever, but this crib...I am truly proud of it and must tell you all that I put about 80-100 hours into it. We look forward to it being a family heirloom for generations to come. And don't worry...it meets Consumer Product Safety Commission guidelines for children's furniture. Here's a picture of it:


Here's a picture of our dog Jerry hiding under it:


I include this stupid picture here because it's a great segue into telling you all how well Cujo has done since returning from his rehab. Actually, he didn't go to rehab per se, but he did go stay with my Aunt Carole and her family and dogs while we were in the hospital. We were apprehensive about him around the baby, because he's behaved extremely protectively around Marne towards me. We were hoping he wouldn't behave that way towards Sam. Also, he has shown that he doesn't really like little kids. But something magical happened while he was gone. I'm serious, Carole, or actually it was probably my Cousin Molly, is the Jerry Whisperer. He is mellow, he comes to me rather than Marne for attention, he doesn't bark at benign bumps in the night any more...just a great dog now. He doesn't even flinch when Sam is screaming. It's bizarre. Dogs are amazingly unexplainable sometimes. It's as though he immediately recognized and resigned himself to the fact that Marne will not be giving him attention like she used to, and that Sam is a part of her and therefore equally as acceptable. We are very happy to have him back and see him doing so well with the adjustment, because having to get rid of him would not have been an option. Thanks Rowe Family!!

Well, that's all for now. I am going to get another cup of coffee and make some French Toast. Don't suppose the French Toast has something to do with the extra LBs, do ya? Oh well...

Pics

SOrry, they're in reverse chronological order. I'm new to the blog thing, so I didn't consider that the first one I posted would end up on the bottom.

Sam's birth

Welcome to info central for Sammy Eug (Samuel Eugene Pieroni), born on November 3, 2008. Sam was born at 6:32pm PDT at Torrance Memorial Hospital. He weighed 7 pounds, 12.6 oz, and was 20 inches long. He is still 20 inches long, but probably weighs a tiny bit less right now.

Marne started having contractions at about 2am on Monday morning, but was quiet as a mouse while she paced around the house trying to calm her excitement and figure out whether these new aches were the real thing. Jake didn't have a clue anything was going on until about 5:00am when the shower came on and the dog was running around the house, and in and out of his dog door...something was afoot, said Jake. When he pressed Marne on the reason for the early morning shower, she said she was having some pains (they had progressed from aches to pains), and that she heard a warm shower would make them feel better.

Knowing that Marne was beginning labor, and that his son was likely to be born today, Jake had no problem going back to sleep. Except not so much. Jake got up and started timing contractions, and by 7:00, we were right where we needed to be to ensure they wouldn't send us home from the hospital. Actually, we were a little bit shy of that, but Marne told Jake that she was going to die while he was in the shower, so it was pretty much time to go.

We got to the hospital at 7:15...right at shift change...DOH!. This was actually a blessing in disguise, because although it was a bit hectic at the nurse's station, we got our nurse at the beginning of her shift. And not just any nurse...she was awesome. She is what I imagine my cousin Danica is like as a nurse. Her attitude was perfect, and she was so dedicated to seeing us through what turned out to be a long day.

Marne had a couple of contractions that looked VERY unpleasant before she got her epidural. But once it kicked in, she was all smiles. It was just a waiting game from there. I watched the contraction monitor and saw things that told me epidurals are miraculous, given that Marne barely even felt pressure, let alone pain, during what looked on the monitor to be some serious contractions.

By 3pm, Marne was at 10cm, but the nurse wanted to give Sam's head about an hour to descend a bit on his own. So at about 3:45 or so, Marne started pushing. Now here's where the surprise kicked in. Our prepared child birth class focused primarily on labor, not delivery. In fact, our teacher said she enjoyed pushing. It made her "feel in control" and "as though she was contributing". I see what she's saying, but here's the thing. Marne and I sat through 10 total hours of this woman teaching us every possible way to deal with labor which, she failed to mention, was useless information if you have an epidural. You literally lay there doing nothing for hours when you have an epidural. Or at least Marne did. But no warning, let alone bona fide educational information, regarding the pushing part.

Marne was not expecting the Medieval torture that delivery ended up being. 2 hours and 45 minutes of what I imagine to be the absolute max the human body can endure and not be considered medical trauma. Or maybe it is...seriously, it was impressive. And oh my, this nurse was right up in the mix. Just getting down to business like Marne was her closest friend, or mother...I mean this is a very personal and intimate process.

Anyhoo, it actually didn't take too long to see Sam's head. But it took a long while to get him that last inch. Unfortunately, in that time period, our doctor had to leave, so we weren't able to page her for the final portion. But, we ended up getting our doctor's doctor! So that was awesome. Our doctor is pregnant with twins, and this is the doctor that she has chosen to deliver her babies. So that was a really nice thing to know. After all this journey, to have it end with a strange doctor of whose credentials we were completely unaware, would have been a bit sad, but we felt great about the fill-in.

Marne finally got Sam's head as far as the nurse would allow without the doctor. So she called her in. She was there in less than a minute, because she just down the hall doing a Cesarean, which she left to come deliver Sam. This was amazing...after 2.75 hours of pushing, the doc comes in, had Marne push twice, and otu comes Same. Whoa. It was real.

Marne was beside herself with every emotion possible, and I was so thrilled to see Sam get skin-to-skin contact with her right away. After only a few minutes, everyone left the room, and Marne and I got to spend the first hour of his life alone with him. He was so alert and just absorbing everything. Then the grandfolks came in to see him for a little bit before he was taken to the nursery, which was really great to see all of them there. I realized I hadn't had a moment to fill them in on any progress once the pushing started. So they were outside for a few hours with no answers...sorry about that guys!

Well, I could write a tome about everything after that too, but I think that's all the good stuff above. I am going to post a buch of pics here. I am going to end this post here, and put the pics up as a separate post, which I guess will appear either directly above or below this post. Thanks to everyone for thinking of us, and we look forward to see you all soon. Love,

Jake and Marne